A gland-reservoir is also termed a gland oil-cup. Almost every gland, small and large, is furnished with an oil-vessel of some kind, the simplest of which consists of merely a concave space or dish formed in the flange. Such spaces are shown in the flanges of the glands denoted by Figs. 984, 986, 988, 990, 991, and 998. If the gland is large, the dish is formed to nearly its finished dimensions at the time of casting; but the dishes of small ones are entirely formed by lathe-turning. An oil-cup of this shape is only suitable for a gland which is to be vertical while in use, in which the dish will be horizontal, and therefore will hold the oil or tallow put therein.

Those glands which are to be horizontal, have no dishes in their flanges; but the flanges are furnished with oil-cups and oil-holes that convey oil either from the cups which are cast solid with the flanges, or from small supply pipes connected to lubricators at some convenient distances from the glands. This mode of lubrication is also adopted for inverted vertical engines, whose rods are below and the cylinders and slide-valves are above.

The oil-cups belonging to the glands shown by Figs. 992, 993, and 994, are suitable for nearly all classes of engines and pumps, whether vertical, horizontal, or oscillating, except inverted vertical engines with piston-rods beneath, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. These cups constitute convex projections extending beyond the flanges of the glands and cast solid with them. In the interior of each projection, a roomy recess or chamber is formed, the diameter of which is two or three times the diameter of the piston-rod or slide-rod. In this chamber the oil or tallow is put, and is not very liable to be spilled about, although the gland may belong to an oscillating cylinder, and the oil is retained in the cup by reason of the comparative small hole at the extremity of the cup-portion.

A small gland that may be for a rod only about an inch in diameter, is so cast that the convex projection is a solid lump without any chamber therein ; the space is therefore entirely formed by means of lathe-boring. But the oil-chambers of large glands are formed at the time of casting. By this means, all subsequent shaping by boring is avoided, because no polishing of such a recess is necessary. Therefore the small quantity of shaping which is executed after casting, consists in merely clearing out the sand, and breaking off any partly detached pieces that may be formed in the recess at the time of casting.