1310 
TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Putting Up a Line Shaft 
An Ai.l-’kovnd Helper.— The small 
gasoline engine has become a fixture on 
nearly every farm. The question has 
changed from “What could I do with a 
gasoline engine?” to “W’hat could I do 
•without one?” It is used for pumping 
wafer, grinding feed, doing the milking 
and numerous other chores. Its full ad¬ 
vantages cannot be reaped, however, 
without some means of quickly belting it 
to the various machines that it is capable 
of driving and this is best accomplished 
by the use of a line shaft. If the engine 
is ■w'ell set up on a secure foundation and 
belted to a properly aligned shaft there 
will be almost no limit to the machines 
that may be grouped about it and to the 
jobs that it can be made to do. 
Requirements op Shaft. —Putting up 
a line shaft is not a difficult piece of work, 
but it is one that requires considerable 
care if the shaft is to work properly. The 
essentials for successful running are that 
the shaft is well supported by properly 
placed bearings, so that-it is free to turn 
easily without bending, and that its axis 
lies in the same planes, both horizontally 
and vertically, as does the engine .shaft. 
The only tools needed to secure these con¬ 
ditions are the straight edge, chalk and 
line, steel square, plumb-bob and level; 
tools that are found on every farm. 
Starting the Work. —With the en¬ 
gine already in place, carefully leveled up 
and bolted to a firm foundation, the first 
step is to secure a center line from -which 
the remainder of the work may be laid 
out. This is done by holding a straight¬ 
edge against the machined surface of one 
of the wheels, as shown in the sketch. 
Fig. (!20, and having a helper drop a 
plumb-bob down from each end and care¬ 
fully mark the points on the floor. _ A 
small nail is driven at (A), the point 
nearest the balance wheel of the engine. 
The chalk line is looped over this nail, 
and after chalking the line it is stretched 
up and held in such a position that it 
cuts through the point (B) located by 
the i)lumb-bob. After being stretclx'd up 
taut the line is snapped, giving jis a line 
(AX) at right angles to the engine shaft. 
Laying Out the Plan. —On the line 
(A X) a point (C) is chosen directly 
under the place where it is desired to 
hang the line of shafting. Another small 
nail is driven here and the points (D) 
and (E) located at equal distances from 
it and as far apart as the floor space will 
permit. Drive small nails at these points 
as well, and use them as centers in lay¬ 
ing out the arcs which intersect at (F) 
and (G). A fine,wire, such as stovepipe 
w’ire, is used in laying out these arcs, and 
the same radius—one as long as the floor 
space will permit—is used on both sides. 
Cord cannot be used for this purpose, as 
it might stretch, making the work inac¬ 
curate. A chalk line now struck through 
the points (F) and (G) will be parallel 
to the engine shaft. This line can be 
transferred to the ceiling where the shaft 
is to be hung by means of the plumb-bob, 
the bob being suspended from the ceiling 
and carefully moved about until the point 
is directly over the line. This_ location is 
then marked on the ceiling -with a small 
nail, and the position of the other end of 
the line found in the same way, A line 
struck through these two points will be 
parallel to the engine shaft in a vertical 
plane and the shaft hangers can be placed 
and bolted up with this line as a center 
line. To make the .shaft parallel with the 
ehgine shaft in a horizontal plane all 
that is necessary is to level it carefully 
after it has been put in place. With a 
cdi'penter’s level test it along the top, and 
adjust it uj> or down until the bubble 
shows level in every spot. In doing this 
the level should be reversed at every trial, 
to eliminate any inaccuracy that might 
exist in the level. 
Hanoi.ng the Shaft. —Iron hangers, 
such as can be obtainecf through any hard¬ 
ware or from any mail-order house, are 
a little more convenient to use and adjust, 
and present a little better appearance, 
but if the idea is to install^ the shafting 
as cheaply as is consistent with good serv¬ 
ice, hangers and bearings can be made 
from h.ard wood like the cut. Fig. tl21. 
that will meet every farm requirement. 
