Hello from Cornwall UK, It may be of interest to the group to know that the 'Hydraulic Ram' was first simultaneously invented or the principal discovered in 1772 by a Bristol Plumber and a certain Whitehurst. I think the latter demonstrated it to 'The Royal Institution' in London. The Montgolfiers either improved or discovered the principal a few years later in France. Then began a number of improvements by Keith, Fyffe, Davies and John Blake. My own family company Joseph Evans & Sons of Wolverhampton UK were one of the largest manufacturers in the UK and I recently came across an 1864 'Evans' ram that was still working well. Despite this, I don't particularly like rams for rural water supply because despite their long life if made well, they are difficult to install well and for farmers to understand. Small obstructions or changes to the delivery conditions can make them stop for no apparent reason. Waterwheel and simple turbine driven pumps can work from the far more abundant sites with as little as 500 mm of drive head. These devices are more complex but easier to understand and much more flexible (since they cannot stall, they simply slow down while the torque increases) The project in PNG as with many others in developing countries was an unmitigated disaster as far as I know. The funding agency concerned paid for the rams to be built but not for the installation and long term maintenance. May I strongly suggest that those who are interested in this field, don't get carried away with the 'magic' of a 'Ram', because like 'biogas' plants, they require a bit more care if they are to work for a 100 years or so. Sorry for the 'ramble' but I thought I might stick my oar in on this one, Bye Rupert
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ken hall Sent: 23 May 2005 09:43 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [microhydro] Re: Portable Ram Pump: Good Idea! Ron: I worked 26 years for an gas and electric company in the Engineering and Construction department. .I worked on steam plants of all types and occasionally hydro. Last 15 years there, I was a Project Manager. For the past 5 years I have been consulting, either on Project Management or alternative energy/energy conservation. This background gave me a tremendous knowledge base to build on, as I started to learn about ram pumps. I really started investigating them and working with them after a trip to Papua New Guinea in 98. I read everything I could find, built experimental rams, ran controlled experiments to see what would improve them, etc. Most of these were focused on limited drive head or flow and maximizing performance within those limits. As far as the Rams falling into dis-use in the 50's, I am not sure anyone can really answer that. My best guess would be that America had become more fully electrified just before WWII. Just after WWII, the electric infrastructure of Europe was rebuilt and expanded. As most developed countries had electricity available, even in rural areas, rams fell into dis-use. No one talked about them, they did not teach about them in engineering schools. Why bother when you can plug in an electric pump. And the great promise of the day was that nuclear power would make electricity too cheap to meter. Unfortunately, only a few people retained knowledge about the rams. Fast forward to the 80-90s. Rising energy cost spurred a re-interest domestically and aid programs to developing nations helped some people recognize the real need world wide. This triggered an effort to find the "lost knowledge". I am not sure that we have recovered it all, but we have made large steps. I appreciate the reference to the paper. Haven't seen that paper, but am well aware of Warwick University and Dr. Thomas and the DTU. They have many papers on ram pumps and some human powered pumps at: http://www.eng.warwick.ac.uk/DTU/lift/index.html For the rest of the group, I was really impressed by Ron's design. It is robust, and every maintenance item is accessible. The parts that require welding, etc have been minimized and could be performed in any larger city of most developing nations. If, you are looking for a steel ram, you should definitely take a look at it. Oso davis ron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: May 20, 05 Dear Oso, Thank you for that well-considered reply regarding portable rams. May I ask how you learned so much about ram pumps? It sounds as though you have extensive personal experience. I'm interested in understanding why the ram has fallen into disuse since the 1950s. I found a paper on this that seems very good at:www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ cv/wedc/papers/20/sessiong/thomast.pdf Ron Davis __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/ Does your company feature in the microhydro business directory at http://microhydropower.net/directory ? If not, please register free of charge and be exposed to the microhydro community world wide! NOTE: The advertisements in this email are added by Yahoogroups who provides us with free email group services. The microhydro-group does not endorse products or support the advertisements in any way. More information on micro hydropower at http://microhydropower.net To unsubscribe: send empty message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------- Yahoo! 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