CHAPTER FOURTEEN 



MODERN DRAINAGE PROBLEMS: 



1850-1938 



By Oscar Borer, b.e. (n.z.), m.inst.c.e., a.m.i.mech.e. 

 Chief Engineer, The River Great Ouse Catchment Board 



DESPITE THE ADVENT OF THE STEAM-ENGINE IN THE 

 nineteenth century, it was reported that windmills were still used 

 in parts of Norfolk in 191 3; indeed, at Soham Mere, in Cam- 

 bridgeshire, a windmill still supplements the steam plant. But these are 

 exceptions. In general, the last hundred years have witnessed many 

 changes in fen pumping. After the introduction of the centrifugal pump 

 in 1 85 1, the scoop-wheel was gradually discarded, but not before its 

 diameter had in many cases increased to 36 ft., and even to 50 ft., to 

 accommodate the lowering surface of the land.^ Its efficiency, however, 

 was always low, being in the region of about 30 per cent. Still, scoop- 

 wheels were old friends, and with all their splashing they had handled 

 large quantities of water against low heads. 



There have also been other changes in the steam-driven plants. Gradu- 

 ally, more modern types replaced the beam and the old low-pressure 

 steam-engine.^ Thus at PrickwiUow (near Ely) a new pumping engine 

 was installed in 1897 to replace a side-lever condensing engine of 60 

 nominal horse-power. This had been erected in 1833 ; it had used steam at 

 a pressure of 6 lb. per sq. in;; and it had driven a scoop- wheel 33 ft. 6 in. 

 in diameter. The capacities of the old and new machinery are of interest: 



Type of plant 



Side-lever conden- 

 sing engine driving 

 scoop-wheel 



Vertical compound 

 condensing marine 

 engine direct- 

 driving horizontal 

 centrifugal case- 

 pump 



Date 



1853 



1897 



Steam 

 pressure 

 (lb. per 

 sq. in.) 



76 



Revolutions 



of engine 

 (per minute) 



25.5 



132 



Lift in 

 ft. in. 



9 io| 



13 



Water 

 lifted 

 (tons per 

 minute) 



68-9 



153-2 



' See p. 186 above. 



^ For a description of some of the older types of engines, see R. W. Allen, "Modem 

 Pumping Machinery for Drainage of the Fens", Proc. Inst. Mech. Engin. (1913), p. 787. 



