440 
<Ihe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 8, 1924 
Farm Mechanics 
By Robert H. Smith 
Water Power for Electric Plant 
I have water power with 10 ft. of fall, 
25 ft. from the dam, and 7 ft. right by 
the dam, and can run six months of the 
year a 6-in. pipe, six months 4-in. Will 
you tell me how much power I can get 
from that? I thought I would put in a 
gate valve on a 6-in. pipe; then when the 
water was down to 4 in. I would close up 
to a 4-in. pipe. Would like to put a water 
wheel for electric light plant. F. w. B. 
lied Hook, N. Y. 
It is impossible to determine the power 
that a stream is capable of developing 
without knowing the quantity of water 
discharged and the fall or head that it is 
possible .to secure. Water does work be¬ 
cause of its weight and position. A cubic 
foot of water weighs roughly 62.5 lbs., 
and it requires a flow of about 30 cu. ft., 
225 gallons, per minute, falling through a 
distance of 18 ft., to develop one horse' 
power. 
Stating that a stream is capable of fill¬ 
ing a 6-in. pipe tells little about the 
quantity of water discharged, as it is 
easily seen that with a velocity of 10 ft. 
per second only half as much water 
would be delivered as would be the case 
were the velocity 20 ft. per second. You 
may possibly have enough water to de¬ 
velop one to four horsepower, and as the 
flow varies with the season an overshot 
wheel would probably use it tT> the best 
advantage. 
Here is a Water Problem 
I am up against a serious problem and 
I thought perhaps your good selves or 
some of your readers might be able to 
solve it for me. I have a bungalow in the 
course of construction in New Jersey, 
and have tried several times to get water 
to supply same. My experience is as fol¬ 
lows : 
I have driven a pipe l 1 /* in. size with a 
well point attached 20 ft. in the ground 
at three different places, but was unable 
to get water in each attempt. In so 
driving I went through top soil for about 
3 ft., then hit a stratum of clay for 
about 5 ft., then about 6 in. of quicksand 
in which there was water, but was un¬ 
able to raise same, and after passing 
quicksand struck into more clay for the 
balance of 20 ft. One of my neighbors 
who lives about 300 ft. from me was suc¬ 
cessful in getting water at 13 ft., and 
seemed to go through different soil from 
where I am located. It has been suggest¬ 
ed to me that I dig till I come to this 
stratum of quicksand and put in a 12-in. 
tile with small holes in it to allow the 
water to seep into same, then put pipe in, 
and the water would come up in this 
basin deep enough to pump out. 
In digging my cellar, which was started 
in the month of November, 1022, the men 
dug a few feet lower than the floor level 
and obtained water to mix concrete with, 
but this water seemed to disappear in the 
Spring. Is it possible that you may have 
heard of such a case as this before? Per¬ 
haps one of your many readers may be 
able to suggest some way out of this dif¬ 
ficulty. In any event, whatever sugges¬ 
tions you can make will be appreciated. 
New Jersey. J. H. 
Running Circular Saw with Automobile 
Engine 
I plan to run a circular saw by power 
from a Ford car by placing the rear 
wheels on 11-in. pulleys, with a driving 
between in or near the center. Would 
the tire running on these pulleys give the 
same speed to the countershaft that belt¬ 
ing from a 30-in. to an 11-in. pulley 
would? I want to run saw about 1200 
r.p.m. Would this rule of computing 
speed apply: Multiply revolutions of 
axle by 30, diameter of wheel, and divide 
by 11, size of driven pulley, to get r.p.m. 
of countershaft, and apply same rule to 
counter to get speed of saw shaft? 
Brooklyn, N. Y. D- e. b. 
You* are right in your method of deter¬ 
mining pulley speed of saw. The tire of a 
30-in. wheel running on the 11-in. coun¬ 
tershaft pulleys would give them the same 
speed as would a 30-in. wheel belted to 
them if inflated hard enough to retain its 
round shape when resting on them. It 
will probably be indented somewhat, mak¬ 
ing it in effect more nearly a 29-in. pulley. 
