The Spool Valve: Steering Oil With a Sliding Rod

A pump makes flow and a cylinder makes force. Between them sits the valve that decides where the oil goes: to one end of the cylinder, to the other, or back to the tank. In almost every hydraulic machine that valve is a **spool**: a ground steel rod with raised lands, sliding in a bore with five ports — pressure, tank, two work ports, and a second tank. Slide the spool one way and pressure goes to port A while B drains; slide it the other way and the roles swap; centre it and the ports are blocked or joined, depending on the spool's centre. The edges of the lands are orifices, so the spool also meters how fast. This rung works out the metering, the choice between open and closed centre, and builds a transparent spool valve that shows the oil paths in coloured water.