Abstract
AN illustrated booklet entitled “Pumps for Farm Water Supply” by C. A. Cameron Brown of the Institute for Research in Agricultural Engineering, Oxford, has just been published (Oxford Univ. Press, price Is. 6d.). Its appearance is opportune although plans for its preparation were made before the drought in 1933 and 1934 had rendered the question of rural water supplies such an urgent matter. The inquiry has been carried out particularly with the view of helping the farmer and isolated small country house dweller to obtain an adequate water supply from whatever source may be available at as low a cost as possible. Small electrically driven pumps capable of delivering upwards of 250 gallons per hour are available at prices from £10 to £12. No pump should be installed without an assurance from the makers that it will give the performance required to meet the particular set of conditions in each particular case, but with this proviso they should prove entirely reliable. The gravity tank is still the commonest, and probably the simplest, method of providing service, but the pressure-tank system has an advantage where the installation of a gravity tank presents constructional difficulty or is likely to be unsightly, but it is at a disadvantage in districts where electricity supply failures are frequent. The actual running cost of these small pumps is low in comparison with the cost of public water supply in towns. Test figures under working conditions show from 0-66 electrical units to 1-89 units per 1,000 gallons.
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Farm Pumps. Nature 135, 145 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135145c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135145c0