These need little explanation, as the 
drawing shows their construction quite 
clearly. The posts (A) (A) are fitted 
to the other pieces as .shown by the detail 
at (B1 and are held in this position by 
the bolts (G) (G), the heads being coun¬ 
tersunk so that the hanger may be placed 
flat against the upper floor to which it is 
secured by bolts or lag screws The writer 
knows of'a line shaft that is supported by 
hangers and bearings of this kind that has 
been in every-day service, doing the usual 
farm chores,'for the past 10 years, and as 
far as their condition could be judged 
from appearance, the bearings are good 
for a lifetime yet. The bearings are made 
by clamping two pieces of hard wood in 
the vise and boring in from each side to 
the center so that the hole will extend 
equarely through. This is then smoothed 
up with a gouge and rasp, and an oil hole 
bored in the top half. A few days’ soak¬ 
ing in oil improves them but is not neces¬ 
sary. This bearing can be moved along 
its support or adjusted up or down by 
means of shims beneath it. as found neces¬ 
sary in lining up the shaft. If kept well 
oiled or greased until they become worn 
in and oil soaked they will require very 
little further attention. 
The Pulleys. —The selection of pul¬ 
leys is sometimes somewhat of a puzzle. 
For general use the wood split pulleys 
give the best results. Split pulleys are 
specified because they can be separated in 
halves and placed on the shaft at any 
point without disturbing others. The pul¬ 
leys should have a rim width slightly 
greater than that of the belt to be used 
•u’ith them, and unless used for a machine 
having tight and loose pulleys, should be 
slightly crowned to aid in keeping the 
belt in place. A machine having a tight 
and loose pulley combination requires a 
flat-face driving pulley with a width of 
face somewhat greater than twice the 
■width of the belt used with it. 
Size of Pulleys.—T o be able to de¬ 
termine the size pulleys to use on the line 
shaft to give the various driven machines 
their pro])er speed it is first necessary to 
know the revolutions made per minute 
by it. This is best obtained by means of 
a speed indicator, but if one is not obtain¬ 
able and the speed of the engine is known 
to a certainly the revolutions made by the 
.shaft may be obtained by multiplying the 
diameter of the belt pulley on the engine 
by the revolutions made per minute, and 
dividing this product by the diameter of 
the driven pulley on the line shaft, the 
diameters in both cases being taken in 
the same unit, usually inches. For ex¬ 
ample, suppose the engine to be making 
500 revolutions per minute, or R.P.M. as 
it is usually expre.ssed, and to have a belt 
wheel 10 inches in diameter. If this is 
belted to a pulley 20 inches in diameter 
on the shaft the line shaft will make 250 
R.P.M.— (500 X 10) divided by 20 
equals 250. 
Speed. —Machines such as milk sep¬ 
arators, pumps and electric generators, 
used in connection with this shaft, must 
each be run at a certain specified speed 
to do satis-faetory work. These machines 
are usually equipped wuth a driving pul¬ 
ley by the manufacturer, and as the 
proper speed at which to operate them is 
known, the user’s problem is to determine 
the proper-sized pulley to use on the line 
shaft to get this speed. This is done by 
multiplying the R.P.M. that should be 
made by the machine by the diameter of 
its puHe.v and dividing this product by 
the R.P.M. of the line shaft. The result 
will be the proper size pulley to use on 
the shaft. As an example, suppose a 
cream separator with a pullo.v four inches 
in diameter and making 626 R.P.M. is 
to be driven from a line shaft running at 
210 R.P M. and the diameter of the line 
shaft pulley is desired. It is found as fol¬ 
low’s : 626 (R.P.M. driven pulley) x 4 
(the diameter of driven pulley) divided 
by 210 (the R.P.M. made by shaft) 
equals 11.02 plus (the required diameter 
of driving pulley). In actual practice a 
12-iuch pulley w’ould be used. Often a 
roinodeb'd building is used for a farm 
pow’er house and it is not always possible 
to have things just as w’e w’ish them, but 
it is w'ell to keep in mind what is good 
practice and make our arrangement of 
shafting and machines conform as closely 
as possible to it. 
Torsional Stress. —When a shaft is 
at work there is considerable twisting, or 
torsioiral stress as it is called, undergone 
by it. The engine is turning it one di¬ 
rection and the machine to which it is 
'belted is trying to turn it in the opposite. 
To reduce this to the minimum, place the 
shaft through the middle of the building 
and arrange the driven machinery along 
each side. As suggested above, though, 
this is not ahvays possible because of lack 
of w’idth in the building, this arrangement 
in a narrow building making the belts too 
.short and causing them to run too nearly 
vertical, both of these conditions requir¬ 
ing too tight a belt to prevent slipping. 
