The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hydrostatic \Hy`dro*stat"ic\, Hydrostatical \Hy`dro*stat"ic*al\, a. [Hydro-, 1 + Gr. ? causing to stand: cf. F. hydrostatique. See Static.] Of or relating to hydrostatics; pertaining to, or in accordance with, the principles of the equilibrium of fluids.
The first discovery made in hydrostatics since the time
of Archimedes is due to Stevinus.
--Hallam.
Hydrostatic balance, a balance for weighing substances in water, for the purpose of ascertaining their specific gravities.
Hydrostatic bed, a water bed.
Hydrostatic bellows, an apparatus consisting of a water-tight bellowslike case with a long, upright tube, into which water may be poured to illustrate the hydrostatic paradox.
Hydrostatic paradox, the proposition in hydrostatics that any quantity of water, however small, may be made to counterbalance any weight, however great; or the law of the equality of pressure of fluids in all directions.
Hydrostatic press, a machine in which great force, with slow motion, is communicated to a large plunger by means of water forced into the cylinder in which it moves, by a forcing pump of small diameter, to which the power is applied, the principle involved being the same as in the hydrostatic bellows. Also called hydraulic press, and Bramah press. In the illustration, a is a pump with a small plunger b, which forces the water into the cylinder c, thus driving upward the large plunder d, which performs the reduced work, such as compressing cotton bales, etc.
Bellows \Bel"lows\, n. sing. & pl. [OE. bely, below, belly, bellows, AS. b[ae]lg, b[ae]lig, bag, bellows, belly. Bellows is prop. a pl. and the orig. sense is bag. See Belly.] An instrument, utensil, or machine, which, by alternate expansion and contraction, or by rise and fall of the top, draws in air through a valve and expels it through a tube for various purposes, as blowing fires, ventilating mines, or filling the pipes of an organ with wind.
Bellows camera, in photography, a form of camera, which can be drawn out like an accordion or bellows.
Hydrostatic bellows. See Hydrostatic.
A pair of bellows, the ordinary household instrument for blowing fires, consisting of two nearly heart-shaped boards with handles, connected by leather, and having a valve and tube.