■Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1403 
Farm Mechanics 
Installing a Ram 
Will Prof. Smith help in solving our 
farm water problem? Well goes dry two 
and three months during Summer, and is 
not sufficient for stock during Winter. 
It is proposed to use ram at the brook 
000 feet from buildings, and 80 feet be¬ 
low them. Plenty of water in the brook, 
and can get 10-foot fall in 1(X) feet, and 
I.o-foot fall in 200 feet from proposed 
site for the ram. What size ram will 
be needed to deliver the water at the 
buildings for a farm carrying 20 animal 
units, besides farmhouse requirements? 
What size and length of x'hm supply pipe, 
and what size of delivery pipe? Is it 
practicable to have water delivered into 
a pressure tank below frost line of about 
2(K) to 300 gallons’ capacity to force water 
to second story of the house, and to have 
the overflow run by gravity to barn open 
tank? AVhat valves are used in this 
event? Will a properly installed ram 
keep at work during a New England Win¬ 
ter ? A. B. D. 
Cummington, Mass. 
I think it entirely feasible from a me¬ 
chanical standpoint to utilize the brook 
water, during a freshet, covers this “snift- 
ing” valve, the air supply is cut off and 
the ram soon becomes waterlogged and 
stops, and being full of standing water at 
this time, presents a good opportunity for 
damage by freezing if the weather turns 
cold, as well as the inconvenience of do¬ 
ing without water during its submerg¬ 
ence. 
The layout suggested by the^iketch, 
here given, shows a general method that is 
sometimes utilized to prevent this diffi¬ 
culty. It will, of course, have to be 
adapted to your particular case, making 
it meet your conditions as nearly as may 
be. In the case shown the stream is 
dammed and the water led to a standpipe 
or bulkhead in which it stands at the 
same level as in the stream. The posi¬ 
tion of the standpipe is chosen so that 
the ram may be placed in the most de¬ 
sirable location with the proper length of 
drive pipe and amount of fall previously 
determined upon. The pipe leading from 
the stream to the standpipe may be of 
tile or wood conduit, as it is subjected to 
no pres.sure, the only qualification being 
that it be plenty large enough to supply 
water to the standpipe as fast as the ram 
gine 
Selected by over 
150.000 "Fattnets 
as a source of water supply, pumping it 
as you suggest with an hydraulic ram. 
Before making any attempt to utilize this 
water for household purposes, however, I 
would have the stream thoroughly investi¬ 
gated to be assured of its pxirity, for un¬ 
less the stream is spring fed and comes 
from an uninhabited region I would have 
grave doubts as to its potability. The 
ordinary brook, flowing through a thickly- 
settled farming dlstiuct is usually so pol¬ 
luted by washings from the fields, by farm 
animals and by sewage—both by direct 
discharge into the stream and by seep¬ 
age—that it is seldom lit for drinking. A 
stream is so situated at the bottom of a 
drainage district that it catches all of this 
filth, and although the water may appear 
clear and sparkling, it may still carry 
deadly germs. It may be, perhaps, that 
you have a spring along this stream that 
would furnish a supply of excellent water. 
If this i.s the case a double-acting ram 
could be installed which would utilize the 
water of the stream for pumping the wa¬ 
ter of the spring to the buildings. We 
uses it. The bulkhead must be high 
enough to hold water at the same level as 
the source of supply, and a barrel is fre¬ 
quently used for the purpose, though one 
built of concrete is more lasting. The 
drive pipe leading from the bulkhead to 
the ram should be of the proper length 
and as straight as possible. If turns are 
unavoidable, make them by bends rather 
than elbow.s or other fittings. The pipe 
should run from the bottom of the bulk¬ 
head, as shown in the cut below this, and 
be fitted with a strainer having a large 
surface so that the flow will not be inter¬ 
fered with. The low jmsition is to insure 
that the mouth of the drive pipe is always 
covered with water, preventing the en¬ 
trance of air and the strainer to keep out 
trash, the entrance of either air or trash 
at this point stopping the ram. The 
drive pipe should be tight and strong to 
withstand the hammer-like blows of the 
water column it contains and to prevent 
the entrance of air by any other, way than 
the “snifting” valve. 
From the conditions as outlined you 
will assume, though, that the .stream men¬ 
tioned is a satisfactory source of water 
supply, and work out a ram installation 
for use in connection with it. 
The first consideration is to try to find 
a location for the ram where it will get a 
satisfactory fall and be so placed as to be 
interfered with as little as possible with 
freshet water and ice. You suggest that 
by going up sti-eam a certain distance 
a greater fall could bo obtained. The 
10-ft. fall will pump jour water satis¬ 
factorily, but by taking water from this 
upper source you might be able to place 
the ram in a more protected position. 
The ram operates by absorbing the im¬ 
pact. or hammer-like blow of a suddenly 
checked column of water. This blow is 
absorbed by a cushion of compres.sed air 
held in the air bell of the ram, the air 
pressure so generated being used with the 
aid of suitably placed valves, to force 
water ui> to the house or other jxoint of 
consumption. Air is slightly soluble in 
W'ater, consequently the air in the bell is 
being constantly carried out by the water 
passing up the service pipe, and to main¬ 
tain this supply a so-called “snifting” 
valve is used on the ram, which draws in 
a . ’ight amount at e.ach backward surge 
of the water in the (h iv? i I: the 
would require from 250 to 300 gallons of 
water daily, allowing 10 gallons per ani¬ 
mal per daj’. and the balance for house¬ 
hold use. This amount should be fur¬ 
nished by a small ram, one using a didve- 
pipe IVt in. in inside diameter and a %- 
in. delivery pipe. Such a ram operating 
under a head of 10 feet will require from 
three to seven gallons per minute for its 
operation and will deliver from 3(50 to 
840 gallons per day. This size is advised 
with the assumption that a storage tank 
large enough to hold at least a day’s sup¬ 
ply of water is use<l in connection with it, 
as of course the ram i)umps very slowly, 
and it is only because it keeps at it 24 
hours per day that tlie required amount 
of water is furnished. 
It is possible that with the installation 
of the water sj'.stem there will be an in¬ 
creased use of water; other ways will be 
found for its use, watering gardens, 
lawns, etc., and if this is contemplated 
and the brook furnishes water enough, it 
would be advisable to put in a ram with 
a two-inch drive pipe and a one-inch dis¬ 
charge. This ram would recpiire about 
twice as much water for operation and 
would pump about double the amount of 
the other. Its cost, though, would be 
cn page 14051 
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