Scientific American Supplement, No. 446, July 19, 1884Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 446, July 19, 1884
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The gate valve being closed, the water cannot be drawn below the 9-foot
level in tank, which leaves about 35,000 gallons in store for fire
protection, and is at once available by opening the gate valve referred
to. The tank rests on ground about 5 feet above the main streets, which
gives a head of 57 feet when the tank is half full. The distance from
tank to the farthest hydrant being so short, they get the pressure due
to this head at the hydrant, when playing 2-inch, or 1-1/8-inch streams,
with short lines of 2½-inch hose; this gives fair fire streams for a
town with few if any buildings over two stories high. It is estimated
that this mill is pumping from 30,000 to 38,000 gallons on an average
every twenty-four hours. There is an automatic device attached to this
mill, which stops it when the tank is full, but as soon as the water in
the tank is lowered, it goes to pumping again. The cost of these works
complete to the city was a trifle over $6,000.
In November last a wind mill 18 feet in diameter was erected over a coal
mine at Richmond, in this State. The conditions were as follows:
The mine produces 11,000 gallons of water every twenty-four hours. The
sump holds 11,000 gallons. Two entries that can be dammed up give a
storage of 16,500 gallons, making a total storage capacity of 27,500
gallons. It takes sixty hours for the mine to produce this quantity of
water, which allows for days that the wind does not blow. The average
elevation that the water has to be raised is 65 feet, measuring from
center of sump to point of delivery. A record of ninety days shows that
this mill has kept the mine free from water with the exception of 6,000
gallons, which was raised in the boxes that the coal is raised in. The
location is not good for a wind mill, as it stands in a narrow ravine or
valley a short distance from its mouth, which terminates at the bottom
lands of the Missouri River. This, taken in connection with the fact
that the grit in the water cuts the pump plunger packing so fast that in
a short time the pump will not work up to its capacity, accounts for the
apparent small amount of power developed by this mill.
There has been some discussion of late in regard to the horse power of
wind mills, one party claiming that they were capable of doing large
amounts of grinding and showing a development of power that was
surprising to the average person unacquainted with wind mills, while the
other party has maintained that they were not capable of developing any
great amount of power, and has cited their performance in pumping water
to sustain his argument. My experience has has led me to the conclusion
that pumping water with a wind mill is not a fair test of the power that
it is capable of developing, for the following reasons:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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