Houdini had his feet shackled to the top of a concrete block which was placed on the bottom of a giant laboratory flask. The cross-sectional radius of the flask, measured in feet, was given as a function of height y from the ground by the formula
with the bottom of the flask at y=1 foot.
The flask was then filled with water at a steady rate of 22 cubic feet per minute. Houdini's job was to escape the shackled before he was drowned by the rising water in the flask.