The Sullivan Air Lift Pumping System

the air lift is in operation, the air will be forced through the foot piece and will drive the water ahead of it out through the strainer and float the finer sand. Then, by opening the discharge, the flow will resume its course toward the surface and bring a portion of the floating sand with it. By a repetition of this operation and by increasing the back pressure if necessary, all of the fine sand immediately outside of the strainer will be drawn into the well and discharged at the sur- face, and the coarser gravel will be collected outside of the screen in such quantities as to shut, off the sand and increase the flow into the well, without changing the piping in the well. This process may be repeated at any time, so that the screen and adjacent strata can be kept clear. When wells are drilled in rock, the action of the drilling tool forces the cuttings back into the crevices in the rock. These may be loosened and pumped out of the well in the same manner. In the case of wells in fine material and quicksand it is often possible to set a strainer in the sand and drill auxiliary holes alongside the well down to the top of the strainer. Then foreign gravel may be At the time of publishing this bulletin, Sullivan Air Lifts are being installed at the Municipal Waterworks, Zanesville, Ohio. There will be 20 wells, drawing their supply from the Muskin- gum River. The cuts show the well drills at work, and a com- pleted well being “ back- blown.”