"Engine, two vertical cylinders, steam jacketed, with Meyer's expansion gear. Cylinders, 16.9 inches diameter, stroke 39.4 inches; compressor, two cylinders, diameter of piston, 23.0 inches; stroke 39.4 inches; revolutions per minute, 30 to 40; piston speed 39 to 52 inches per second, capacity of cylinder per revolution, 20 cubic feet: diameter of valves, viz., four inlet and four outlet, 5½ inches; weight of each inlet valve, 8 lb.; outlet, 10 lb.; pressure of air, 4 to 5 atmospheres. The diagrams taken of the engine and compressor show that the work expended in compressing one cubic meter of air to 4.21 effective atmospheres was 38,128 lb. According to Boyle and Mariotte's law it would be 37,534 lb., the difference being 594 lb., or a loss of 1.6 per cent. Or if compressed without abstraction of heat, the work expended would in that case have been 48,158. The volume of air compressed per revolution was 0.5654 cubic meter. For obtaining this measure of compressed air, the work expended was 21,557 pounds. The work done in the steam cylinders, from indicator diagrams, is shown to have been 25,205 pounds, the useful effect being 85½ per cent. of the power expended. The temperature of air on entering the cylinder was 50 degrees Fah., on leaving 62 degrees Fah., or an increase of 12 degrees Fah. Without the water jacket and water injection for cooling the temperature it would have been 302 degrees Fah. The water injected into the cylinders per revolution was 0.81 gallon." We have in the foregoing a remarkable isothermal result. The heat of compression is so thoroughly absorbed that the thermal loss is only 1.6 per cent.; but the loss _by friction of the engine_ is 14.5 per cent., and the net economy of the whole system is no greater than that of the best American dry compressor, which loses about one-half the theoretical loss due to heat of compression, but which makes up the difference by a low friction loss. The wet compressor of the second class is the water piston compressor, Fig. 18. [Illustration: FIG. 18.--HYDRAULIC AIR COMPRESSOR.] The illustration shows the general type of this compressor, though it has been subject to much modification in different places. In America, a plunger is used instead of a piston, and as it always moves in water the result is more satisfactory. The piston, or plunger, moves horizontally in the lower part of a U shaped cylinder. Water at all times surrounds the piston, and fills alternately the upper chambers. The free air is admitted through a valve on the side of each column and is discharged through the top. The movement of the piston causes the water to rise on one side and fall on the other. As the water falls the space is occupied by free air, which is compressed when the motion of the piston is reversed, and the water column raised. The discharge valve is so proportioned that some of the water is carried out after the air has been discharged. Hence there are no clearance losses.