152 Kansas Academy of Science. 



consideration of several different plans, it was decided to adopt a 

 siphon system, which comprehended the connecting a large num- 

 ber of small wells with an extensive siphon line that would deliver 

 the water into a big well near the pumps at a rate of 2,500,000 gal- 

 lons per day, that being about the capacity of the present pumping 

 plant. 



The main siphon line is 3000 feet long, made of twelve-, fourteen, 

 and sixteen-inch cast-iron bell-and-spigot pipe laid from six to 

 fourteen feet deep in the ground, the joints being leaded with un- 

 usual care, and to prevent settlement each joint is supported by 

 a block of concrete about three feet square and eighteen inches 

 deep, placed around the pipe after it was in place. 



The wells, which are about fifty feet apart, are connected to the 

 siphon line by a four-inch cast-iron pipe six feet long, which is 

 provided with a gate valve at one end, so that any well or group of 

 wells can be shut off from the line for any purpose without inter- 

 fering with the working of the remainder of the system. The 

 wells are six inches in diameter, cased with wrought-iron screw- 

 jointed pipe, having a screen of the same size at the bottom made 

 of perforated sheet brass. The length of the screen was deter- 

 mined for each well by the thickness of the gravel stratum, which 

 varied from three to thirteen feet. The wells are so arranged that 

 they are easily accessible for cleaning out, though they are entirely 

 covered with earth to a depth of a foot or two, so that the soil 

 above the wells may be farmed without interfering in anyway 

 with the working of the system. 



The big well into which the water is carried by the siphon is 

 twenty feet in diameter and about forty feet deep, walled with brick 

 and covered with a roof that is packed with sawdust to prevent the 

 freezing of the water in the pipes in the well. The suction pipe 

 from the pump takes the water from this well. 



The most important new feature of the entire system is an auto- 

 matic device for priming the siphon line and keeping it constantly 

 filled with water, so that air cannot accumulate at the high point 

 on the line and obstruct the flow. This machine extracts the air 

 from the line of pipe and wells, causing a vacuum that allows the 

 water from the wells to fill the pipe as fast as the air is removed. 

 It takes about two hours for the machine to remove all the air from 

 the line. 



The twelve-, fourteen- and sixteen-inch pipe of the siphon line is 

 laid to a grade of one-half inch to the hundred feet from the well, 

 so that the highest point on the line is where the short leg of the 