Where this is the case, place the shafting 
along one side and so arrange the machin¬ 
ery that the heavy machines requiring 
the most power come nearest to the en¬ 
gine. Also see that there are plenty of 
shaft hangers and that all of the principal 
driving pulleys are put close up to one, 
so that there is little spring to the shaft 
while at work. 
With the present lack of farm labor it 
is necessary that we use every mechanical 
device possible to lighten and hasten our 
work. While the line shaft described is 
comparatively inexpensive to put up it 
wdll be found to be the best ally of the 
gas engine obtainable, and the two used 
together will be rated as the best hired 
man on the i)Iace, working uucomplain- 
ingly, early and late, at the routine work 
of the farm that requires so much atten¬ 
tion. rorert h. smith. 
Cleaning a Well 
Two years ago .seven rabbit.s got into 
my well and there decayed. At that time 
I had the well thoroughly cleaned and 
scrubbed with a scrubbing compound. 
Since the drought I notice the same taste 
in the water. There appears to be noth¬ 
ing but water in the well. The well is 35 
feet deep. The lower 10 feet is lined with 
cement tile, and the rest with stone. The 
water is about 11 feet deep at present. 
Can you recommend or suggest any clean¬ 
ing preparation that probably will do thia 
job once for all? The tiles now cost ^ 
each, and I do not care to throw them 
away. w. c. 
New Jersey. 
The present bad taste to the water of 
your well cannot come from the pollution 
of two years ago. You should look fob a 
new source, and it is quite possible that 
you will find this in a neighboring ces.s- 
pool or privy vault. In times of drought, 
or after unusually heavy pumping, the 
level of the ground water is lowered, and 
sources of pollution that do not ordinarily 
affect a well may be tapped. It occurs at 
times, too. that the effluent from a cess¬ 
pool finally finds it way to wells from 
which it has long been kept by the inter¬ 
vening earth. This is most likely to occur 
when a well is drawing its water from 
an unusual distance because of the scant 
supply or heavy pumping above referred 
to. _ ()f cour.se, no cleaning of a W’ell will 
avail if it is subject to continuous con¬ 
tamination from some more or less distant 
source, and you should look carefully for 
some such po.ssible one if the water still 
.has a bad and unusual taste after having 
been thoroughly cleaned. M. n. D. 
Cementing a Well 
T should like your advice in regard to a 
well which I am digging. We had it 
down to a depth of about 20 feet, and 
were getting a very fair flow of water, 
but the well digger advised going three or 
four feet deeper, to make sure of a good 
storage supply. He thereupon blasted, to 
get rid of a rock, and struck a porous 
ledge, through which the water runs as 
fast as it comes into Gie well. He now 
states that in order to get the storage 
capacity, which I would have had before 
we struck this ledge, it will be necessary 
to dig down below the ledge as far as we 
had already dug before we came to it. 
This will mean greatly increased cost, 
and the possibility of finding another 
ledge, which will spoil the entire well. 
Will you advise me if it would be prac¬ 
tical to cement the bottom of the well as 
it now stands, as far up as the ledge ex¬ 
tends, thus forming a reservoir for the 
water which comes in above the cement 
wall? If this is practical, will it be 
necessary to cement around the entire 
well, or simply around that part of it 
where the ledge is located? w. M .E. w. 
Marlbcrough, Mass. 
It not infrequently happens that water 
from one saturated stratum of soil leaka 
into an unsaturated stratum above or be¬ 
low if the access to it is gained through 
the bore of the well. In cased wells, the 
remedy is to carry the casing through the 
porous stratum and thus seal it; in dug 
November 23, 3918 
wells the solution of the problem may not 
be so easy. Each well is, of course, a 
case for individual treatment, according 
to the conditions present. It would seem 
to me that the two remedies suggested in 
the case of your well are both practicable, 
though no one knows what deeper digging 
might reveal. If the porous ledge is thin, 
a reservoir below it might be dug, an 
your well-digger suggests, and it is quite 
possible that, after penetrating it, you 
would find another saturated stratum that 
would give you a sufficient yield of water. 
