1331 
B»c RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Farm Mechanics 
A Vacuum Chamber for the Pump 
The sketch, Fig. 634, represents a well; 
1, a standpipe; 2, pump pipe. Remove 
cap from standpipe and fill all with water, 
valve at bottom of pipe (1) closes and 
keeps water from going into the well. 
Then screw on cap airtight. Now the 
vacuum in end of standpipe will hold the 
water up some distance. Will not the 
water stand at the same level in 2 as in 4, 
and pump with greater ease? The water 
being replaced by vacuum in standpipe 
as fast as pumped out? I have a well 
for some such arrangement if it will work. 
West Pawlet, Vt. Ji. c. n. 
Securing a water supply is one of the 
problems of farm life. Where it is ob¬ 
tained by means of a pump, as is usually 
the case, any device that will aid in bring¬ 
ing the water to the surface is well worth 
investigation, because of the lessened la¬ 
bor, if the pump is worked by hand, and 
the reduced wear on the pump and equip¬ 
ment if worked by an engine or other 
motor. 
In a deep well, or a case where an or¬ 
dinary reciprocating pump is attached to 
a long line of horizontal pipe, thei'e is a 
long column of water that must be started 
and stopped at each up and down motion 
of the plunger. We all know that a load 
moves hardest at the start; consequently 
it makes the pump work hard constantly to 
start and stop this heavy volume of water, 
and in the case of a motor-driven pump 
results in severe strains on the plunger 
and valves. To aid in reducing these 
strains and distributing the load over the 
whole length of the stroke the so-called 
vacuum chamber, a device similar to that 
described by M. C. B., is used. This 
consists of a piece of four-inch pipe, 18 
inches to two feet in length, attached to 
the suction pipe just beneath the cylinder 
by means of a tee, as shown. In use, as 
the plunger moves upward, the jM-essure of 
air is reduced in both the cylinder and 
vacuum chamber, so that the full atmos¬ 
pheric pressure (about 15 pounds per 
square inch) acting on the surface of the 
in the well, forces some water up 
the pipe. After this action is repeated 
enough times the water reaches the cyl¬ 
inder, and as there has been a vacuum 
drawn in the vacuum chamber equal to 
that in the cylinder, water will flow into 
that and partially fill it as well. Water 
will continue to flow into it until the 
pressure of the air still contained in the 
upper end, plus the weight of the water 
in the pipe, will equal the pressure of the 
atmosphere on the surface of the water 
in the well. The air imprisoned in the 
upper end will act as a cushion, bringing 
the moving column of water to rest with¬ 
out a jar, while the supply of water in the 
chamber will flow to the cylinder at the 
next up stroke of the plunger, permitting 
the water in the suction pipe to start up¬ 
ward slowly and easily. 
As pointed out in the first of this reply, 
this device does not lessen the total load 
on the pump, but distributes it over the 
whole length of the stroke of the plunger, 
cushioning it at both the start and stop 
and preventing jar and shock. It acts 
somewhat as a coil spring would if placed 
as a part of the pump rod, absorbing en¬ 
ergy at one part of the stroke and deliv¬ 
ering it at another. 
This device, to work well, must have 
absolutely tight joints, and, while not nec¬ 
essary, its action is improved by the addi¬ 
tion of a foot valve, as indicated by M. 
C. B. It is not, however, necessary or 
desirable to have it extend to the bottom 
of the well, as he has shown, for the very 
purpose for which it was made would be 
j»nrtially defeated by this constmction. 
The ordinary dug well is seldom deep 
enough to secure much advantage from an 
arrangement of this kind. It is more 
adapted to long lines of horizontal piping, 
where the weight of the water, plus the 
unavoidable pipe friction, makes the start¬ 
ing and stopping of the water column hard, 
and a serious strain on the pump. 
R. II. S. 
Construction of Cement Floor 
I live in the country and wish to build 
a garage. Would you advise me as to the 
building material, and what kind of floor 
—dirt, cement or plank? The ground is 
level, and during heavy rains the water 
stands on ground for several hours. Any 
elevation I could have is further from the 
house than I desire to build, still I must 
build it where it is best for keep of car. 
Several Summers ago I had a cement base¬ 
ment floor laid in my dining-room by a 
man who claimed to understand the use 
of cement. The floor is dry in real cool 
or cold weather, but in warm weather or 
on hot days the floor sweats and is per¬ 
fectly wet all over the entire floor, and 
water collects in small pools in various 
places on the floor. I think the cement 
was not mixed properly, and must have 
too much water. I have been told since 
that man used too much cement—using 
40 bags (of 100 lbs. each, I think) to the 
room, 19x20 ft., and a porch floor half 
this size. I would appreciate any sug¬ 
gestions and information concerning this 
matter. a. s, t. 
Barboursville, Va. 
I think that you will have little.trouble 
with a concrete garage floor, even though 
on naturally wet ground, if you will pro¬ 
vide for drainage by placing field stones 
to a depth of a foot or more underneath 
it; even a less depth might do as well. 
This will, of course, raise your concrete 
flood somewhat above the level of the sur¬ 
rounding ground and out of the surface 
water. The concrete should be properly 
proportioned and mixed with just suflicieut 
water to give it a quaky consistency. An 
unnecessarily large proportion of cement 
would not injure the concrete, but would 
make it needlessly expensive. An old plan 
of making a floor waterproof from seepage 
from below was to place several inches of 
the concrete, then cover it with tarred 
paper mopped on with hot tar, and final¬ 
ly to complete the floor to its full depth 
with a second layer of concrete upon the 
tarred paper. I can hardly conceive of 
such a precaution being necessary, how¬ 
ever, in a garage floor, which may easily 
be underdraiued by a layer of field stones. 
_ M. B. D. 
There is so much written about the 
scarcity of help, especially on the farms, 
that I have felt compelled to tell my ex¬ 
perience. Having a large yield of ordi¬ 
nary farm crops, and be.sides a large crop 
of apples. I began early in the Fall to 
engage what help I could with fair suc¬ 
cess, although they did not all show up 
at picking time. But the influenza epi¬ 
demic closed the schools, and I was lucky 
enough to get two school teachers, and 
since then I have been able to get all the 
help I can use and some refused. If any¬ 
one has a large amount of not too heavy 
work, and is worried about the help prob¬ 
lem, if he can procure one or two farmer¬ 
ettes his problem will solve itself very 
satisfactorily. E. M. G. 
New Yoi'k. 
“How long has splicer been a member 
of Congress?” “I imagine quite a little 
while. He told me confidentially the other 
day that if he had to earn his living in 
the open market he couldn’t make $10 a 
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*1150 
LA CROSSE TRACTOR COMPANY 
Department 827 B, La Crosse, IVisconsin 
