Water Lifted By Compressed Air
For Municipal, Manufacturing, Irrigation or Other Water Supply

No Complication. After thorough trials had been Air Lift of the John Stephenson Co., Car Builders, Elizabethport, N. J. made with the many forms of “adjust- able foot pieces,” “regulating noz- zles,” etc., that some have so greatly iavored, we have found that all such devices are useless, as they add much to the complication and nothing to the efficiency of the Air Lift. We have found several instances where people had been induced to put devices of this sort into their wells, and had the pleasure of pulling up the piping to remove them, as they had become stuck or stopped up with rust and sand. It is unreasonable to expect working parts that fit closely to re- main in working order when exposed to the action of a mixture of water, compressed air containing oxygen, and sand. Special Combinations. Special combinations are some- times made, an example being the en- gine constructed for the water works at Ocean Grove, N. J., from designs made by Mr. E. K. Conover, and in- stalled in 1894. This outfit consists of a duplex Corliss condensing engine with two Ingersoll-Sergeant air cylinders and two Conover water cylinders arranged tandem behind the steam cylinders. The compressor operates 20 driven wells, raising the water to a tank at the surface, into which dips the suc- tion pipe of the pump cylinders, which in turn force the water to a standpipe for storage and service pressure. By the installation of this outfit the sup- ply of water has been doubled and the fuel consumption cut in half Other economies were effected so that a most gratifying saving resulted. Compared with a separate compressor and water pump this combina- tion outfit has njuch to recommend it to the attention of water works engineers.