1915. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
69 
What Makes the Pump “ Suck? ” 
T HERE is a source of water supply 
1200 feet from barn and about 50 
feet below the barn. Can the water 
be successfully pumped from that dis¬ 
tance and fall by a pump put in the barn 
cellar, where it would never freeze? The 
water would be pumped into a cistern 
about 10 feet above the stables and run 
to individual basins in the stables by 
gravity. IIow large a pipe would be 
wanted and how large a gasoline engine 
would be required for the pump? 
Watertown, Conn. A. c. L. 
The earth is surrounded by a sea of air 
of indefinite depth, or atmosphere as it is 
called, in which we live, in much the 
same manner that fish live in the ocean, 
with the exception that animal life is 
carried on at the bottom of this sea of 
air, while fish are free to move through 
the water in any direction. Another es¬ 
sential difference is the fact that the at¬ 
mosphere is composed of gases that are 
capable of expansion and contraction un¬ 
der varying degrees of pressure, and for 
this reason it is not of the same density 
throughout its depth, but as we go higher 
has less density and less weight. 
It has been found that air has a weight 
of about one and one-quarter ounce per 
cubic foot when at a temperature of 32 
degrees F., and when under ordinary at¬ 
mospheric pressure. That air has weight 
can be easily proved by anybody who 
will go to the trouble of placing a gal¬ 
lon syrup can, containing an inch or so 
of water, on a hot stove and bringing it 
to a brisk boil. The steam generated will 
drive the air from the can. When the 
water is boiling briskly and steam flow¬ 
ing from the top, remove the can from 
the stove and quickly screwing on the 
cap, plunge the can into cold water. The 
can will be crushed. The steam inside 
was condensed by the plunge into the 
cold water, leaving a vacuum, and the 
thin walls not being strong enough to 
support the pressure or weight of the at¬ 
mosphere are crushed by it. This expe¬ 
riment though crude shows conclusively 
that the air has weight or pressure as it 
is called; it does not, however, show the 
amount of this pressure. The mercurial 
barometer gives us this. It has been 
found that a column of mercury one 
square inch in cross section and 30 
inches high, will just balance a column of 
air of the same cross section and extend¬ 
ing the whole depth of the atmosphere. 
Mercury weighs approximately .49 pounds 
per cubic inch, and as we have 30 cubic 
inches supported by the column of air 
just mentioned it follows that the air 
must weigh 30x.49 or 14.7 pounds, and 
that this pressure of 14.7 pounds is ex¬ 
erted on every square inch of the earth’s 
surface. 
This pressure of the atmosphere is 
what lifts the water to the plunger in 
the common lift or “suction” pump as it 
is called. As it cannot be increased it 
follows, that there is a certain lift be¬ 
yond which the water cannot be raised. 
Water is only 10/136 as heavy as mer¬ 
cury, therefore the atmosphere, under 
perfect conditions, will support a column 
of water 13.6 times as high as the column 
of mercury supported by it, or 34 feet. 
This seems to show that water could be 
lifted by a suction pump from a well in 
which the surface of the water was 34 
feet below the top of the plunger when 
the plunger was at tire. highest part of 
its stroke, but due to small leaks past the 
plunger and valves it has been found that 
this distance should not exceed 25 to 28 
feet in actual practice, and an even 
shorter distance is preferable. 
A glance at the simple pump diagram, 
Fig. 21, will, perhaps, help in explain¬ 
ing the action of the lift pump. A is the 
plunger that makes an airtight fit in the 
cylinder B, and is free to slide up and 
down in the same when operated by the 
handle and pump rod. This bucket or 
plunger has passages through it, covered 
by the valves C. These valves open up¬ 
ward. When the plunger moves upward 
these valves are closed, making the plun¬ 
ger airtight. Previous to this movement 
the air pressure was the same on both 
sides of the plunger, i. e., 14.7 pounds 
per square inch. As the plunger moves 
upward the air beneath it expands to fill 
the increased space and the pressure be¬ 
neath the plunger is lessened. At this 
point the atmospheric pressure on the 
surface of the water at D being greater 
than the pressure within the pump forces 
a certain amount of water up the pipe E 
until the pressure is equalized. As the 
water is forced up the pipe E, it raises 
the valve F and flows into the cylinder 
B. On the return stroke of the plunger 
the valve F is closed by the weight of the 
water preventing the return of the water 
down the pipe E. At the same time the 
valves in the plunger open and the water 
flows through to the upper side. At the 
next up stroke the process is repeated un¬ 
til the water flows out of the spout. The 
distance shown as G in the cut can never 
be more than 34 feet, as shown by the 
above, and, as stated, in actual practice, 
should not exceed 25 to 28 feet. As this 
distance is something like 50 feet in the 
case mentioned by A. C. L., the pump 
would not work, atmospheric pressure not 
being great enough to force the water to 
the plunger of the pump. 
Canton Agl. School. Robert h. smith. 
A Well Keeps Full. 
O N page 1411 W. II. gives account of 
a well that stays full at times. We 
have a drilled well which was tested, 
when completed, by pourng in water. We 
were unable to fill it. We also pumped 
it without lowering. In a year or so 
the water began to fail. We again tested 
by pouring in water and found that the 
pipe could be filled. The well was meas¬ 
ured and was found to have filled with 
about 10 feet of sand. This well had 
been pumped heavily. The sand finally 
became packed so tightly that no water 
could be pumped and we were obliged to 
have it drilled out. This sand was very 
fine, and packed in like hardpan. It 
may be that the well referred to by W. 
H. may at times become stopped with 
sand. The sand may at other times be 
forced loose by the pressure from the 
fountain-head. 
The well driller who cleaned our well, 
when finishing, put in about a foot of peb¬ 
bles about the size of a pea. He claimed 
that these would hold the sand down to 
a certain extent, or would mix with it 
so that it could not pack so hard. Since 
the well .was cleaned we have been pump¬ 
ing it with a three horse-power gasoline 
engine and a pump capable of throwing 
3,000 gallons an hour. j. d. riebel. 
Ohio. 
Traction Engine With Smooth Wheels. 
I T looks very much as though the road 
traction engine with cleated wheels 
will become a thing of the past, with 
State roads being put down throughout 
the country. A traction engine has just 
completed a severe test of travelling 112 
miles over roads from Cumberland to 
Frederick, Md. It was a demonstration 
trip by the Good Roads Commission of 
Maryland. Iron bands were fastened 
around the cleated wheels, and the en¬ 
gine, pulling a heavy thrasher and water 
tank, a load which amounted to seven 
tons, covered the long distance with but 
little trouble. The trip was a success 
from the standpoint of the roadmen, who 
claim that traction engines with cleats on 
the wheels do great damage to the State 
roads, and that the test proves that en¬ 
gines for road use can be successfully op¬ 
erated without cleats upon the wheels of 
same. This test was watched by repre¬ 
sentatives from other States in the East 
with great interest. Demonstrations of 
this kind will now be tried in other 
States, and if it is found that traction 
engines work well without cleats, as the 
Good Roads Commsiion of Maryland 
claims that they do, shown by the trial 
trip in that State, it is but a matter of a 
short time until the cleated wheel of the 
traction engine will be in use no more. 
Pennsylvania. e. e. c. 
To put it at once into Half a Million Farm Homes 
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