Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
Part One contains details of how to make and maintain a small hydraulic ram on a suitable site, whilst Part Two takes a more technical look at ram performances and design considerations and also contains a useful bibliography.
'The author, Simon Watt, has assumed that his readers will have no specialised knowledge of hydraulics and will have access only to basic machine tools and a few common engineering materials. With this in mind he has produced a step-by-step guide to the hydraulic ram. He shows how it works, how to decide if a stream will supply the power and the water needed, how to choose the site and how to make, set up and work a hydraulic ram ...
He goes on to describe, in the most elementary — but very understandable — way, how to make a hydraulic ram from mild steel, some nuts and bolts and two rubber discs. The equipment needed comprises hand tools, such as spanners, files, a hacksaw, some means of drilling and of welding or brazing. An ordinary lathe and a drilling machine would make the pump-builder's life easier, but the job could be done without them ...
For those who want to look into the question more deeply, the author has a section which gives more technical details of ram design and performance, and provides the basic information for rams of different sizes. To make use of this information the reader will need to have a basic understanding of engineering materials and fluid mechanics...
But the prospective user should not be put off if he has neither specialised knowledge nor machines. Hydraulic rams were made and used very successfully long before anybody worked out the purely theoretical details. And the elementary ram described in the first part of the manual is very adaptable. If one is not big enough to supply the amount of water needed, two or more can be made and operated side by side, feeding the same delivery pipe'.
'Excellent, extra-clear plans for making your own hydraulic ram water pump from standard pipe fittings. This paper is good news indeed, as commercially available rams are expensive (though more efficient)'.
This manual, based on experiments and workshop tests in the UK and overseas, was prepared for the Intermediate Technology Development Group's project on low-cost water resources technologies. The author, Simon Watt, MICE, is a civil engineer of many years experience in the UK, Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. He is also the author of Hand Dug Wells and Their Construction (with W.E. Wood), Chinese Chain and Washer Pumps, and articles for various journals, including Appropriate Technology.
Code No. 013098, 40 pages, ISBN 9780903031158, $32.00