INTERESTING PUMPING FEAT.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2203, 11 July 1910, Page 7

INTERESTING PUMPING FEAT.

A pump operator named Alzial, attached to the French navy, has accomplished the seemingly impossible feat of raising water to a height of 50 feet with an ordinary suction pump. In the French navy, pump boats, or floating steam pumps, are employed to remove the water which accumulates in the holds of the vessels which are out of commission and, consequently, o\it of steam. In some large warships the bottom of the hold is more than thirty feet j lower than the port-hole through which the pipe connected with the pump enters. In these cases the emptying of the hold is a difficult and tedious operation, especial difficulty being experienced in "priming' or starting the pump. One of the pump boats, however, always succeeded where the others failed, and the pump operator boasted that he could raise water to a height of 90 feet, if necessary. To test his powers the height was increased to 40 feet, and then to 50 feet. In both cases the pump Was started and the water I raised without difficulty. This re--1 markable result was obtained by the simple and ingenious expedient of inserting into the mouth of the pipe I through which the : water was drawn '• the shorter leg of a bent tube of J smaller diameter, the longer leg of j which rose above the level of the I water in the hold and communicated i freely with the air. By this means j air was drawn in as the pump was : worked. Hence the liquid raised was not pure water, but an emulsion of j water and air which, being of less ! density than water, could be raised I to a greater height, by the pressure lof the atmosphere. By increasing j the proportion of air it is possible ; to raise water more than 60 feet in I this way, but certain precautions must be observed. The speed of the j pump piston must be greater than i the velocity of ascent of the air bubbles, or the air will collect in the ; upper part of the pipe and the pump | will lose its priming. The ascent of : the air bubbles <|an be retarded by j inclining the pipe,*"but there must be no sharp bends in which the air can ! accumulate.