1008. 
453 
ANSWERS BY PROF. F. H. KING. 
Draft of a Pipe. 
E. D. G. (No Address ).—Can anyone 
toll whether the draft to kitchen range can 
ever be helped by using seven-inch pipe to 
chimney frtie when stove collar is only six? 
I think it has been done, hut am told it 
cannot be. 
Ans.— If the length of the stovepipe 
connecting the range with the chimney 
is only of the ordinary length with a 
single elbow it is very doubtful whether 
increasing the size of the pipe would 
materially increase the draft. The fric¬ 
tion on a seven-inch pipe would be less 
than that in a six-inch pipe, and if there 
is more than one elbow the resistance of 
the seven-inch elbows would be less than 
the six-inch elbows. The most natural 
inference is that there is a fundamental 
difficulty with the chimney, either too 
many other flues opening into it, or else 
it is too short, or does not terminate 
properly above the roof, perhaps some 
portion of the roof or an adjoining 
building rising above it. If the range is 
the only stove served by the chimney, 
and if there is but a single elbow in the 
pipe, the remedy most likely to give the 
proper draft is an extension of the 
chimney. If this cannot be done by ex¬ 
tending the brick portion it may be ac¬ 
complished by a galvanized iron exten¬ 
sion, provided with a cowl if other roofs 
are likely to interfere. 
Power from Overshot Wheel. 
G. W. J .—I have a six-inch stream of 
water with a 15-foot fall; would like to 
use a 10-foot overshot wheel two feet 
wide and buckets six inches deep. I thought 
of laying a six-inch tile in cement from 
dam to wheel pit, which is 100 feet long 
with an 18-inch fall; put it under the 
ground two feet deep and bring it up in the 
wheel house. Would this be apt to freeze? 
I would like to run it all night Winter 
and Summer. How much power would I 
have? 
Ans.— There would be no danger 
from freezing in carrying the water in 
the manner G. W. J. suggests. It is im¬ 
possible to 'say, from the statement 
made, what horse power could be de¬ 
veloped, for the reason that a six-inch 
stream does not express the amount of 
water available. If there is more water 
behind the dam than can be carried by 
a six-inch pipe with a 15-foot fall it 
seems likely that a small turbine wheel 
could be arranged in the wheel house in 
such a way as to utilize a larger per 
cent of the power. At any rate, it 
would be advisable to correspond with 
a manufacturer, stating to him the quan¬ 
tity of water which could be made avail¬ 
able to carry to the wheel house, and the 
amount of available fall. This would 
enable him to state what horse power 
he would be willing to guarantee for the 
wheel. 
Power Developed by Waterwheel. 
J. TF\, Utah .—Seeing the problem on 
page 254 about power from an artesian 
well I decided to write you about a similar 
problem which has puzzled me for some 
time. I have constructed an overshot 
waterwheel 10 feet in diameter, four feet 
wide, and it has 28 buckets around. Each 
bucket will hold about 11% gallons of 
water. I have a supply of water of about 
1.500 cubic feet per minute from a ditch. 
Can you give me any information as to 
how many horse power I can get from this 
wheel ? 
Ans.— Volume of water equal to 1,500 
cubic feet per minute, falling 10 feet, 
represents about 28 horse power. Well- 
constructed overshot water wheels uti¬ 
lize about 75 per cent of the power, so 
that if the wheel were large enough to 
use the whole of the water from the 
ditch the maximum work it could do 
would be represented by about 20 horse 
power. A wheel that utilizes one-tenth 
of the water should give, therefore, 
about two horse power. We should 
judge that the inquirer’s wheel might 
yield between three and five horse 
power. 
Another Waterwheel Question. 
I. A. II., Pennsylvania .—I liave a spring 
discharging 40 gallons per minute and a 
fall of six feet in 50. I want to force 
water 1,000 feet and raise it 30 feet. Can 
I make a wheel that will force the water 
THE) RURAL NEW-YORKER 
such a distance ? What size of pipe and 
waterwheel should be used ? I desire sim¬ 
ply to supply water. I prefer a waterwheel 
to a ram, as I can do all the work myself. 
A good many farmers around here have 
done away with their rams and are using 
the waterwheel, but they have more water 
than I have. 
Ans.— The amount of water which I. 
