Volcano weekly ledger., 1855-11-17
For the Weekly Ledger.
The Siphon---Its Principle and Uses.

arm of the bend much longer than the other.
1t is commonly used among wine merchants,
for the convenience of drawing wines from
one cask to another which is effected by pla-
cling the short arm of the sphon (flled first
with the liquid to be drawn into the full cask,
and the long arm is then inserted into the cask
to be filed. 1t is only necessary to observe
that the end of the long arm shall extend to
a lolcer lerel than the end of the short arm.
The effect is that the liquid passes up over
the bend of the tube and into the empty cask,
until the liquid is exhausted as low as the end
of the short arm.
For our purpose, the philosophy of the eff
feet need not be explained. We think that
the dimensions of the Siphon will not affect
the principle of action, provided the two arms
of the bend keep their regular proportions,
and their relative positions when in use. Thus
il matters not whether the diameter Of the
tube is one inch or one foot; whether the
length of the bend is one foot or one mile,
nor whether the lengths of the arms are re-
spectively two and three feet, or twenty and
thirty feet, it being only provided that the
end from which the liquid is to flow shall
reach TO a lower level than the end in which
the liquid is forced by atmospheric pressure
We are of opinion that could the Siphon be
introduced as means Of drainage in the mines,
it would be by far the cheapest, simplest and
most substantial Of the means now known.
Steam engines will not run without cost and
attention neither will mules, nor men go
constantly. But siphon, whose capacity
for drainage is exactly gauged to the amount
of water required to be drained, will pcrfcgn
as constantly and surely as the atmosphere
presses-the same to-day and tomorrow
Almost numberess are the claims in the
mines, now drained by expensive machinery,
and by costly traces" and yet hundreds of
these claims possess all the requisite condi-
tions, for the perfect action of siphon. 1t
is well known among miners that the bottoms
of the basins of the hills almost invariably
occuphy higher planes of elevation than do
the bases of the hills themselves. The bed
rock on the hills is higher than the natural
water courses or drains surrounding the hills.
Not only are the hills thus favorably circum-
stanced, but very many flats" " possess the
same conditions although in some cases il
NAV cost more to render these conditions
available for siphons.
Tunnels are often cut hundreds of feet
through the solid rock into hill, and when
they have reached the gravel deposit, the
owners often find that their tunnels have
struck high up on the side of the basin The
tunnel being thus too high to drain the water,
Is useless to the miner, and he is necessitated
10 go back, and commence new one lower
town. as costly and tedious as the first. Per-
laps the first one has only missed draining the
bed rock by ten feet. Now, we think in
,uch and all similar cases, the siphon can be
ised. In this case pipe of required size
would lay along the bottom of the tunnel for
is whole length, bending on the outside at
such an angle as to follow the decliyity of the
and on the inside following the pitch
of the rim rock" as it declined to a level
with the bed rock of the claim
Let the miners who own claims in the basin
of Volcano, consider the practicability Of
draining the fiat by means of siphon, the
short arm of which shall be inserted in a els
tern made the required depth, at or near the
bridge, and the bend and long arm of which
shall lay along in the bed of Sutter Greek,
extending down far enough to give the lower
end the requisite depression. With the els
tern, claims on the flats might connect by ra-
ces or siphons, as most convenient
Or, should the tunnel be driven through the
Slate Hill, as suggested in the Ledger, per-
hapS then siphon lying along the bottom of
the tunnel, will drain the fat to a still greater
depth.
Siphons, it is true, will not drain to an in
definite depth, but such is not required Be
sides, as compared to the ordinary methods
of raising water, we consider horse pumps and
such like as doing well if they raise six inch
volume of water to the hcighth of twenty
feet.
SIPHON.
PAGE & CAMERoN.--These enterprising and