1282 
Iht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Farm Mechanics 
Electric Power from River 
Our farm is on the Appomattox River, 
Virginia, and the dwelling is about a mile 
from the river. The current is three to 
four miles an hour, and the lowest level 
of the river, in the driest years, is at 
least 3 ft. deep; width about 60 ft. In 
the Spring it sometimes rises to a dozen 
or more feet. Th: question is whether by 
means of a water wheel (damming being 
out of the question) in connection with 
a flume it would be practicable to develop 
electric current for light and small power 
at the dwelling. The wires could be run 
on standing trees all the way to the house. 
I was much impressed by an article on 
this general subject in your issue of 
November 21. 1914, which I have now 
before me. The construction of the flume 
ought not to be costly, since we have 
plenty of timber on the place, and a saw¬ 
mill to handle it. If the plan is prac¬ 
ticable. how much horsepower would you 
suggest should be developed? E. a. w. 
Using the depth (3 ft.), width (60 ft.), 
and rate of flow (three miles per hour), 
given, it is easily computed that the 
stream discharges when flowing at this 
rate, 47.520 cu. ft. per minute. This 
amount of water with a 10-ft. fall would 
theoretically be capable of developing 900 
horsepower. In actual practice of course 
this could not all be obtained, as this 
would mean that every drop of water 
must pass through the wheel and be 100 
per cent efficient while so doing. While 
this looks like a large power, the possi¬ 
bility of using the stream for power pur¬ 
pose's would depend upon its layout, the 
slope of the bed, the height of the banks, 
etc., and these factors could only be de¬ 
termined by examination. 
I assume that you wish to install one 
of the so-called current wheels, and sug¬ 
gest that you procure from the Govern¬ 
ment Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 
a copy of Experiment Station Bulletin 
No. 146. “Current Wheels.” This bulle¬ 
tin contains 38 pages of cuts and descrip¬ 
tive matter pertaining to installations of 
this kind, and should be of much value to 
you. In connection with it Parts I and 
II, Experiment Station Bulletin No. 249, 
describing various types of dams, ought 
also to be of interest to you. 
With the stream so far from your 
buildings it would be cheaper and easier 
to install one of the engine-driven plants; 
also it would be near at hand for the 
small amount of attention necessary. 
Communication with the various water 
wheel and electric equipment companies 
advertising in the reliable farm papers 
will bring you catalogues and printed 
matter containing much valuable advice. 
R. H. S. 
Leaking Tank 
I am puzzled by a leaking metal tank. 
Tank is 12 ft. in diameter and 8 ft. high; 
in use two years. It holds till nearly full, 
then leaks out, chiefly where bottom joins 
wall; one time in the seam of union in 
bottom. Rests on a solid brick wall all 
around, with only two joists spanning the 
space from wall to wall for bottom of 
tank to rest on. I am thinking, could one 
use any kind of roof cement qnd tarred 
paper over bottom? R - 8 - B 
Clinton. Mass. 
The trouble is probably due to insuf¬ 
ficient support beneath the tank, so that 
the bottom is sprung and the seams 
opened bv the weight of water as the tank 
fills. Water tanks are often built with 
insufficient, support as the great weight of 
water (about 62.5 lbs. per cubic foot) is 
not realized. In the tank in question, the 
capacity, if level full, would be approx¬ 
imately 904 cu. ft., weighing about 28*4 
tons, or a weight of 500 lbs. resting^ on 
every square foot of the bottom. The 
two joists spanning the space from wall 
to wall are not sufficient support fur the 
tank bottom. While they may be able to 
carry the total load without breaking, 
still, the portion of the bottom between 
them is not capable of carrying the load 
imposed upon it without distortion, and 
the consequent straining of the seams and 
leaking. The best method to pursue 
would be to strengthen these supports if 
they can be gotten at, and then thor- 
oughlv drv out the tank and .solder the 
leaks.' If this cannot be done, temporary 
relief may be obtained by the use of a 
good asphaltum roofing cement applied as 
a paint to the dry seams of the. tank, al¬ 
though it is probable that it will always 
give more or less trouble until the cause 
of the trouble is removed. B. H. 8. 
Farm Water Supply 
I have a farm near Danbury, Conn., 
and am contemplating putting in a water 
system to supply the house and take care 
of 20 head of stock, I cannot eay at this 
writing what my requirements are. This 
can be arrived at later. There is at pres¬ 
ent a well 30 ft. from the house, which 
takes care of the house by the old bucket 
method, but it would not stand the strain 
©f being piped in the house for bathroom 
purposes. It is 30 ft. deep. Close to the 
barns I had constructed a large concrete 
cistern to catch the rain water from the 
barns. When we have rainy seasons this 
takes care of the stock. The cows are in 
the pasture during the Summer, where 
there is a pond, but in extremely dry sea¬ 
sons the pond gets low and muddy. There 
is a fine spring a quarter of a mile from 
the house, 75 ft. drop, but 1 r.m afraid 
this cannot be used because of the dis¬ 
tance and prohibitive cost. In the pas¬ 
ture, about 100 to 200 ft. from my barns, 
the land seems to be low and springy, and 
I believe a well could be driven there with 
success. I want it piped to the house, 
and by the means of a pneumatic tank 
forced through the house. The power for 
drawing the water must be by engine, and 
the engine must be of sufficient power to 
run a lighting system which I hope to in¬ 
stall later on, when I get the most impor¬ 
tant feature in operation—the water 
plant. J. v. 8. 
