320 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
and forms a firm support for the suction and discharge pipe, 
as well as strong and stable bearings for the shaft which 
bears the spider. 
THE PULSOMETER. 
Occasionally a pulsometer is met with in this district, but 
as the lifting power is slight, and as most of the water is 
acid, and in many cases gritty, this form of pump is not ap- 
plicable for the kind of work usually done. The pulsometers 
are, however, better adapted to the handling of acid waters 
than piston and plunger pumps, except, possibly, for a de- 
fective valve action, due to corrosion. 
There are several forms of pumps which operate on the 
same principle as the pulsometer. For instance, the Hmer- 
son pump, which employs steam as the piston for moving the 
water, and is therefore very wasteful of steam, and conse- 
quently rather inefficient. This is especially true when they 
are employed as mine pumps, as the mine waters are rather 
cool, and a large amount of condensation takes place, which 
requires a large boiler capacity, and are therefore expensive 
to operate. There is, however, an advantage in the use of 
such pumps as far as the acid waters are concerned, for the 
reason that any corrosion of the interior of the pump, there- 
fore, enlargement of the pump cavity, will not affect in the 
least the working of the same, except when the valve is acted 
upon by the acid waters, which, of course, results in a waste 
of steam and ultimately a stoppage of the pump. 
SAN 
QO] 
Fig. 87. Wooden centrifugal pump 
made of two- and four-inch pine 
timbers. 
