Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-10-28
PUMPING OUT COAL.
WAY OF TAKING OUT THE CARGO OF
A SUNKEN CANAL BOAT.

A SUNkEN CANAL BOAT.
The Old Way of Raising the Boat Has
Been Dispensed With-The Coal is Now
Taken Out by Means of Pump and the
Boat Brought to the Surface Afterwards.
The old way of recovering coal from
a sunken canal-boat was to raise the
boat, with the coal in it, to a point
where the coal could be reached.
Chains were worked under the sunken
boat from pontoons moored alongside
of it. At low tide the chains were
made fast on the pontoons, which, ris-
ing with the tide, lifted the sunken
boat clear of the bottom. At high
water It was taken inshore as far as
possible, until it again grounded. This
operation was repeated until the boat
was brought to the surface. The new
way, or, rather, the modern way, Is to
pump the coal up from the boat, wher-
ever it may lie, and then raise the boat,
If it does not raise itself. By this
method the work is all done in very
much less time and at very much less
expense.
The pump used has no pump valves.
1t is a centrifugal pump, the suction be-
ing produced by means of a disk, with
wings attached, tut ming at high speed
within the pump shell, circular
chamber to which the suction pipe is
attached. An eight.inch pump of this
kind will pump 81 ate or broken coal
easily, and pump u load of 300 tons
in a day. 1t will raise coal from
boat sunken at any depth from five
feet to 200 feet.
The pump and engine are installed
on a wrecking boat, which is mOored
near the sunken boat. In this use the
pump has a long flexible section Of
suction pipe attached to it, and to that
are attached the various additional
lengths of pipe that may be required to
reach down to the coal. The pipe is
made of wrought iron, and it is made
in sections of different lengths, so that
1t may be joined to make a pipe of any
length desired. AT each end of each
length of iron pipe is a flange. AS
lengths of pipe are jointed, the flanges
are bolted together, with a rubber
gasket between, to make the joint
tight The flexible suction pipe is held
out over the water and over the sunken
boat from the wrecking boat by a gaff,
and iron pipe is added to the needed
depth. By means of the gaff the pipe
may be raised and lowered as occasion
may require, as, for instance, to raise
1o 90
one part of the canal-boat up and over
a crossbeam connecting the sides, to be
lowered into the coal in another part
of the boat
When the pipe is all joined on it Is
not at once lowered into the coal. The
pump is first charged with water,
which is done in an exceedingly brief
time and in a very simple manner by
means of siphon attached to the shell
of the pump. When it has been charged
the pump is started and the lower end
of the suction pipe is then lowered into
the coal, and the coal and water are
pumped up together, and thrown out
through the pumps discharge pipe in
a continuous stream. A boat to receive
the coal is made fast alongside the
wrecking boat, and the coal from the
pump is discharged upon a screen set
at an incline between the two boats.
The water runs through the screen and
the coal runs on into the other boat.
The suction pipe can be handled for
the most part from the wrecking- boat.
If any handling under water is neces-
sary a diver goes down for that pur-
pose, and it may be that the diver
brings within the power of the pumps
suction remnants of coal left in hooks
and crannies which it might other
wise not have reached. When the boat
has been emptied, if it is not too much
damaged or water soaked or too firm
ly bedded in the mud, it will float of it.
self. If suction holds it to the bottom
it will rise when it has been started
clear.
Pumps of this kind are made from
two to sixty inches in diameter.