The Scoop Wheel. 7 1 



drainage of the land. When well constructed, and for situa- 

 tions where the height to which the water has to be raised is 

 not great, and where there is not much variation in the lift, 

 they are effective and useful machines, especially in the 

 Colonies and remote places, where wood is more plentiful and 

 available than a trained mechanic's services. The slow speed 

 at which they travel fits them for being driven by windmills 

 or the slow-speed beam engines by which these were suc- 

 ceeded. They are simple in construction, and easily repaired 

 by the aid of such mechanical skill as is readily obtainable in 

 country districts. They are not liable to get out of order 

 when laid by, or easily damaged by floating substances 

 brought to them in the water. 



To the mind of those living by the side of the rivers and 

 drains of low flat countries, and accustomed to the slow 

 practices of an agricultural life, there is a sense of power and 

 solidity about a massive beam engine with its slowly revolving 

 fly-wheel and heavy beam rising and falling, driving a 

 ponderous water wheel lifting a large mass of water, for which 

 the small parts of a centrifugal pump and its rapid move- 

 ments seem but a poor substitute. They are, however, ex- 

 ceedingly cumbrous, the wheel weighing as much or more than 

 the total body of water lifted at each revolution. The larger 

 wheels, of say 30 feet in diameter, weigh from 30 to 40 tons, 

 and therefore require very heavy foundations and expensive 

 masonry work for the wheel race. The slow-speed engines 

 used for driving wheels are themselves as ponderous as the 

 wheels, and also require heavy foundations and a large area 

 of buildings. If engines of quick speed are used the loss of 

 efficiency due to the gearing necessary to reduce the velocity 

 of the engine to that of the wheel absorbs considerable 

 power. 



As generally constructed scoop wheels are very wasteful of 

 power, and badly adapted to meet the alterations in the level 

 of the water due to tlie falling of the level on the inside, as 