A. H. has seems very small to drive a 
water wheel which could work an ordi¬ 
nary force pump of sufficient capacity 
to give even two gallons of water per 
minute. A two-and-a-half inch cylinder 
with a 12-inch stroke, at the rate of 10 
per minute, would give but 2J/£ gallons 
of water per minute, and the direct water 
pressure on the piston would make a 
lift on the piston rod of nearly 90 
pounds, pumping through the 1,000 feet 
of one-inch pipe, lifting to the height 
which he desires. Then there would 
have to be added to this all of the fric¬ 
tion of the pump and the wheel driving 
it, so that the direct pressure to be over¬ 
come per stroke would have to be some 
unknown amount greater than 90 
pounds. If an overshot water wheel 
eight feet in diameter could be used and 
allowed to make 10 revolutions per min¬ 
ute, and if three-fourths of the water 
could be made available on the wheel, 
there could be on the wheel only about 
three gallons of water at a time, weigh¬ 
ing 25 pounds. But the average radius 
on which this power could act would be 
equivalent to working the pump handle 
with a long arm of 24 inches, and the 
short arm to which the piston rod is at¬ 
tached, six inches, so that the 25 pounds 
pressure which could be got by the 
wheel would give only 100 pounds pres¬ 
sure to be exerted on the piston rod, 
which is but very little more than the 
theoretical amount required. So that it 
is clear that if a pump was to be worked 
by a water wheel not more than one to 
two gallons per minute could be expect¬ 
ed at the outside. It needs to be under¬ 
stood that when very small horse powers 
are being used to drive machinery, like 
the working of an ordinary pump, the 
efficiency of the power is always very 
small, because the resistance is relatively 
very large. As a specific example of 
the truth of this statement, I have at 
my own house installed a pump with 
double-acting cylinder three inches in 
diameter, making a six-inch stroke 75 
times per minute, driven by an electric 
motor, the water being lifted about 40 
feet, discharging through a two-inch 
pipe. Under these conditions a direct 
measurement showed that the motor 
was exerting, when pumping at this rate, 
1.03 horse power, although the 37.5 gal¬ 
lons of water per minute, supposing it 
to be lifted 60 feet, so as to allow for 
friction in the pipe, would represent but 
half a horse power, and as it is doubt¬ 
ful if there was as much friction in the 
pipe as we have allowed for, the re¬ 
sistance in the machinery was sufficient 
so that half the power is lost. Where 
the water pumped is so much smaller 
than in this case, as would be true with 
I. A. H., of course very much more than 
half of the work to be done would be 
lost power. While it is probable that a 
wheel could be arranged to drive a 
pump, so as to give one or two gallons 
per minute in the case of the inquirer, 
it would seem to us that the hydraulic 
ram would be much the simpler proposi¬ 
tion and more efficient. It could be 
more cheaply housed from freezing than 
the wheel, and we should think the in¬ 
stallation would be cheaper and the plant 
more durable. f. h. k. 
Planting Sweet Potatoes. —Why should 
it he deemed “hot air’’ when an employee 
reports remarkable yields of sweet potatoes 
from planting parts of potatoes in place 
of slips? I had a neighbor who always 
planted small potatoes or parts of larger 
ones and had potatoes before I did, and 
thought he also made more than I. Judge he 
did, as he was a practical man. With us 
the cut vines root in a day or two after 
planting and make smoother, better pota¬ 
toes than the slips from bed. 
Georgia. A. w. smith. 
The Argentine Ant. —In a recent com¬ 
munication to the Florists’ Exchange, Prof. 
L. It. Taft calls the attention of all flor¬ 
ists and nurserymen in the Southern States 
to the danger which threatens their busi¬ 
ness in the introduction of the Argentine 
ant. This insect has already become estab¬ 
lished at New Orleans and vicinity and 
while it is not known how far North it 
will thrive in the open air, it certainly is 
greatly to be feared as a pest in northern 
greenhouses. It is very injurious to many 
cultivated flowers and ornamentals, destroy¬ 
ing the calyces, while in the South it 
threatens the fruit growing industry, as It 
feeds upon fruit buds as well as fruit. 
The Argentine ant is also a fearful pest 
In the household, and indirectly favors the 
development of many species of scale and 
aphids. Its dissemination in shipments of 
groceries, food stuffs and household goods 
cannot well be prevented, but precaution 
should be taken against its introduction 
among greenhouse plants and nursery stoci?. 
It is reported upon reliable authority that 
In many greenhouses in the infested region 
every plant has more or less of the ants 
upon it, and serious losses may result if 
greenhouse plants are purchased in New 
Orleans or vicinity. 
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