Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-11

washington, ~. u, Lee. S.--Ih'lisiils
water from one level to a higher level
at the minimum cost and greatest ef-
%flclency has been q problem of the
ages. Now it is said that it has been
solved by an invention shortly to be
tested in Washington.
Thomas Gaskell Allen, an American
by birth and a graduate of an Ameri-
can university, is the inventor. Mr..
Allen Is now a British subject and lives
IN London where he is the head of a
firm of engineers. but if his invention.
winch he calls the hydrautomat-the
water acknowledgements to be all that
is claimed for it, England will not be
permitted to claim entire credit for
him and his accomplishment.
Sir Oliver Lodge has investigated
the ~hydrautomat and prepared a long
technical report in which he ranks the
device as one Of the greatest inventions
the world has ever known and ex-
presses his amazement that it vas not
hit upon centuries ago.
When the news of the marvel first
reached this country, official repre-
sentatlves in London were instructed
to look into it, and upon the reports
made to Washington the bureau Of
weights and measures proceeded to
build a working model here. Mr.. AL
len recently conferred with government
officials and will return in a short
time when the tests are to be made.
Meanwhile another experimental model
has been installed in a New York Of
flee building and is said to be %operat-
ing successfully.
Briefly described, the h%ydrautomat
is a device that raises water to any
desired height automatically, the wa
ter Itself furnishing the power. Once
installed it will continue to function
steadily without interruption and with
out any attention until it wear. out.
That sounds like perpetual motion, a
problem that has never been solved
although inventors have worked Mt it
for centuries with so little success
that whenever one forward with
the claim that at last he has made the
great discovery he is looked upla a. a
candidate for the booby-hatch. But
the h~ydrautomat is perpetual motion,
it is said, N so far as it will continue
70 operate as long as the flow Of wa
ter continues and the machine holds
together.
Moreover, it will work efficiently
when tue TOW of water is so Slight
that it could not be utilized III any
other way Also it may be construct.
ed on a small scale adaptable to the
requirements Of q farmer who would
use i on q small creek to raise water
for lrrlgating purposes and to develop
power to rim his machinery and light
ing plant, ar it may be built on d scale
sufficiently large to furnish the water
supply for d large city.
First Use of Water for PoWa:
nL~s~,J-- ~. I'll -x- e
mechanical purposes involved leading
the water from a stream or other
source for use at another place. One
of the primitive devices for raising wa
ter from a stream was the noria, which
consisted of 4 large upright frame
work like Il wheel, placed so that the
flow Of the current turned it on its
axis. To the periphery Of the wheel
was attached hinged buckets, which
were often e~arthen Jars tied on the
frame, and which were partly filled as
they dipped in the stream and upon be
ing carried TO the top were emptied
by a tripping d.V1ce into a trough
which led the water away on the high
er level.
later Archimedes developed his
screw. which consisted of q coil of
pipe about a cylinder, set a consider
able angle from the vertical. To run
this a water wheel or turbine was
necessary. Theoretically water could
be raised to any height in this man
ner. but practically it required too
much power, the gearing of wheels
complicated the work. and there were
other objections. The hydraulic ram
was more efficient and more practical
and the principle has been widely
applied.
Still another automatic machine is
the windmill, but it is complicated and
more or less unwieldy. However, the
great objection to it is that it oper-