With the engine running at a speed suf¬ 
ficient to drive the car at a rate of 20 
miles per hour the rear wheels will re¬ 
volve at a speed of approximately 224 
r.p.m,. and if the tires are well inflated 
will cause the 11-in. pulleys upon which 
they rest to revolve about 611 times per 
minute. If a 6-in. pulley is used on the 
saw mandrel it should be belted to a 12- 
in pulley on the countershaft to secure a 
speed of 1200 r.p.m. under these condi¬ 
tions. Pulley sizes may vary from the 
above to quite an extent, as it is easy to 
change the engine speed to drive the saw 
at the speed required by means of the 
throttle. 
Preventing Plumbing from Freezing 
I have a store I rent, and there is no 
heat in it. There is a toilet, and the 
pipes freeze so that cold nights I have 
to go over and shut the water off at the 
wall. Is there any way I can fix it to 
prevent freezing? The inside is plastered 
and the outside is papered and sided. I 
thought in the Spring I would take the 
siding off and fill in between the siding 
with brick; that would keep it from 
freezing. Is there some better way? 
Springfield, N. l r . V. w. S. 
It is not likely that the wall construc¬ 
tion you speak of will prevent freezing of 
the plumbing if the building is not heat¬ 
ed. Unless artificial heat of some kind is 
used, I would expect it to be impossible 
to keep the temperature above the freez¬ 
ing point. You can get a non-freezing 
toilet from your plumber that has all of 
the water pipes and connections below 
frost, designed for installation in just 
such a place. As a temporary relief, the 
rubber ball in the bottom of the flush tank 
can be raised, flushing the stool, and tied 
in this position, letting the water run 
through it continuously, which will pre¬ 
vent freezing. 
The dealer who supplies Alpha 
is a cement-service man, working 
in close cooperation with us. 
See him and get a helpful Service 
Sheet or Special Bulletin on the 
building operation that most in¬ 
terests you. 
Alpha Portland Cement Company 
EASTON, PA. CHICAGO, ILL. 
New York Boston Philadelphia Baltimore 
Pittsburgh St.'jLouis Ironton, Ohio 
Battle Creek, Mich. 
m i % $ Wx - ^ v-* |P| a 
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Driven Well With Windmill 
Can yon give me information in regard 
to windmills and driven wells, the. maxi¬ 
mum amount of water that a mill can 
produce from a driven well, etc.? I aul 
building a dam in the hills of Sussex t o., 
N. J. I intend to flow a swamp of about 
IS acres with an average depth of 4 ft. to 
15 ft. in the deepest part. The swamp is 
fed by springs and for about nine months 
of the year I have a good flow of water, 
but in very dry seasons the stream on the 
surface goes nearly dry. The swamp is 
surrounded by wooded hills, probably 200 
ft. or more above the level of the swamp. 
I have planned to drive a well in the 
hills and use a windmill in dry weather 
to hold my water level. Will you advise 
me in regard to windmills, and also tell 
me if this idea is practical? F. F. 
Sparta, N. J. 
The quantity of water obtained from a 
drilled well under the conditions that you 
outline could only be determined by test 
borings. It might possibly be approxi¬ 
mated by a study of similar wells in the 
vieinitv. if any exist. As to the power 
possible to obtain from a windmill, you 
mav expect an 8-ft. windmill to lift aoo^t 
five" gallons per minute a distance of 109 
ft. in a 15-mile wind. A 12-ft. mill 
should raise about four times this 
amount. „ . ^ . ... 
I would not expect a well of this kind 
to be effective in maintaining the water 
level on a pond of 18 acres. The ev*np- 
oration from this surface will be high. 
It would require a flow of about S3 gal¬ 
lons per minute continuously for 24 hours 
to raise the level of an 18-acre lake ,4 ul 
if none of the water were lost thiougn 
evaporation or seepage. 
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