IMPROVEMENTS IN SINKING TUBES OR CYLINDERS FOR OBTAINING AND RAISING WATER, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Eglinton Anderson Gwynne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
16th December 1867.
I, JAMES EGLINTON ANDERSON GWYNNE, of Essex Street Works, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SINKING TUBES OR CYLINDERS FOR OBTAINING
AND RAISING WATER, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME," to be as
follows:-
My improvements consist in the use of a cylinder or tube of iron or other
suitable metal pointed, perforated, or open, having a screw or screws at the
lower end, or the tube itself may be spiral; the tube thus formed will
penetrate the earth or soil with greater facility than with a plain surface; it
will enter the earth or soil by being propelled by a rotatory motion from the
top. To the top end I fix a tightning collar on the principle of gas tongs
which tighten according to the pressure of the levers. The levers are used
like capstan bars, and may be spare lengths of pipes screwed into or otherwise
fixed to the collar; the tube may be perforated to admit the more free action
of water.
When the tube or cylinder is of large diameter I prefer sinking it with
the lower end open, and thereby reducing the friction; the earth can be
removed from the inside of the tube by the insertion of a counter screw_or
excavator, which by the rotary motion will raise the soil to the surface and

page_text: clear the interior. When any considerable depth is to be sunk, I use two
or more tubes properly fastened together by collars, screws, unions, or other
suitable joints, thus forming a continuous tube of any required length.
In passing through heavy or adhesive soil I ease the transit of the tube by
forcing water from the upper end (being first made properly closed and tight)
under great pressure by hydraulic pumps, the water under suitable pressure
will force itself through the bottom and perforated sides up the outer side or
surface of the tube, and thus ease, or, so to speak, lubricate the passage of the
tube. These tubes for convenience of transit may be made telescopic,
i. e., one sliding into the other; the tube of smallest diameter should be
screwed down first.
For wells not exceeding the atmospheric pressure depth, or in which the
water rises within 30 feet of the surface, an ordinary sucking pump will,
when a comparatively small quantity of water is required, suffice to bring the
water to the surface, but where a large body of water is wanted I apply one
of my well-known centrifugal pumps. Where the depth of water below the
surface of the ground exceeds 30 feet, then the pump should be sunk with
the tube in the proper position; tho pump will then be worked by a rod
from the surface. A second or third screw may be attached to the tubes to
be sunk if the depth is great or moro force or power is required to propel
them to the required depth. The tube may be withdrawn by reversing the
motion of the screw, and this renders it very convenient for temporary wells,
as for troops, enigrants, travellers, and others. Should it be required to
make an excavation at the bottom of the open tube or during the process of
lowering it, an expanding implement or tool can be inserted for this purpose,
the excavation acting as a reservoir in which the water may accumulate.
The
pump applied at the top or in the tube should be so constructed as to
draw up sand, mud, gravel, or soil; it thus removes the materials necessary
for the formation of the cavity.
Wells of the ordinary construction can be deepened and their supply of
water increased by screwing one or more of my tubes into and through them
into lower water bearing strata.
Wells constructed on this system will yield a very large supply of water
compared with the diameter of the tube or cylinder inserted into the strata,
because the water flows up not only with the pressure due to the difference in
levels, but with the pressure due to the action of the atmospheric pressure
acting from the higher grounds that supply the strata with the water, the tube
or cylinder being air and water-tight. I remove the atmospheric pressure
"by the action of the pump that would otherwise have prevented the free

page_text: entry of the water up the tube or cylinder, and owing to the forced suction
or pressure the water flows more rapidly into the tube and the channels or
fissures through which it passes enlarge and become more clear, and the well's
discharge or supply becomes more abundant in its yield the more the well is
used.