iron
pipe for canvas it was found necessary to retain a short piece of
canvas hose in order to obtain a flexible discharge piece. This was
inconvenient and troublesome. The ingenuity of miners was aroused, and
the result was the introduction of a nozzle called the Goose Neck,
which was a flexible iron joint formed by two elbows working one over
the other.
The first Rifle.—The
radius-plate, or rifle, was patented by C. F. Macy in 1863, and was
subsequently introduced and used in all metallic jointed discharge
pipes which had elbows.
The
next improved hydraulic nozzle was invented by the Messrs. R. R. &
J. Craig, of Nevada County. It was called Craig's Globe Monitor. This
nozzle proved a success and was adopted at once by the miners.
Subsequently the Hydraulic Knuckle-joint and Nozzle was invented by H.
Fisher, of Nevada County, and took the place of the Craig machine. In
1870 Mr. Richard Hoskins obtained a patent for his Dictator, a
one-jointed machine, having an elastic packing in the joints instead of
the metallic faces. A few months later Hoskins patented the nozzle
called the Little Giant, which was an improvement on the Dictator, and
has to a great extent superseded the older inventions.
Deflector.—The
next advance in hydraulic discharge machines was an attachment to the
nozzle called the "deflector," the invention of Mr. H. C. Perkins, and
patented May, 1876. This is a short piece of pipe, about an inch
larger in diameter than the nozzle, attached to the latter by a gimbal
joint and operated with a lever. This improvement has been followed by
the invention of the Hoskins Deflector. This latter is a flexible
semi-ball joint between the end of the discharge pipe and the nozzle.
It is operated by a lever.
In
1852 and 1853 placer-mining was at the height of its prosperity. Labor
was well paid, and employment was easily obtained by all who sought it.
At this period
