A Coolie’s Water Still

A Coolie’s Water Still

In a life-and-death battle with a cholera epidemic in Hunan Province, China, in which an American medical missionary was the leading figure, one of the most serious difficulties was met successfully by one of the menial hospital coolies. Since every patient had to have from one pint to several quarts of distilled water with salt in it, the water could not be distilled fast enough. For two days the staff struggled along with makeshifts while thinking up a plan to build a still for little money without the loss of time. This coolie solved the problem. In one day and at a cost of less than two dollars he built a still which later produced twenty gallons of distilled water every twenty-four hours. The still was simplicity itself. For cooking food, the Chinese use large, flat, saucerlike pans, made of iron. With one of these above and another below, the coolie made a drum of galvanized iron with a hole in the side for a trough. Into the lower pan hot water for boiling was poured. Underneath, a hot fire sent up a constant steam vapor. The upper kettle was kept cool by frequent changings of cold water. The vapor from the lower kettle, condensed on the lower surface of the cool upper kettle, dripped off into the trough, and filled bottle after bottle with distilled water.—The World’s Work.

In a life-and-death battle with a cholera epidemic in Hunan Province, China, in which an American medical missionary was the leading figure, one of the most serious difficulties was met successfully by one of the menial hospital coolies. Since every patient had to have from one pint to several quarts of distilled water with salt in it, the water could not be distilled fast enough. For two days the staff struggled along with makeshifts while thinking up a plan to build a still for little money without the loss of time. This coolie solved the problem. In one day and at a cost of less than two dollars he built a still which later produced twenty gallons of distilled water every twenty-four hours. The still was simplicity itself. For cooking food, the Chinese use large, flat, saucerlike pans, made of iron. With one of these above and another below, the coolie made a drum of galvanized iron with a hole in the side for a trough. Into the lower pan hot water for boiling was poured. Underneath, a hot fire sent up a constant steam vapor. The upper kettle was kept cool by frequent changings of cold water. The vapor from the lower kettle, condensed on the lower surface of the cool upper kettle, dripped off into the trough, and filled bottle after bottle with distilled water.—The World’s Work.