May, 1909 
depths under 300 feet, and slightly more for 
depths exceeding this. It may be seen that an 
artesian well that must go down four or five 
hundred feet to tap a good water supply is 
rather an expensive luxury. Even when the 
well is sunk the water must be forced up to a 
storage tank to furnish the house with a supply 
by gravity. ‘This force may be in the form of 
a windmill or power engine. 
A windmill has its picturesque and useful 
function, and many prefer it to-day to other 
torms of power. ‘Their cost of construction 
has lessened in recent years, and their service- 
ableness increased. A good ten-foot galvanized 
steel windmill erected on a sixty-foot galvan- 
ized tower would cost to-day about $275, and 
a fourteen-foot windmill on a sixty-foot frame 
tower would cost about $100 more. With the 
windmill, storage tank and artesian well com- 
plete, the cost may easily run up to $1,500 to 
$2,000, with the depth of the well ranging 
from 200 to 300 feet. But such a plant is 
permanent, and will always give the house a 
complete supply of pure, uncontaminated 
water. [here would be no possible danger 
from contamination through sewer seepage or 
drainage. 
Small gasoline and hot-air pumps for forc- 
ing the water up are more common to-day than 
formerly, and they are being installed rapidly 
throughout the country. ‘These little engines 
work automatically and stop of themselves 
when the tank is full. There is no danger of 
waste or an overflow and the engine is not 
eating up fuel except when working. A two- 
horse power engine will do the work satisfac- 
torily, and such an engine can be purchased 
and installed for from $200 to $285. The 
engine can be located in the cellar of the house 
or an outside building built for its special ac- 
commodation. 
There is another way of securing a proper 
water supply by means of a hydraulic ram. 
The ram has the advantage of being able to 
pump water from a distant pure-water supply 
at little expense. The ram may be located not 
far from the house where an impure water sup- 
ply can drive it. None of this water gets into 
the drinking supply. It simply drives the ram 
and flows away into a drain pipe. A supply 
pipe may be laid from a distant spring or brook 
and the ram will force this up into the house. 
Under certain conditions the hydraulic ram 
will prove the cheapest and most satisfactory 
method of supplying the house with water. 
The cost of installing the ram, with the neces- 
sary piping, may be made no more than a few 
hundred dollars, but the final cost must depend 
upon the distance from the spring or brook 
that furnishes the water. 
All of these systems are in use in different 
parts of the country, and it may be seen from 
the above remarks that the type selected de- 
pends upon topographical conditions. In 
parts of the country where an artesian well 
would have to be sunk hundreds of feet, the 
cost would be so great that many would hesi- 
tate to adopt this method. Possibly there is 
within half a mile some inexhaustible spring 
or river that could be tapped and water forced 
into the house by a hydraulic ram. Or if both 
of these conditions are lacking there is the rain 
water system at hand. If the rainfall is suffi- 
cient in that locality, and the roof space am- 
ple, it would be cheaper to build a large tank 
under the roof and pipe the water by gravity 
to the inside of the house. The old method 
of placing the rain water tank in the cellar 
or on the ground has the disadvantage of never 
being ready for use in pipes. It must either 
be hauled up by hand power or pumped up by 
an engine. In the end it will prove far less 
satisfactory. 
Drinking water can not be stored satisfac- 
torily for any length of time. This applies to 
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@ Many of the subjects treated in the text and illus- 
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MUNN & COMPANY, Publishers 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OFFICE, 363 BROADWAY, NEWYORK 
No. 1. Cottage Designs 
Twenty-five designs, ranging in 
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No. 2. Low Cost Houses 
Upward of twenty-five designs, 
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Twenty designs, at costs ranging 
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No. 4. Suburban Homes 
Twenty selected designs, costing 
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BOSTON, MASS. 
SOME OF THE SUBJECTS TREATED 
Connections, sizes and all working data for all 
Plumbing Fixtures and Groups of Fixtures 
Traps — Venting 
Connecting and Supporting of Soil Pipe 
House Trap and Fresh-Air Inlet 
Floor and Yard Drains, ete. 
Rain Leaders 
Sub-soil Drainage 
Floor Connections 
Roof Connections 
Local Venting 
Bath Room Connections [ete. 
Automatic Flushing for Factories, School Houses, 
Use of Flushing Valves 
Modern Fixtures for Public Toilet Rooms 
Durham System 
Plumbing Construction without use of Lead 
Automatic Sewage Lift —Sump Tank 
Disposal of Sewage of Underground Floors of 
High Buildings 
| Country Plumbing 
Cesspools 
The Electrolysis of Underground Pipes 
Septic Tanks and Sewage Siphons 
Pneumatic Water Supply, Rams, etc. 
Examples of Poor Practice 
Roughing — Testing 
Continuous Venting for all classes of Work 
Circuit and Loop Venting 
Use of Special este and Vent Fittings 
Cellar Work 
House Drain— House Sewer — Sewer Connections 
Plumbing for Cottage House 
Plumbing for Residence 
Plumbing for Two-Flat House 
Plumbing for Apartment Houses 
Plumbing for Office Building 
Plumbing for Public Toilet Rooms 
Plumbing for Bath Establishment 
Plumbing for Engine Houses 
Plumbing for Stables 
Plumbing for Factories 
Plumbing for School Houses, ete. [by Electricity 
Thawing of Underground Mains and Service Pipes 
By far the most complete 
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MUNN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 
361 BROADWAY :: NEW YORK 
xix 
