CHAPTER XVII. 

 METHODS OF RAISING WATER. 



Common Methods. Leaving out of account the natural 

 flowing or true artesian wells, the supplies from which are seldom 

 pumped, water is commonly brought to the surface by some one 

 of the several forms of buckets, by various types of pumps, or by 

 the so-called air lift process. To a certain extent, the method of 

 lifting the water is directly dependent upon the nature of the well 

 and the supply demanded. 



The ordinary chain pump, for instance, can be used only in 

 open wells of large diameter where only limited quantities of 

 water are required. The valve-buckets are suited only to wells 

 of from 4 to 8 inches in diameter where the quantity demanded 

 is small. Suction pumps are satisfactory only in wells where the 

 water is 25 feet or less from the surface. Deep well pumps can 

 be operated satisfactorily in tubular wells of all sizes over 2 

 inches in diameter, provided the volume to be lifted per minute 

 is not high. Air lifts are suited to the larger sizes of cased wells 

 in which the volume per minute to be lifted is very large. 



Buckets. -- The "old oaken bucket" needs no description. 

 Attached to the long sweep, once so picturesque a feature of 

 rural landscape of New England, or to the most prosaic windlass 

 (Fig. 34), it is familiar to every one, and will long hold its own in 

 popular favor in the older and more conservative portions of the 

 country. Nevertheless, since its use prevents the proper pro- 

 tection of the well from the entrance of the dust, animals, etc., 

 it is objectionable and should be replaced by tight coverings and 

 pumps wherever possible. 



The valve-bucket (Fig. 35) commonly has the form of a 



metallic cylinder, usually of galvanized iron, provided with a valve 



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