THE IBKIGATION AGE. 



277 



nearly all the water would spill from these buckets be- 

 fore reaching the flume. For this reason a rather high 

 velocity is necessary to make this wheel work well. 



The cost of the wheel was given as $1.85, which is 

 probably the cost of the shaft, tin, and nails. It was 

 built by the gardener who uses it. It contains almost 

 exactly the same amount of material as the wheel first 

 described, and, granted an indefinite supply of old 

 buggy wheels, could be built for about half as much. 

 But it can not be made to raise the water quite so 

 high, and, on account of spilling the water, is much 

 less efficient than the first type. Its efficiency could 

 be increased by slanting the blades, but not by increas- 

 ing the load; because a high velocity is essential. 



Each of these five wheels irrigates five acres in mar- 

 ket gardens, an annual tax of $5 being paid to the 

 ditch company by each gardener. The ditch has a very 

 constant flow, so that there is always water enough to 

 run the wheels. Since the water level changes so little, 

 no device for raising and lowering these wheels is used. 



it on two heavy supporting timbers. The adjustment 

 was to be accomplished by means of a windlass, but, 

 owing to the unexpected increase of weight which oc- 

 curred when the wheel became water soaked, the scheme 

 was abandoned and the support was made rigid by addi- 

 tional braces. 



The training flume for directing the flow of the 

 canal against the paddles if the wheel is of somewhat 

 unusual construction (Fig. 3). A flume with three 

 channels was built in the canal, the wheel being set 

 in the center; flashboards are inserted in the two side 

 channels to control the flow. The effort to prevent 

 the interference of floating matter with the action of 

 the wheel, by means of a brush guard, as shown, is 

 not altogether successful, owing to the fact that it 

 checks the current to a considerable extent. 



The quantity of water raised by the wheel was 

 measured when all of the water was running through 

 the center flume, and was found to be 0.36 cubic foot 

 per second, which is the maximum capacity of the 



Wheel in Fancher Creek Nursery, Fresno, California. 



A BIO WHEEL IN GRAND RIVER VALLEY, COLORADO. 



A wheel in operation on the Grand Valley Canal, 

 in Colorado, raises water thirty feet for the irrigation 

 of forty acres of orchard. The wheel is thirty-four feet 

 in diameter, the paddles being eight feet long and two 

 feet eight inches wide. The spokes are secured at the 

 center by means of castings and are set at such an 

 angle to the shaft that they come to a point on the 

 rim of the wheel (Fig. 2). To provide sufficient rigid- 

 ity, a system of braces is adopted, making a very sub- 

 stantial construction. Braces are also run from paddle 

 to paddle and between the arms of the wheel, so as 

 to form a system of six or eight circular rims. 



The buckets consist of long boxes made of 1-inch 

 stuff, set at such an angle on the rim of the wheel 

 that they will fill nearly full and raise the water within 

 two feet of the top of the wheel. 



One interesting feature of this wheel is the method 

 tried for adjusting it to the stage of water. The plan 

 was to counterpoise the weight of the wheel, balancing 



wheel. Under ordinary conditions, with the side chan- 

 nels open, it raised about 0.25. cubic foot per second. 

 The wheel moved very unsteadily, being so heavily load- 

 ed that its motion was entirely checked each time a 

 paddle entered the water, several seconds being re- 

 quired to back the water up to a sufficient extent to 

 start the wheel. It turned over once in two minutes, 

 having a rim velocity of about 25 per cent of the veloc- 

 ity of the water. 



The cost of the wheel, which was built in 1895, 

 was given as $400. It contains 1,750 feet of lumber 

 and about 450 pounds of hardware, which together 

 should cost not more than $90. The operating ex- 

 penses are very low. The owner of the wheel is as- 

 sessed by the ditch company at twice the usual rate 

 charged the other users, with the stipulation that the 

 water in the canal must not be appreciably checked. 

 The assessment is usually about $2 per inch (38.4 Col- 

 orado inches equal one cubic foot per second) . 



