It was a mechanism which maintained a krater (cup) full with wine regardless of the quantity that was removed therefrom. It consisted of a large airtight container full with wine and one horizontal tube that supplied the krater. The tube had a valve that was connected to an articulatedlever with a hollow sphere that was found inside an adjacent vessel. The perforated bottoms of this vessel and krater were connected. When the level of wine in the krater exceeded the predetermined limit, the sphere in the communicating vessel rose and the valve blocked the pipe outflow in the large container.