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Water Well Development |
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Water Well Development |
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| Date record | 1840 | 1854 | 1860 | 1867 | 1870 | 1880 | 1888 | 1908 |
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The Old Oaken "Bucket" Well prior 1854 This was the type of well used for many centuries. It was this type of well that inspired the song "The Old Oaken Bucket." These wells were all dug by hand and lined with rock or wood casing. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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Origin of the Windmill - 1854 In 1854 John Burnham, a "Pump Doctor" in Connecticut, suggested to his friend, Daniel Halladay, a young mechanic in Ellington, Conn., that a self-governing windmill could save a lot of human energy in pumping water, because there was an abundance of wind all over the country. Mr. Halladay proceeded to build a windmill which governed itself by centrifical force. Thus, the first windmill, as we know them, was introduced by the Halladay Windmill Company in South Coventry, Conn., in 1854. Mr. Burnham, the Halladay salesman, found that the real market for windmills was in the western prairie states, so in 1867 he moved his headquarters to Chicago under the name of The Mr. Burnham sold the Union Pacific Railroad 72 huge windmills, to be erected at strategic places aling the new transconitinental railroad then being built. These windmills were to furnish water for locomotives that commenced running from Chicago to California in 1869. It was not until in the 1870's that a Mr. Collins was appointed to sell Halladay's windmills west of the Mississippi River. It was then that a Halladay factory was opened at Batavia, Illinois to supply homesteaders with windmills. This was when windmills really started to sell. When the West was opened for homesteading, at least a dozen other windmill manufacturers sprung up, as well as barbed wire manufacturers. In 1884 a Windmill was introduced that could "thresh the grain, saw wood, pump water, do the churning, and even wash clothes." They really only did one job well for the next fifty years however, and that was to pump water. The Dempster Windmill controlled its speed and kept from blowing to pieces in a strong wind or tornado by gradually fofding its off-center blade sections (slats), which comprise the wheel, parallel with the hub so as to "spill" the wind as it rushed past the blades (slats.) The 1867 Eclipse Windmill's speed was controlled by a vane (small tail) alongside the slatted wheel. This (small tail) folded parallel with the large vane (bigtail) as the wind increased in velocity. The Dempster and Eclipse type windmills had open gearing and each revolution of the wheel completed a full stroke of the pump. Some windmills had smaller metal wheels, such as the Airmotor with enclosed gearing running in oil, geared down approximately five to one. By 1925 there were probably twenty million windmills in the United States. Electric power has replaced most windmills and they may some day disappear from the farm scene entirely. Some Historians clam that "barbed Wire" and "Windmills" made settlement of the West possible. Windmills reached their peak in sales in the 1920's and by 1960 many windmill towers still standing were beingused for television aerials. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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The Metal "Bucket" Well - 1860 By making a long narrow metal bucket with a valve in the bottom it was possible to drill a well with an auger somewhat larger in diameter than the bucket. Two men would walk round and round while the auger penetrated the soil or rock. If a rock too hard to penetrate was encountered, a new hole would be started. The finished well was lined by inserting a wooden or metal casing large enough to accommodate the metal bucket. This type of well is still in use in some parts of the country. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
 
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The Windmill "Self-Regulating" - 1867 Although crude Windmills had been common for centuries, it was not until 1867, that Daniel Halliday perfected the first sectional vaneless wheel to form a self-regulated Windmill for pumping water from subtterranean water supply. About the same time Rev. L. H. Wheeler perfected a sold-wheel type Windmill that was "self regulating" by an adjustable vane. This "Eclipse" demonstrates Wheeler's type of Windmill. [Photo Top Left] The "Dempster" shown in front of the sod house is a "Vaneless" type of Windmill. [Photo Bottom Left] [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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The Chain Pump 1870 For folks with hand dug, rock or wood lined wells a chain pump appeared on the market along about 1870. It had a series of rubber washers attached to an endless chain attached to the crank. The rubber washers fit snugly into a metal tube on the upward travel, carrying water to the top of the well, where it spilled into the spout or outlet. This was a refinement of an ancient Roman system for carrying water to the surface with rags tied to a chain and the water squeezed out at the spout by drawing the rag through a short tube. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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The Reciprocating "Cylinder" Pump 1880 The common well or cistern pump came out about 1880 and was a refinement of a huge old English reciprocating pump of the sixteenth century. It has a cylinder and a plunger. Both the cylinder and the leather sealed plunger carry check valves that allow the water to go only one way, usually straight up. Early day reciprocating pumps had wooden pipe or casing and a glass lined cylinder down in the well. The cylinder must not be placed more than twenty-two feet above the water level, for this is the maximum height to which water can be sucked by vacuum. It can be pushed hundreds of feet, however, the weight of the water itself being the only limitation. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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Aeromotor Windmill - 1888 When this "hot-dip" galvanzed all-steel Windmill was introduced in 1888 it had a tower built in such a way that the wheel and mechanism could be tilted down to the ground to work on by having a swivel half way up the tower and the steel wheel made 5 revolutions for each stroke of the pump rod. This was quite an innovation from former single-stroke Windmills. Only 45 Aeormotor Windmills were sold in 1888. The swiveling tower was soon replaced by a more rugged stationary tower, but what really sold the Aeromotor was when it later enclosed the gearing at the top of the tower in a crankcase of oil. Many Aeromotor Windmills were still pumping water for range cattle long after homesteaders buildings had disappeared from the prairies, primarily because the gearing of the whirling wheel at the top of the tower ran in a constant supply of oil. [Source: A History of Man's Progress; Harold Warp's Pioneer Village, Minden, NE.; 3rd Print'g 1978.] |
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Windmill Outfits - 1908 Windmill "water supply "Outfits" could be ordered from the 1908 Sears Catalouge, from 20' foot tower for $35.45 to 60' foot tower for $97.40. [Source: 1908 - Sears, Roebuck Catalogue] |
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These records are part of the "Genealogy Computer Package"
*** PC-PROFILE *** Volume - II. Sarratt/Sarrett/Surratt Family Profile©
Compiled and self Published in Oct. 31, 1989 by Paul R. Sarrett, Jr. with
the assistance of my late motherMrs. M. Lucille (WILSON) SARRETT (1917-1987) The SFA "Work-Books" were compiled by "States" listing the various families, born, married, died, and a history of that family branch. In 1996 I started "Up-Loading" this material on the Sarratt/Sarrett/Surratt Families of America (SFA)© site. ..prs |
E-Mail:
Paul R. Sarrett, Jr. Auburn, CA.
Sep. 25, 2004;
Jun. 17, 2007;