Old Hand Operated Well Pumps

Brian G. NY

Well-known Member
The post regarding wells reminded me of the old hand cranked log and chain pump we had back on the farm when I was a young kid.
I am attaching some pictures describing the type of pump it was.
The GEM was simply a "modern" version of the one we had. The above ground housing on ours was constructed of wood and the pipe leading down into the well was also constructed of interconnecting lengths of wooden pipe or "logs".
These pumps all used chain with rubber cups to transport the water but the newer ones used steel pipe rather than logs.
I still have the crank and sprocket, the spout and some of the chain but, unfortunately, I never kept a piece of the "log".
It was amazing just how fast you could fill a bucket with one of these pumps.
a183957.jpg

a183958.jpg

a183959.jpg
 
I think the post I referred to was on the "Tractor Talk" section.
However, I guess the pump might more aptly fit this section.
 
I've seen pieces of log water pipes that were used for city water mains.
I wonder how much pressure was used pack then?

Dusty
 
Neighbor had one of them. It was a novelty to me because we had no such thing. It was too much of a temptation when I got together with my neighbor cousins to whip on that thing. I don't think we ever broke it, but did knock the chain off the sprocket!
 
I have read stories of redwood being drilled out and the ends turned to fit together to make water pipes for towns.
Richard in NW SC
 
I saw one like that in Kansas that looked like a grain leg with brass Cups. It was in a pasture by an old vacant house out on the middle of nowhere. I cranked it and it still brought up water. Saw another one in western Iowa but I didn't investigate it to get details.
 
Those only work in areas with relatively high water tables. The weight of the water on the chain gets too high with a deeper well.

They where common in southern Ohio where my second wife is from.
 
Ever been to the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado?
Looking down on the Arkansas river, there is the
remains of a wooden water pipeline that was used
as a city water supply. Massive project!
 
Outside of Gold Point, Nevada there are remnants
of the old wooden "log" water pipes that brought
water from the springs high up on Mt.Magruder and
gravity fed it down to the town of Gold Point.
These old wooden pipes are over 100 years old and
still intact. They were later replaced with
spiral-wrapped and riveted metal piping, most of
which still remains.

Doc
 
I never saw one of those chain pumps used on a well, but they were real common on cisterns here in Southern Illinois. We had one on our cistern, but it wasn't in use, due to having installed a water pump, and when I built a new cistern top, I painted it up and bolted the top portion down for an ornament. Now it needs a new coat of paint.

Related story, when I was dating my wife, my father-in-law cleaned out his cistern. He just got done, and the rain set in and continued for several days, filling the nice clean cistern. He was pumping a bucket of water with the chain pump, and something plopped into the bucket. It was a salamander - some folks call them mudpuppies.

Oh well. . .
 
the GEM company was located about ten miles west of me at Bascom ohio. they must of made a million of those cistern pumps.
 
(quoted from post at 23:16:43 02/22/15) the GEM company was located about ten miles west of me at Bascom ohio. they must of made a million of those cistern pumps.

Randy,

Now, you call it a cistern pump and that may very well be what many were used for, especially where cisterns were common.
However, in this part of the country they were used on hand dug "wells" that are fed from natural veins of water.
I would think those kinds of wells would be fairly common in Ohio
as well but I am not familiar with that part of the country.
 

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