On the other hand, I can see no reason 
why you cannot seal the lower portion 
of the well already dug by a concrete 
bottom and wall, making a cistern for 
holding the water flowing into it from 
above. As to whether the porous ledge 
could be sealed without encasing the en¬ 
tire bore of the well, only an examination 
would show. If your well digger is a man 
of intelligence and experience in your 
locality, his advice should probably be 
followed. It would certainly be impos¬ 
sible for one not on the ground to give 
you definite instructions. v n D. 
Water Righto 
The water which supplies our house 
and barn is obtained from a spring on an 
adjacent property, running therefrom 
through a lead pipe. It has run ov . 75 
years, we know. The land on which the 
spring is located was originally part of 
our farm when it was owned by ano r 
man. who bequeathed the portion contain¬ 
ing the spring, which was an open lot 
with no buildings of any sort on it, to a 
son. who sold it to another man, who 
ha.s built a house near the spring and 
u.ses the water for his house and barn. 
When there is a dry spell he uses so much 
that we do not get any, and be refuses to 
allow us to make entry on his land to re¬ 
pair the pipe or to find out the cause of 
the water .stopping when it does stop. 
What are our legal rights in this matter, 
and what redress have we? A M. 8. 
New Jersey. 
Toil have undoubtedly obtained a pre¬ 
scriptive right to an easement in your 
neighbor’s property to the extent of the 
use of the waters as in former years, and 
this gives you the privilege of entry on 
his property to keep your flow open and 
your pipes in repair. He has absolutely 
no right to interfere with theflow of 
water siich as you have been used to. 
Notify him at once, in writing, keeping a 
copy of the letter, that you are entitled 
to the use of the spring as formerly, and 
that you wish to repair the pipe so that 
you can get the usual flow, and that for 
any interference on his part with this 
right you will hold him responsible for in 
damage.s. If he still refuses to let you 
enter his property, notify him that you 
will proceed to get an injunction restrain¬ 
ing him from interfering with your right. 
This, of course, will be costly to both 
parties, but it is the only means you have 
to keep your rights open, for if you let 
him go he will eventually obtain the right 
to the full use of the spring. If you can¬ 
not come to peaceable terms with him it 
will pay you to obtain the services of the 
best lawyer in your neighborhood to look 
after your interests. The best is cheapest 
in the end. You have a valuable right 
which should not be lost, 
Transplanting Grapevin« 
When is the best time of year to move 
a grapevine? m. r. 
Hartford, Conn. 
It is very rarely economica'i to attempt 
to transplant a grapevine, especially if it 
be over three years of age. One can pur¬ 
chase for a very nominal sum a one-year 
plant fi'om a nui-seryman that will come 
to bearing after the third year planted. 
Not much, if any, fruit can be expected 
from an old vine that has been transplant¬ 
ed for two .years, as the root system must 
be cut back severely. If the variety be 
one that is difiicult to obtain from the 
nurseryman, cuttings may he taken from 
the vine this Fall after the first hard 
freeze, kept in a cool cellar in sand over 
Winter, and then the coming Spring 
planted in a trench in a rich part of the 
garden. The cuttings should be made 
from the growth of the current season 
and should be about nine inches in length. 
The low’er cut of each should be made 
cloe;e to a bud, w’hile the top should have 
two or more inches of cane above the top 
bud. These, when planted in the trench, 
should be deep enough so that the top bud 
i.s just above the surface of the soil ■w’hen 
filled in. The Fall following there should 
be several desirable plants for setting in 
permanent locations. 
If it is desired to transplant, care 
should be taken that a considerable ball of 
earth is dug with the roots embedded 
therein, disturbed as little as possible. 
Again, it is necessary that the hole into 
which the vine is to be placed is no deeper 
than that from which the vine was re¬ 
moved, as the transplant should stand at 
about the same level. The soil should bo 
•n’ell compacted. Tr.ansplanting of the 
vine may be done either in the Fall after 
the dormant period i8 reached, or it may 
be done early in the Spring before growth 
starts. One time has proven about as de¬ 
sirable as the other. f. e. gladwin. 
To tell a mushroom, merely eat 
The specimen that you may meet. 
And note, next day, wuth studious care. 
If you’ve stayed here or gone elsewhere. 
—Washington Star. 
I.nyhiy Out Line f^linft. Fig. <>20 
