Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1900-07-28
Largest Pump
In the World

4 young man with neatly creased
trousers and a pear pin stuck In his
crayat walked over to the gray marble
switch board in pumping station No.
Z yesterday afternoon and pulled NJ q
small lever says the New orleans
TimCs-Domucrat. a dozen feet away
was steel turret, rising waist high
from the floor. and faint humming
sound became audible from its inter
ior. II was about as much noise as Is
made by an ordinary sewing machine
and was the only surface indication
that the largest centrifugal pump In
the world had commenced business I'M
der the turret top. without any fuss
or vibration II was sucking water from
the old orleans canal at the rate Of
20 cubic feet second, hosting II
lively eject into the air and discharging
IL over the weir at the other end Of .he
building to find its way to the lake, n
few miles beyond.
To the average man the term $3.50 Gu
bic feet second Is as meaningless
as so much Sanskrit, but an excellent
idea of the magnitude of the perform
ance is obtained when one knows that
$50 cubic feet is equivalent to 1000
gallons, and 1000 gallons represents
the capacity of good sized house els
tern. In other words. the big pump
draws in. lifts and throws out the con-
tents of a large cistern at every beat Of
ones watch. In a minute II has DIS
posed of 120,O gallOns-quite good
deal of water.
There are three such pumps in sta
ton No. Z. and IL is estimated that two
Of them. working at capacity, will he
able to take care of any rainfall In
this city. They are much the largest
single pumps in the world, tn enearest
approach to them being those at the
irrigation works on the bank of the
Nile, which are considerably smaller.
The installation of the vast machines
was completed week ago last Sunday,
and this week they are doing their
first practical work.
The pumps proper are vast coils of
tube. II something very little might
be compared to something very big, 1t
would not be inapt to say that they
resemble the shell of a snail. Each
of them came in two sections, half of
the coil being all that a freight car
could carry. The she'll put together
weighs twenty-five tons and measures
twenty-one feet from side to side The
internal diameter Is nine feet, and in
side the tube is a series of revolving
runners. the effect of which is to draw
| the water at one end and discharge II
at the other. The shaft on which The
runners revolve weighs more than six.
teen tons.
These enormous coils are placed In
circular pits fifteen feet below the sur
face Of the pump house floor. The
power which operates each one of then
comes from an immense motor f1s
tened to the upper end Of the running
shaft, and covered by the steel turret
already referred to. The motors recelv,
electricity direct from the genera
power house in the shape of a 5000
volt current coming in over o trio o
thick cables, and in this connection Il
an interesting and curious detail, east
ly within the grasp of the average lay
man. The motors are what is know
as the revolving field" type-that Il
to say, the field or great wheel OF
which the magnets are secured turn
around, while the armature remains
stationary. When pump Is starte,
the full alternating current of 800
volts is not at once turned on. but ;
l25-yolt direct current is first used t
magnetic the field, or in homel!
terms, to warm 1t up. This sets up
revolution, and when sufficient spec
is attained the full current is applied
The 125 volts direct are produced b,
passing the 1000 volts alternating
through n small device known as
transformer" which effects a com
plete change in the character and pow
er of the mysterious fluid. The weak
er and modified current is also use'
to operate Il number of small auxiliar,
motors and to feed tn care and mean
descant lamps by which the station /
lighted.