THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



307 



MANY USE IRON IRRIGATION GATES 



By John J. Tibbetts 



THE ranchers 

 of the Sac- 

 ramento and 

 San Joaquin 

 valleys of Cali- 

 fornia are mak- 

 ing quite ex- 

 tensive use of 

 pure iron cor- 

 rugated pipe, 

 fitted with slide 

 or hinge gates 

 of cast iron, 

 for taking wa- 

 ter for irriga- 

 t i o n purposes 

 from the rivers. 

 The corrugated 

 pipe is espe- 

 cially useful for 

 levee work be- 

 cause its form 

 enables it to 

 bend and ad- 

 just itself to 

 changes of its 

 bed, and to 

 continue to do 

 its work un- 

 der conditions 

 which would 

 cause any rigid 

 materials to 

 crack and 

 break. These 

 pipes can often 



One of the lion Irrigation Gates 



be seen in good condition for all practical purposes 

 spite of the fact that the shifting and settling of 

 the embankment has forced the middle to a position 

 several inches lower than either end. 



Where water is so readily and cheaply ob- 

 tained, as in these valleys, over-irrigation is likely 

 to become a serious evil. The lowest portion of a 

 section becomes water-soaked as a result of excess 

 drainage from the remainder; and it is necessary 

 to draw this water to a certain point and pump 



over the levee and back into the river. Pumps 

 and engines and necessary attention for this work 

 constitute a continual expense; and this is one of 



e conditions which make the work of the island 

 rancher so different from that of the farmer in 

 other localities. 



The lowest portions of his cultivated land are 

 always well below the level of the river at high 



:ie. but it is often the case that the surface of the 



river at ebb tide is quite a little lower than that of 



the water to be drained away It follows that a 



^hrough the levee which is opened at low tide 



r,Jed e C a nK VeSePr0dUCed b> ' '""^ f ""= Calif rnia C <"' 



and closed when the river is high will accomplish 

 the drainage without the use of power of any sort. 

 Many ranchers installed such pipes, opening and 

 closing the gates at the proper times, and thus dis- 

 pensed with the use of an engine. 



The further step of making these gates auto- 

 matic, so that the pressure of the water on one 

 side or the other will open or close them when the 

 conditions require it, was very easily taken. Cast 

 iron gates, with the valve so counterbalanced, are 

 now on the market, for use with corrugated pipe, 

 and seem to be giving perfect service. 



THE DEEP WELL PROBLEM 



THE limitation of space available in a bored well 

 for the installation of machinery necessitates 

 the use of special constructions for this service and 

 the design of a pump to give maximum capacity and 

 reliability with a minimum of power required has 

 been the effort of expert engineers for many years. 

 In many sections the yield of wells is limited and 

 fairly efficient apparatus can be obtained that will 

 pump all of the water that the well will give; but 

 in other sections the volume of water to be obtained 

 is dependent only on the capacity of the pumping 

 machinery. 



Such a condition necessitates a pump that will 

 go in a limited space and has large capacity, sim- 

 plicity of parts, steady load, high efficiency, dura- 

 bility and reliability. A pump called the Glendora 

 has been built to meet these requirements. Its 

 three plungers give approximately three times the 

 volume of water that can be obtained with a single 

 plunger, single acting pump of same size and ap- 

 proximately fifty per cent more than either the 

 double acting or the two-plunger pumps. All valve 

 stems, springs, cages and restricted waterways are 

 avoided. Each plunger has sufficient leather cup 

 packing to insure long service, has a single heavy 

 valve so constructed 'as to allow maximum water- 

 way and direct flow. Its power end is a crank mo- 

 tion of accepted form with no freak devices or cams 

 or inefficient movements. 



The load is steady as in a triplex pump. The 

 plungers alternately coming into action at approxi- 

 mately their maximum speed and being so timed 

 that one takes up the full load as the preceding one 

 relinquishes it, insure a uniform, continuous flow 

 of the water column and a constant average load 

 on the driving mechanism. 



The continuous flow of the water column pre- 

 vents losses due to slip and the design of the power 

 head reduces friction to the minimum. Positive 

 displacement insures the maximum capacity at 

 varying depths of water level and a power con- 

 sumption directly in proportion to the net work 

 performed. 



