Making Water Pump Itself 



A novel water wheel obtains its 

 motive power from the current 



CURVtD 5LADtS Of 

 WATER. '^.■HEEL- 



A CURRENT power wheel for raising 

 water from running streams, which 

 is said to be both efficient and 

 inexpensive in operation, has been in- 

 vented by H. C. Berry, of Portland, Ore., 

 and has been successfully tested. The 

 wheel is primarily intended for irrigation 

 in the arid districts along the swift-flowing 

 streams of the West. 



Water wheels of many different designs 

 have been invented 

 and many of them 

 have been tested by 

 the experts of the De- 

 partment of Agricul- 

 ture. Their high cost 

 or practical defects pre- 

 vented their coming 

 into general use. Re- 

 alizing that the key to 

 the effectiveness of the 

 power plant is in the wheel itself and 

 depends upon the size, form, arrange- 

 ment, number and depth of the blades, 

 Mr. Berry made a thorough study of 

 the subject and many experiments be- 

 fore he decided upon the particular 

 construction of the wheel he uses in 

 his invention. The 

 curved blades, which 



FORCE-PUMP 

 DRIVEN BY 

 WATER. WHEEL 



Power is transmitted from the water 

 wheel to the pump by chain gearing 



are shown in the illustration, are the im- 

 portant feature of the wheel. Each blade 

 is removable and independent of the 

 others, — a great advantage when repairs 

 are necessary. 



The shaft of the wheel revolves in 

 bearings resting upon the framework of 

 the pontoon float, which carries, besides 

 the undershot wheel, a force pump, 

 driven from the water wheel by a sprocket 

 chain gearing. With a 

 current velocity of only 

 four miles an hour, 

 two six-foot wheels, 

 each forty-four inches 

 in diameter, developed 

 two and one-half horse- 

 power, enough to raise 

 two hundred gallons of 

 water a minute to a 

 height of twenty feet. 

 Successful tests have been made in the 

 shallow Clackamas River in Oregon. 

 Tests on a larger scale are soon to be 

 made. The cost of a plant that will de- 

 velop about 100 to 115 horse-power in a 

 ten-mile current, is estimated at from 

 $2,000 to $3,000. The cost of operating 

 the plant w^ould be almost negligible, 

 however. 



A current flowing at but four miles an hour will raise 200 gallons of water a minute to 

 height of twenti' feet. Two and one-half horse-power was developed in a recent test 



919 



