No. 2. 



Raising Water. 



59 



Raising Abater. 



We have not uiifrequcntly been spoken to on \i\e 

 subjoct of iai?iiig ^atcr for fanjily piiipr^cs, where it 

 is difticult to obtain it by the oitlinary process from 

 wells. The following communication appearing in a 

 late number of the American Farmer, presents the 

 subject in quite an interesting liiht, and where cis- 

 terns are not resorted to, the metljod suggested may be 

 turned to valuable account. — Ed. 



To THE Editor, — 



Sir, — Tlic object of this communicaticn 

 is to make known, for the benefit of others, 

 a means of raising- water, which I have em- 

 ployed with perfect success under circum- 

 stances which must be common throughout 

 the State. 



My summer residence is upon a very nar- 

 row and gravelly spur of Elkridge, near the 

 Thomas viaduct, immediately above the 

 Hockley ]\Iill. On one side is the Patap- 

 sco, and on the other a very deep ravine, at 

 the bottom of which, and one hundred and 

 fifty feet below the site of the house, is a 

 small rivulet with a rapid fall, wliich, in or- 

 dinary seasons, aflbrds a supply, in dry wea- 

 ther, of about six gallons of water per min- 

 ute. Before I commenced building, I dug a 

 well, which promised to answer my pur- 

 poses; but after I had completed my im- 

 provements, finding- that it did not furnish 

 me with quite as much water as I required, 

 I attempted to increase the quantity by 

 deepening- the well, when an unlucky blast 

 opened a seam in the rock and I lost all that 

 I had at first obtained. The result of going 

 still deeper was so problematical, that I now 

 turned my attention to the rivulet just men- 

 tioned ; and seeing, about this time, an ad- 

 vertisement in an English paper of the im- 

 proved Hydraulic ram of Easton and Amos, 

 of London, I wrote to the firm describing 

 my situation ; and their reply being favour- 

 able, I imported one of their machines, 

 which I have had in use since May last. 

 Some doubt as to the operation of the ram, 

 induced me to guard against possible failure, 

 by conducting a distant spring; in pipes un- 

 der ground, to a point from which I could 

 pump it by a common pump; but the ram 

 succeeded perfectly, Tvhen it arrived, and 

 was put up, and it is to this that I now wish 

 to call attention. 



The " Belier Hydraulique" of Montgolfier, 

 is described in all works upon natural phi- 

 losophy, and has been known, for many 

 years, as one of the most beautiful contri- 

 vances in the range of mechanics. But it 

 was regarded, generally, as more admirable 

 in theory than in practice, until the improve- 

 ment of Mes.-<rs. Easton and Amos, gave to 

 it an adaptability, which has made it of very 



common use in England. If a column or 

 body of water, moving rapidly under a head, 

 through a pipe, is suddenly checked, its ten- 

 dency is to burst the pipe. This is well 

 known in all places where there are water 

 works, from the bursting of the leaden sup- 

 ply pipes, where these are not strong enough, 

 on the sudden shutting- of the hydrant cocks. 

 If a hole* is made in the pipe just above the 

 cock, the water will escape from it in a very- 

 high jet, much higher than the head, when- 

 ever the cock is shut. It is this principle 

 which is brought into action in the hydraulic 

 ram. If a smaller upright pipe is attached 

 to the hole, just mentioned, in the main pipe, 

 liaving a valve shutting downwards, which 

 will pei'mit the water to pass upwards, but 

 not to return, each opening and shutting of 

 the cock will force up into the smaller pipe 

 a quantity of water, in proportion to the 

 head upon the main pipe, until the weight 

 of the water in the smaller pipe is greater 

 than can be moved by the mo7nenlu77i of the 

 water in the main pipe when the latter is 

 suddenly closed. And the first ram was, in 

 fact, as invented by Whitehurst, nothing 

 more than a common hydrant pipe with an 

 upright and smaller pipe and valve, inserted 

 just above the cock, fhe opening and shut- 

 ting of the cock, in the ordinary use of the 

 hydrant, operating to supply a reservoir on 

 the top of the inventor's house. Mont- 

 golfier's great improvement, which made 

 the machine self-acting, was to substitute 

 an outlet valve, shutting upwards, in place 

 of the cock; which valve was weighted so 

 as just to open when the water in the main 

 pipe was in a state of rest. But the mo- 

 ment the outlet valve w^as opened by the 

 weight upon it, the water which then rushed 

 out, acquired a power in addition to its 

 gravity — the power of its momentvm — 

 which was sufficient to close the outlet 

 valve, when the same effect was produced 

 that was produced by the shutting of the 

 cock, and a jet of water was thrown up- 

 wards into the smaller pipe, which may be 

 called the "raising main." The water in 

 the main pipe was thus brought to a state 

 of rest, when the weight on the outlet valve 

 was again sufficient to open it — and the 

 water rushing out of it created again the 

 momevtum necessary to close it, when a 

 further supply was forced into the raising 

 main, and so the outlet valve was kept con- 

 stantly opening and shutting, or pulsating, 

 as it is termed, and a regular stream was 

 made to pass up the raising main. An air 

 vessel was attached to this last, to produce 

 a uniform flow of water, like that used in a 

 common forcing pump. But the weight on 

 the outlet valve was an imperfect contri- 



