Farms and Villages. 
63 
capacity of the pump-barrel ; this will enable the water to flow 
continuously into the air-vessel while the pump is taking the 
water intermittently, and ram action in the suction-pipe will 
then be avoided. The lower end of the suction-pipe should be 
fitted with a foot-valve, which will retain the water in the pipe 
when the pump is not running, for without such a valve the air 
will be gradually drawn in through the glands and valves of the 
pump, which are rarely absolutely tight, and so the charge will 
be lost, and much time will be spent in restoring it every time 
that the engine is set to work. 
It is hardly necessary for me to say anything about the 
ordinary types of steam-engines which are available for driving 
pumping machinery, but I may remark that the boilers of such 
engines should have large furnaces, allowing of a thick charge 
of fuel, and they should be provided with well-fitting furnace 
and ash-pit doors and smoke-dampers, by means of which the 
rate of combustion can be regulated. The attendant gets up 
steam, sets the engine to work, makes a good fire, and then 
adjusts the ash-pit door and damper, so that the fuel will burn 
at the proper rate to generate the quantity of steam necessary 
to keep the engine running at a steady pace. Experience soon 
teaches him how to do this, and he is then able to leave the 
machinery for an hour at a time, or even longer, to attend to 
other duties. With a small furnace, imperfectly fitted, this 
would be impossible, on account of the frequent firing required. 
Small steam-engines are usually made non-condensing, but 
there exists a very excellent form of condensing engine made by 
Messrs. Hathorn, Davey and Co., of Leeds, called the " Davey 
Motor," which I can strongly recommend for pumping purposes. 
A full description of this engine will be found in volume xxi. 
of the ' Journal,' pages 34 and 35, and a further description, 
together with the experiments made with it at Preston, on 
page 707 of the same volume. It will be seen that the fuel 
consumed was only about 6| lbs. per actual horse-power of 
work done, and the boiler, when charged, will run for several 
hours without any attention. 
Suppose the pump to do 70 per cent, duty, the consumption 
of coke per horse power of water lifted would be 1' 
= 9 • 64 lbs., and for five hours' work about 48 lbs. ; so that three 
days' supply of 2000 gallons per day could be obtained by the 
consumption of 48 lbs. of coke for actual work, and about 
24 lbs. for getting up steam, a total of 72 lbs., costing about 
eightpence, or about 1^ pence per 1000 gallons. 
The Davey motors being essentially condensing engines 
require a supply of water at the rate of about 1| gallons per 
