TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 709 



"WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1878. 



The following Papers were read: — 



1. On the Use of Wind Power for Raising Water, Disposal of Sewage, and 

 Drainage, with special reference to Ireland. By James Price, M. Inst. 

 C.E., M.A.I. 



The power of the wind, though so immense, as shown by its action on the 

 surface of the ocean, and by its effects in conveying such an enormous weight cf 

 water in the form of rain clouds at so great a velocity, is yet but sparingly used by 

 mankind : still it always has been, and will be, used at sea for ships, and saves an 

 immeasurable quantity of coal which would be otherwise expended if steam 

 entirely replaced sails. 



The crude wind power measured for a height of 70 feet constantly acting over 

 Ireland amounts to 360 millions of horse power. The convenience of steam power 

 has led to the disregard of the common forces of nature. Wind power being 

 almost without limit, it becomes unnecessary to complicate the machine for 

 utilising, it so as to save waste, as in the case of water power ; the only necessity 

 being to have the fans or sails self-adjustable, according to the force of the wind 

 to guard against injury by storms. 



Wind power is not suitable for constant work except as an assistant to steam 

 to save fuel, taken alone it is adapted to intermittent work, only such as — 



1. Water supplies for small towns. 



2. Disposal of sewage in rural districts. 



3. Drainage of marshes and peat bogs. 



1. Deep springs are generally easily found in the neighbourhood of small 

 towns, affording sufficient supply. Conducting water from a distance may in some 

 cases be too costly, whereas a wind engine of 20 feet in diameter with proper 

 pumps, costing not more than £200, might be relied upon for supplying a town of 

 1000 inhabitants with water at high pressure, even allowing for considerable cessa- 

 tion of wind : fair-sized reservoirs being necessary to provide for calms; or else 

 arrangements for using animal power. 



2. The infiltration process to purify sewage is advocated by the author ; to be 

 applied by pumping out the under water of porous ground, and thus causing the 

 liquid part of the sewage deposited on the surface to soak down, and be pumped 

 out after having passed through a great thickness of earth. To carry this out, it is 

 proposed to form an annular cesspool with porous bottom, with a deep well sunk 

 in the middle of the island to be kept constantly pumped out by wind power, the 

 surface sludge being occasionally removed by scraping, new clay being substituted. 

 Long calms would not affect this process, as the cone of earth once dried would 

 hold a vast quantity of liquid before being saturated ; from experiments of the 

 author, say from 30 to 40 per cent, of bulk of earth. 



3. The advantages of drainage in Ireland are much greater than the value of the 

 land saved from floods. The climate of Ireland would be improved ; its chief defect 

 is a want of summer heat, which is from 2° to 3° lower than it ought to be, as the 

 swamps and grass lands act as the envelope of a wet-bulb thermometer, which on 

 an average of two summers was found by the author to reduce the temperature 

 of the mercury 3°68. 



The undrained land in the basins of the River Shannon and River Erne, 

 containing 5,000,000 acres, very much affect the heat required for ripening of 

 cereals ; a few degrees in the British Isles being of vast importance, as the average 



