The lower corner of the slide valve, B, is removed and a slot cut to the exhaust port, the slot being of sufficient size to release the steam from the ends of the valve box and exhaust pressure of it into the pocket of the slide valve. The movement of this valve very much resembles that produced by means of an eccentric. The movements of the valves are so timed that as the main piston nears the end of the stroke its movement is sufficiently retarded to permit the water valves to seat quietly and without jar, also on the return stroke, the steam is so gradually admitted that the piston starts with ease and gradually increases its speed to the middle of the stroke, from which point it gradually decreases toward the opposite end. A proper adjustment of the cut-off valve allows the piston to stop momentarily at the ends of the stroke without any possibility of striking the cylinder heads. _To Set the Valve._ Adjust all joints so that there will be no lost motion in the valve gear. Then move the crosshead to the end of its stroke, and see that the cut-off valve opens the valve chamber one-sixteenth of an inch, and that the steam valve closes the port leading to the cylinder to within one-sixteenth of an inch. Next move the crosshead to the other end of its stroke and note that the valves are in the same relative position. If, from any cause the cut-off valve does not open correctly to admit steam to the valve chamber at the ends of the stroke of the piston, the valve can be shortened by filing off the ends. This should not be done, however, until all lost motion has been taken up in the valve gear. THE HOOKER, WITH OUTSIDE VALVE GEAR. In this pump (see Figs. 266, 267) the steam is admitted to the center of the valve chamber which contains the main valve, A, and the supplemental slide valve, B. The recess in the center of the valve piston, C, receives the main valve and moves it when steam is supplied to or exhausted from either end of the valve piston. In operation live steam passes through the left-hand ports, D and E, drives the main piston to the right and the exhaust passes out of the right-hand port, F, into the cavity in the main valve, A, thence through the exhaust port, G, into the atmosphere. [Illustration: FIG. 265.]