THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



845 



ECONOMICAL PUMPING PLANTS 



The general idea of a hydraulic ram is that it is a 

 small machine suitable only for raising a small quantity 

 of water for country places, etc., but in reality there is 

 practically no limit to the capacity of this type as now 

 built, with automatic air-feeding device and highest effi- 

 ciency. It has the advantage of possessing only a few 

 wearing parts easily and cheaply renewable and oper- 

 ates without attention or expense. A modern ram as 

 made by The Rife Engine Company of New York City 

 will pump with good efficiency against heads of twenty- 



five to thirty times the fall, the efficiency varying from 60 

 to 90 per cent, in proportion to the ratio of the fall to the 

 pumping head. They will operate under two or more 

 feet fall and elevate the water twenty-five to thirty feet for 

 each foot of fall used. 



The accompanying engravings show an installation of 

 large Rife rams for the United States government naval 



coaling station at Narragansett Bay, R. I., each ram de- 

 livering 232 gallons per minute, an efficiency of 91.25 per 

 cent. 



A plant recently installed at Kalispell, Mont, (water 

 supply 800 gallons per minute, 18 feet fall, 159 feet pump- 

 ing head), delivers 80 gallons per minute, the water being 

 supplied to the Conrad Memorial cemetery, 85 acres, 50 

 acres being improved and provided with mains for irriga- 

 tion. 



These machines are rapidly being adopted by the rail- 

 roads to supply their water stations for locomotives, and 

 the expense of attendants for steam plants, the fuel, etc., 

 is eliminated. 



Land lying above the irrigation canals, often of the 

 finest kind but valueless for lack of water, can be made 

 more valuable than the land below the ditch by utilizing 

 the fall and water from the ditch to operate the ram, thus 

 delivering a portion of this water to an upper ditch or 

 reservoir. 



The manufacturers of this ram state that they will 

 furnish these machines to responsible persons with the 

 understanding that if, after thirty days' trial, the machines 

 fail to fulfill the guarantee, they may be returned and need 

 not be paid for. 



Several illustrations here given show the simple meth- 

 od of installation of small plants for country residences, 

 stock farms, etc. 



The prejudice so long existing in, the minds of engi- 

 neers against rams as a satisfactory and reliable device 

 for elevating water economically is disappearing, and the 

 same engineers are the first to appreciate that the ram 

 as now built is admitted to be the most economical method 

 of elevating water known where the conditions favor its 

 location. 



The Rife Company state that they will send catalogue 

 and estimates free to any one interested, upon applica- 

 tion. 



A Rife Engine in Position. 



