Receiving Water Under Pressure.

Receiving Water Under Pressure.

In Vol. XIV. of the "Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers" may be found reports of tests made on pumps which were receiving water under pressure. These are well worth reading, but as they are probably not accessible to many of our readers, we briefly mention the conclusions arrived at. The pumps tested were so piped up that they could take water under pressure or from wells. It appears that although the water could be delivered to the pumps under pressure it had never been done, but was allowed to run into the wells, from whence it was pumped out and delivered into the service pipes.

Now it requires something of a bold nature to enable an engineer on taking charge of a plant of any kind to make such a radical change as to connect the receiving pipe directly to the pump cylinder, for while he may know that such a course will result in a saving of steam, provided the plan works well, still on the other hand if it does not, it may do more damage in ten minutes than the saving in steam would amount to in ten years, and the loss of his position would probably be the result.