Short pipe with a constricted inner surface, used to measure fluid flows and as a pump.
The effects of constricted channels on fluid flow were first investigated by Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746–1822), but it was Clemens Herschel (1842–1930) who devised the instrument in 1888. Fluid passing through the tube speeds up as it enters the tube's narrow throat, and the pressure drops. There are countless applications for the principle, including the carburetor , in which air flows through a venturi channel at whose throat gasoline vapour enters through an opening, drawn in by the low pressure. The pressure differential can also be used to measure fluid flow (see flow meter).