New York. 
To care for 20 head of stock a supply 
of about 200 gals, daily would be needed. 
The house requirements would depend 
upon the size of the family, and are usu¬ 
ally estimated at about 25 gals, per per¬ 
son daily. This includes bath and all pur¬ 
poses. As you say, it is doubtful if the 
well that you now have could be relied 
upon for this amount, although if it fur¬ 
nishes a good supply of water it might do. 
Pumping tests in dry weather when the 
water was low would help in determining 
this. 
It seems that the probable best method 
of securing water, if it is determined that 
the well does not furnish enough, is 
either to deepen the well by drilling, or 
ns an alternative pipe the spring water 
referred to to the buildings. W ood pip¬ 
ing could be used for this, and if the 
spring furnishes a sufficient amount of 
water the 75-ft. elevation spoken of should 
give a very good pressure at the house. 
If wished, it could be arranged to teed a 
small gravity table in the attic of the 
house, and the overflow piped to the barn, 
the water being allowed to run continu¬ 
ously ; in this way fresh water is always 
available for drinking purposes. It is 
true that either of these arrangements 
would cost considerable moyey, but the 
securing of a pure and adequate farm 
water supply is very important, and is 
something that will be needed as long as 
the place stands, so that makeshift sup¬ 
plies should not be tolerated. The health 
ot one’s family should not be juggled with 
by the-use of impure water, or even water 
of doubtful purity. Your plan of utiliz¬ 
ing the same engine for pumping and 
lighting I would consider good, and a 
small engine will be found ample for the 
work. R. xi. 6. 
Driving a Well 
Can you give me any information re¬ 
garding driven wells? How is it general¬ 
ly done? Is the point put right on the 
well casing, driven down and left on, and 
the pump with cylinder or valve, whatever 
it is called, put inside casing? A friend 
of mine drove one through sandy soil by 
pounding with a wooden sledge. About 
how far would you judge you would be 
nble to drive point in this manner? I 
never knew how far he got his. but do 
know he got water. What size pipe is 
generally used for casing? JVIT. J. 
Rochelle Park, N. J. 
This type of well is adapted to deep 
sandy or gravelly soils where the water 
table lies within suction distance (about 
25 ft.) of the surface. They are fre¬ 
quently put down to ft much greater 
depth than this, but a dry well has to be 
dug to bring the cylinder of the pump 
down to the distance above mentioned 
from the water. No casing is used, but 
a heavy drive-pipe carrying a. point and 
screen is driven into the ground until 
water is reached. This pipe is from 1 to 
August 30, 101 * 
3 in. in diameter, and the pump is at¬ 
tached to the upper end direct. As the 
drive pipe has to serve as a suction pipe 
to the pump it must be tightly screwed 
together at the joints, using a mixture of 
graphite and grease on the threads. An¬ 
other reason for screwing the joints up 
tightly is to make the ends of the pipe 
meet within the coupling, thus preventing 
their splitting from the strain of driving. 
Driving is accomplished, in the sim¬ 
plest cases, by putting a driving cap over 
the top of the pipe and striking with c. 
heavy maul, while a second man steaaicc 
and slowly turns the p.ye with a wrench. 
The leverage of a heavy wrench may be 
increased by slipping a piece of pipe • or 
the handle, but while this will serve some¬ 
times in an emergency it is not a good 
practice, ns it puts too great a strain on 
the wrench. For the larger pipes a pile- 
driver-like arrangement is rigged up on 
a tripod and a heavy weight used to do 
the driving, or. as is sometimes done, a 
platform may be bolted to the upper end 
of the pipe upon which the men stand in 
driving, using a heavy weight between 
them, and in this way adding their own 
weight to the driving effect. A second, 
though less common type of well of this 
class, consists of a pipe driven down with 
an open end. and inside of this a drill is 
worked to loosen the soil, which is car¬ 
ried to the top by means of a jet of water 
forced in from the top. 
After driving the well should be de¬ 
veloped by pumping. Slow and steady 
pumping gives the best results. This re¬ 
moves the clay and silt particles from 
about the strainer, and permits the water 
to enter the pipe much more readily. A 
driven well can usually be relied upon 
to furnish pure water because of the fact 
that any surface water to reach it, must 
filter through a layer of soil equivalent 
to the depth of the well. They are com¬ 
paratively cheap to sink, but are usually 
short lived when compared with a drilled 
or dug well, because of clogging of the 
screen. R. n. 8. 
Start her off for the fall season on “high” by 
giving her a boost now. When the flies and 
hot weather are gone, she will pick right up if 
properly fed. That means plenty of proteins 
to balance the excess of carbohydrates in the 
average diet. Nothing equals 
Purina Cow Chow 
(24% Protein) 
because it's not only right chemically, but the cane 
molasses makes it so palatable that cows always relish 
it, and step along at top speed. 
Dairymen say: “ ‘Old 24’ is mixed just the way we 
would do it ourselves if we had the material and the 
equipment. We always like to use molasses, but it’s so 
hard to handle on the farm.’ 
Send for circular of balanced rations. See your dealer. If be 
can“t sell you Purina Cow Chow, write us at once., 
Purina Mills, 
Ralston Purina Co., Prop. 
327 Gratiot Street, St. Louis, Mo. 
Sold in checkerboard bags only. 
HORSE 
DAIRY 
POULTRY 
PURINA 
FEEDS 
SWINE 
STEER 
CALF 
□ 
CHECKER 
BOARD 
BAGS 
