OT : water pump in Africa

I don't have a link to such a site but I would think one could build a device like the merry go round water pumper using a gear reducer as a starting point. As long as it wasn't a worm gear reducer one could use the merry go round to drive the output shaft and end up with several hundred rpm on the other shaft.

a thought Steve

Need more water? Give the kids some sugar candy :)

...... or a swash plate under the merry-go-round that could give you 6 or 8 pulses per revolution..... Ken.

VERY simple system, It used to be the way many items were powered on farms. They used cows/horses or even dogs hooked to the power head. These just walked the circle and that was sent through the shaft down to a simple right angle gear box that sent the power out to a connection point. If it was a fixed unit they would dig a shallow trench for the power shaft, if it was a portable unit they just put a bridge over the shaft so the animals couldn't hit the shaft. Take a look at the older carnival rides and you will see the same thing in reverse. Common terms for it are a Horse Power or a Sweep Power. It is also the origin of the term Horsepower, long before that term was used as a measure of power.

Various pictures and info below.

Thanks, Steve, those are some interesting links.

Kind regards.

Lewis.

*****

If you are really pumping water without power, you might be interested in a ram pump. They work quite well if your situation fits the requirements.

___________________________ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG

Another place to spot such a beast is near the beginning of that ever-so-excellent spaghetti western "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" - The scene that introduces Lee Van Cleef's character, "Angeleyes" includes a pretty good shot of a donkey-powered well. Some seriously low-tech, but highly effective, implementation there.

With a bit of creativity, it wouldn't be all that difficult to adapt it to just about anything wanting relatively low speed shaft power. (Or, gear it up as needed - just beware of donkey burnout! :) )

Not really what you are looking for perhaps, but maybe useful - a many years ago I had a friend who built what he called a tree pump. Basicly just a rope tied to a tall slender tree then run over a pulley to a suction pump cylinder. When the tree moved back and forth in the wind the pump filled a tank of water. He and his neighbor also hand dug the well. This seemed very scary to to me, the well shaft was about 3 feet in diameter and about 25 feet deep. They lined it with stone. He admitted that the view of the sky from the bottom was a little scary. How he did it without it caving in I don't know. They went through a case of beer in the process...and they really didn't even need the well, just did it to see if it would work.

Great story, very ingenious.

Thanks.

Lewis.

*****

Many africans are so mistreated. There really is no excusing it. These people are just trying to make a living and stay alive and they are manipulated like chess pieces. Religions and stupid tribalism. What is the point? The point of a spear or a bullet in the head won't make the world a better place. raant mode off Danny

It's the classic way to hand-dig a well. The stone lining is the key -- think an arch laid on its side. So long as the stone layer is thick enough, and the stones are in tight contact, the earth will compress the rings of stone, and everything will stop moving.

One puts the rings in as one digs, one by one, so there is never an unsupported 25' deep hole.

Joe Gwinn

Many Germans, Frenchmen, Russians, and for that matter Americans, are also. So what does that have to do with the subject? Sheesh! Some morons. ...lew...

==================== Your point is well taken.

Both of these countries don't have a pot to p**s in, yet are finding the money for "adventures."

Of greater concern was the creation of a new "Africa Command" [see

many others] by the US Army followed almost at once by the active/overt involvement of Ethiopia in the Somalia civil war. Given the poverty of the region, it appears one of the "great" powers is again financing a war. Does anyone know what large amounts of "aid" or credits for food have been granted to Ethiopia in the last few weeks?

This is how the Iran/Iraq war was started/maintained with financing through the "Food for Peace" program. Google on

among many others]

among many others

WHOA !!!

We are getting waaay off topic here.

I'm just trying to get some information for my brother in law so that he can acheive his goal of building one well per year so that these poor bastards won't have to carry a jug 3 - 5 miles everyday in order to have clean water. (Something we take for granted here)

Kind regards.

Lewis.

*****

I'm no moron lew. The subject header was water pumps in Africa. I was merely making a statement about how many Africans have such a tough go even trying to find the basics. That wasn't polite of you.

OK, so you're not a moron.

What made you think I was suggesting that you are?

OK, don't bother replying.

Lewis.

*****

Hmmm.... Maybe I'm missing something here, but if you put in the stone liners as you dig, wouldn't that require the well sides to significantly taper as you go down?

To keep the sides parallel, you would need to undercut the bottom layer... unless the side compression prevents the bottom layer stones from falling into the new cavity... But that would seem like an incredible amount of side compression for ostensibly heavy stones.

Chet

Dig space for one stone at a time, right under the split between two adjacent stones of the layer above. If you could unroll the well wall, it would look something like a brick wall: the joints do not line up.

Joe Gwinn