Ersal W. Kindel

A Hydraulic Ram for Village Use

Mt, Rainier (MD): VITA Publications, 1977. Paper bound, original stapled pamphlet - 8.5 x 5.5 inches. Illustrated with diagrams. Unpaginated but approximately 16Pp. Tight and unmarked - a very good or better, unmarked copy. A hydraulic ram is a simple device. It uses the power from falling water to force a small portion of the water to a height greater than the source. Water can be forced about as far horizontally as you desire, but greater distances require larger pipe, due to friction. There is no external power needed and the ram has only two working parts. The only maintenance needed is to keep leaves and trash cleaned away from the strainer on the intake and to replace the clack and non-return or delivery valve rubbers if they get worn. Hockey pucks cut to the appropriate size for your project can provide near maintenance-free operation of your pump. The original cost is almost the only cost. Two things are needed to make the ram work: a) enough water to run the ram and bb) enough height for water to fall through the drive pipe to work the ram. A small amount of water with plenty of fall will pump as much as a greater amount of water with only a little fall. The greater the height to which the water must be raised, the less water will be pumped, under a given set of circumstances. Water may come from a spring on a hillside of from a river or creek. It must be led into a position from which it can pass through a relatively short supply pipe to the ram, at a fairly steep angle (about 30 degrees from horizontal is good). Often a catch basin or cistern is used as the source for the drive pipe, but an open ditch such as that which supplies a water mill could be used. Be sure to put a strainer on top of the drive pipe to keep trash out of the pipe and ram. The water starts to run down through the drive pipe, going faster and faster until it forces the automatic valve or clack to close suddenly. The weight of the moving water, suddenly stopped, creates very high pressure and forces some of the water past the non-return or delivery valve and into the air chamber, compressing the air more and more until the energy of the moving water is spent. This compressed air acts as a spring and forces the water up the delivery pipe to the storage tank in a steady stream. It takes a lot of falling water to pump a little water up a hill. Often about one part in ten is delivered to the storage tank at the top of the delivery pipe, but when the excess or spilled water is returned to the source (the river or stream) then there is zero waste. The snifter hole 'wastes' a bit of water but takes in a bubble of air with each stroke. This is necessary to keep air in the air dome and it must not get plugged or the air dome will get filled with water and the ram will stop. The small ram works best at about 75 to 90 strokes per minute, depending on the amount of drive water available. The slower it goes, the more water it uses but the more it pumps. Any working fall from 18 inches to 100 feet can be used to work a ram but, in general, the more working fall you obtain, the less the ram will cost and the less drive water it will require to raise a given amount of water. If there is plenty of water, a fall of four feet could be made to raise water 800 feet, but this would be an expensive installation. this small ram you can make up yourself from pipe fittings and you only have to buy or build the clack and delivery valve assemblies. We welcome all reasonable offers on our books.

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Book number: 29183

Catalogue: Post-Industrial Library

Keywords: Hydraulic Rams, Pumping Water without Electricity; Ram Pumps Water without Electrical Power

International Labour Office (ILO)

Small-scale manufacture of stabilised soil blocks

Geneva: International Labour Office, 1987. A brand new copy. Paper bound, tall quarto, illustrated with photos, tables, and diagrams, xv + Pp181. Includes appendices and bibliography. A fine copy in new condition. 600 grams. From the blurb on the rear cover: This technical memorandum, which has been prepared jointly by the ILO and UNIDO, is part of a series of publications on manufacturing technologies. The object of the series is to acquaint small-scale producers with alternative production techniques for specific products and processes, so as to help them to choose and apply those techniques that are most appropriate to local socio-economic conditions. The memorandum provides technical and economic information on alternative technologies for the production of stabilised soil blocks. The information provided relates mostly to small-scale units producing up to 400 blocks per day. It covers all aspects of block making: the quarrying and testing of raw materials; the choice of soil stabilisers; pre-processing operations (grinding, sieving, proportioning and mixing); block-forming methods, including a detailed description of machines currently available for making soil blocks; the curing and testing of produced blocks; and the use of mortars and renderings in wall construction. The first and last chapters, which are on the technical and economic efficiency of stabilised soil blocks in comparison with other building materials, will mostly be of interest to public planners and housing authorities. The subjects covered include production costs, employment generation, foreign exchange savings and housing maintenance costs. The last chapter also gives some guide-lines for government action in support of the use of earth as a building material. We welcome all reasonable offers on our books.

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Book number: 29189

Catalogue: Post-Industrial Library

Keywords: Adobe Block Making; Adobe Block Manufacture, Earthen Block Manufacture, Earthen Block Making 9221058387