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

LIMITATIONS OF THE SYSTEM. Quantity Unlimited. There is no limit as to the quantity that can be handled, except the capacity of the wells to furnish the water. Distance Unlimited. With a properly designed piping system the loss of power in the transmission of compressed air is trifling, and compares very favor- ably with any other method. It varies practically as the distance— that is, the loss in four miles is approximately twice that for two miles, with the same size pipe. With electricity the loss would be four times, or as the square of the distance. As the Air Lift pump is automatic in its action there is no ob- jection to having the source of water supply at a distance from the power station. There are successful plants in the oil country where areas of ten square miles are supplied through over forty miles of air lines from one central plant. It is claimed that one of these burns 85 per cent, less fuel than was formerly required for the 375 working wells oper- ated. Height of Lift Unlimited. There seems to be a prevailing idea that the Air Lift system is not adapted for lifts of much more than about 200 feet vertically, but this is far from being well founded. We have more than twenty plants in one oil field pumping a mixture of salt water and oil on actual lifts of from 600 to 1,200 feet, in most cases with an air pressure of less than pound per foot of actual lift, and in some cases less than I pound. In the Rocky Mountains there is an Air Lift working at a mine, taking air from a high pressure pneumatic locomotive service main and lifting 160 gallons of water per minute, more than 700 feet ver- tically. All the air that this pump gets passes through a 5-32-inch round hole drilled in a solid plug cock. These are regular Air Lift plants, without any valves or working parts in the well. Especially Adapted for Very High Lifts. The fact is that the Air Lift pump, as improved and installed by this company at the present time, is especially adapted to very high lifts, because it is under these conditions that all forms of deep well pumps give the most trouble from broken rods, valves, and pipes, and the lowest efficiency, owing to friction and leaking leathers and valves.