550 
Qhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
April  7,  1923 
Farm  Mechanics 
Conducted  by  Robert  H.  Smith,  of  the  Canton  Agricultural  School 
Canton,  New  York 
of  a  storage  tank,  as  you  suggest,  on  the 
knoll  back  of  the  barn,  however,  will  re¬ 
lieve  this  trouble.  The  distance  to  the 
barn  being  approximately  only  100  ft., 
and  the  Avhole  17  ft.  of  the  fall  being 
available  in  this  distance,  water  will  flow 
rapidly  from  the  tank  to  the  barn  and 
up  to  the  capacity  of  the  tank  will  dis- 
flow.  If  the  pressure  type  water  buckets 
«re  used  they  will  operate  all  right  from 
the  supply  tank  on  the  knoll.  If  the 
dairy  is  at  all  large,  however,  a  1^4-in. 
pipe  should  be  used  from  the  tank  to  the 
buckets ;  otherwise  at  a  time  when  many 
of  the  cows  are  drinking  the  water  may 
not  flow  fast  enough  to  supply  them. 
Ram  for  Water  Supply 
I  have  a  spring  that  is  situated  on  low 
land,  7  ft.  long,  4  ft.  wide  and  5  ft.  deep. 
It  has  been  dug  down  and  fills  up  with 
water  within  a  foot  of  the  top,  or  about 
A  ft.  of  water.  Would  it  be  possible  to 
place  a  ram  in  a  pit  below  the.  overflow 
of  the  spring  and  get  one-half  inch  flow 
<  f  water  at  barn  200  ft.  away,  an^  at 
about  14  ft.  above  the  surface  of  the 
water  in  the  spring?  How  could  the 
water  be  carried  away  from  the  pit  if  the 
pit  had  to  be  placed  lower  than  the  level 
of  a  brook  some  10  or  12  ft.  away  from 
the  spring,  and  how  could  I  avoid  flood¬ 
ing  of  the  pit  when  the  brook  rises  in 
rainy  weather?  If  you  think  a  ram 
could  be  used,  will  you  give  me  necessary 
measurements  and  methods  for  instating 
the  same?  A.  C.  H. 
Towners,  N.  Y. 
From  a  study  of  your  conditions  as  out¬ 
lined  in  your  letter,  it  seems  improbable 
that  a  ram  could  be  used.  A  ram  is  sim¬ 
ply  a  water-power  pump,  pumping  water 
by  means  of  the  weight  and  irapactT of 
the  water  that  flow's  through  it,  and  hence 
must  be  placed  below  tl  e  supply,  and  also 
must  have  a  free  outlet  for  the  waste 
watei*.  The  smallest  sizes  of  rams  require 
a  supply  of  approximately  three  gallons 
per  minute,  and  a  fall  of  about  3  ft.  be¬ 
tween  the  spring  or  other  water  supply 
and  the  ram  to  operate.  If  these  con¬ 
ditions  are  possible  in  your  case,  a  small 
ram  could  be  used. 
You  speak  of  a  brook  near  the  spring; 
if  this  has  any  considerable  fall,  a  small 
w'ater  wheel  could  be  installed  to  pump 
your  spring  water,  or  one  of  the  double- 
acting  rams  which  use  brook  water  to 
pumo  spring  water,  two  feed  pipes  being 
used,  could  be  installed. 
Balanced  Pumping  Device 
Allow’  me  to  offer  a  word  in  regard  to 
drawing  of  pumps.  Oil  men,  by  applying 
this  teeter-board  balance  to  their  sucker- 
rods,  pump  four,  six  or  eight  wells  1,600 
feet  deep  with  a  five  horsepower  engine, 
w’hile  it  wmuld  require  a  five  horsepower 
engine  to  pump  one  W’ell  without  the 
balance.  By  applying  this  principle  of 
balance  W’e  are  able  to  lift  heavy  loads 
with  a  small  per  cent  of  power.  A  cubic 
foot  of  water  falling  100  ft.  is  said  to 
develop  double  the  power  of  water  falling 
50  ft.  Is  this  a  fact?  If  it  is  a  fact,  w’e 
do  not  have  to  double  power  every  time 
we  double  the  height.  If  we  did.  oil  men 
could  not  pump  their  wells.  What  will 
be  the  cost  of  operating  these  pumps? 
How  much  electricity  would  they  de¬ 
velop?  What  could  it  be  sold  for  per 
kilowatt?  The  same  ratio  of  cost  and 
liower  to  operate  will  apply  to  any  num¬ 
ber  of  pumps  of  any  size.  H.  L.  V. 
Alfred,  N.  Y. 
The  pump  is  balanced  in  name  only. 
Your  assumption  that  it  is  balanced  is 
based  on  the  fact  that  there  are  four 
vertical  pipes  of  equal  size  carrying 
water — two  moving  upward  and  the  other 
two  downward  at  the  same  time.  If  you 
will  study  drawings  you  will  note  that 
this  'balanced  effect  is  apparent  rather 
than  real,  as  the  columns  of  water  in 
the  two  downward  moving  pipes  do  not 
fall,  but  are  held  stationary  by  the 
plungers  at  the  bottom  of  the  tank ;  the 
pump  therefore  must  lift  the  water  con¬ 
tained  in  the  two  upward  moving  pipes, 
as  it  is  prevented  from  escaping  by  the 
valves  above  the  cylinders. 
