Valves, Narrows, Pumps and the Dipstick

These four fittings rule a siphon network: where to flow, who goes first, how to lift it up and how much is where. A Check Valve passes distillate only in the direction of the arrow on its body. A level tube flows both ways; the valve divides it — nothing flows back. It is placed with the arrow pointing away from you.

Narrows is a tube pinched by a clamp. A holder beyond it gets distillate only once every nearer one is full — and twice as slowly. So one outlet feeds the main store first and the spare after.

A pump — a standpipe with bronze bellows — is the only thing that lifts distillate. It enters the pump from the siphon below and leaves upward; stack pumps to lift higher. Each part lifted takes a little of the chunk's flux: on drained land the pump stands still.

A dipstick is a brass rod with notches: touch a vessel, a Gyre, the Crucible or a siphon with it, and you learn exactly how much is inside. Sneaking, touch a siphon's arm and it closes, so two networks side by side do not merge; touch it again and it opens.