THE SAND PUMP TRIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 272, 18 November 1901, Page 2

THE SAND PUMP TRIAL.

DETAILS OF WORKING. j Mr W. Parr, the engineer appointed | to work the sand pump on its month's trial, made the following report to the' Harbour Board on Friday:—l arrived on October 18tb, and' had a look round with Mr M&rchant. On 19th tried the pump, which went all right; but the Tangye priming pump was choked with sind. After rectifying it and making some few alterations we started on the 22nd, but after two hours' work the fire-bars of both boilerE|bumed out. I Commenced pumping again at 5.15 a.m. on 24th, and finished at 10. The pump worked very well ss long as there was sufficient steam. Pumped again from 5.30 p.m. till seven, the sea being very rough. On 25th started pumping at 5.15, and worked very well with lOOlbs pressure of steam, but when this fell to 751bs we stopped for about 15 minutes for it to recover. Could only run about 30 minutes each spell. On tbe 26' h ran from 6 a.m.. till 10 a.m. with stoppages as before. On Monday, 28tb, pumped from 7.45 a.m. till 0.20 p.m., the pump working well, but the boilers fired badly on account of dirty coal. Ia the evening pumped from 7.30 till 10, being short of water for boilers. On 29th no pumping, for want of water. On 30th pumped from 8.30 a.m. till 1 p.m.; sea very rough, pump worked well, but suction-pipe got down on the cocks. From October 31st to November 14th the pump ran as follows: u _g I H i i! I a! ' '2 a>,2 * ■§§.! § Q M H K H. M, M. Oct. 31 2 8 30 t liort of water for bailers Nov. 1 „ 2 3 30 52 „ 4 3 30 30 „ 5 - 2 0 30 „ 6 2 40 20 „ 7 4 15 30 „ 8 , 425 70 Stopped, short of water „ 9 4 0 40 ~ 11 2 45 55 „ 12 3 50 20 „ 13 4 10 30 „ 14 2 55 40 The gross running time from start to finish was 50hrs, 55wins., the nett 43hrs. 28mins, the time lost waiting for steam baing Tlira. 27min, The coal consumed was 12 tons. j

It will b<* seen from this report that the prtsent boilers are quite insufficient for supplying steam to the pumping engine, also that the time lost waiting for steam is not the whole loss; the principal loss is from not being able to run the pump at a proper speed.