I  am  not  familiar  with  the  methods 
used  in  pumping  oil,  but  am  unable  to 
see  how  a  pu,mp,  such  as  you  describe, 
could  be  used  for  deep  well  work.  The 
work  that  wmter  will  do  in  falling  is 
proportional  to  the  distance  it  falls.  A 
cubic  foot  or  other  unit  of  water  is  capa¬ 
ble  of  doing  twice  as  much  work  when 
it  falls  from  a  height  of  100  ft.  as  when 
it  drops  50  ft.  On  the  other  hand,  twice 
is  much  work  must  be  done  in  getting 
the  water  to  the  higher  elevation. 
If  electricity  could  be  developed  by 
this  method  it  could  be  sold  at  the  pre¬ 
vailing  rate.  In  this  section  of  the  State 
the  rate  is  10  cents  per  kilowatt  hour 
when  used  for  lighting.  I  think,  hoAV- 
ever,  that  the  foregoing  brief  explanation 
will  make  clear  to  you  the  fact  that  no 
more  energy  could  be  obtained  from  this 
arrangement  than  Avas  put  into  it  by  the 
engine  or  windmill  used  as  motive  poAver, 
even  though  the  device  was  perfect  me¬ 
chanically  and  ran  w’ithout  friction. 
size  pipe  ought  I  to  use?  I  have  been 
advised  to  put  a  supply  tank  on  the  high 
knoll  which  is  approximately  100  ft.  from 
the  barn,  and  running  an  overflow  pipe 
back  to  the  creek,  getting  some  second¬ 
hand  pipe  for  that  purpose.  The  tank  is 
to  be  made  of  concrete  and  placed  in  the 
ground.  What  is  you  opinion?  I  Avish  to 
attach  to  trap  buckets.  Do  you  think  I 
would  need  a  supply  tank?  Do  you  think 
there  Avould  be  any  danger  of  the  pipe 
freezing  at  2^  ft.  if  it  Avas  not  kept 
i*unning?  The  soil  is  a  sandy  gravel,  and 
there  will  be  no  driving  over  the  pipe  at 
any  place.  Will  you  tell  me  A\rhere  I  am 
apt  to  have  ti*ouble,  and  Avhat  you  think 
I  would  better  do?  L.  T.  r. 
Marcy,  N.  Y. 
If  the  levels  are  as  you  have  show  n  in 
your  sketch,  the  system  should  Avork  as 
you  expect,  and  Avhile  you  do  not  say  how 
much  Avater  Avill  be  needed  daily,  it  is 
probable  that  a  1-in.  pipe  will  be  suffi¬ 
ciently  large  to  carry  the  needed  supply. 
Because  of  the  length  of  the  line  and 
the  slight  fall  available,  water  will  flow 
very  sloxvly  through  the  pipe.  The  use 
i _ / 
at  right  angles  and  flows 
back  of  bam 
CRAV/TY  WATER  SYSTEM 
Contour  Diagram  of  Water  System 
charge  faster  than  it  is  supplied  by  the 
line  from  the  brook.  The  use  of  water 
from  the  tank  will  be  intei’mittent,  hoAV- 
ev’er,  w’hile  the  flow  from  the  creek  will 
be  constant,  giving  the  tank  an  opportu¬ 
nity  to  refill  betAveen  periods  of  greatest 
use. 
The  use  of  an  overfloAV  back  to  the 
creek  Avould  seem  scarcely  necessary.  The 
tank  can  be  built  AA’ith  its  top  a  little 
higher  than  the  AA’ater  level  at  the  soux-ce 
of  the  line,  and  therefoi-e  Avould  not  over- 
A  depth  of  2 y2  ft.  is  not  sufficient  to 
prev’ent  freezing,  in  this  locality  at  least. 
Pipe  should  be  put  down  at  least  4  ft., 
and  care  xxsed  to  prevexxt  stones  coming 
in  contact  with  it,  as  they  tend  to  cari'y 
away  heat  and  permit  fi'eezing. 
Albert  :  “Mamma,  please  give  me  an¬ 
other  lump  of  sugar  for  my  cambric  tea ; 
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Gravity  Water  System 
I  Avish  to  pipe  wmter  to  my  barn  for 
the  cattle.  The  sketch  shows  approxi¬ 
mately  the  Avay  the  land  lies.  I  have 
had  a  surveyor’s  level  oxx  this  and  find 
there  is  a  fall  of  17  ft.  at  the  barn, 
clearing  the  highest  knoll  by  3  ft.  The 
level  is  from  the  bottom  of  the  creek, 
1  650  ft.  from  the  barn.  Was  thinking 
'  f  building  a  3  or  4-ft.  dam  and  follow- 
:ng  the  creek  wnth  the  pine  until  it  tui-ns, 
end  then  laying  the  pipe  2%  ft.  deep,  to 
•he  barn.  The  creek  is  a  small  stream 
"  ith  a  good  flow  of  wmter.  It  dries  up 
■>me  in  the  Summer,  but  as  I  only  care 
f  Winter  that  part  does  not  matter,  i 
Do  you  think  it  will  Avork?  If  so,  wrhat 
