The #pulser-pump depicted here are not quite just #airlift pump #mechanisms; they’re sort of like a geyser pump in that the riser pipe with the output water reaches below the roof of the compression chamber to dip into the water when the water level is high enough, guaranteeing that the pipe will receive pulses of water even if the air and water fully separate in the chamber. This page credits Charles H. Taylor (who built the Ragged Chutes trompe) with inventing it in 01910, though Practical Engineering claims Cáceres reconstructed it in 01911 from 18th-century descriptions of a miraculous pump at the Alhambra.
on 02026-01-06William W. Priestly built a water pump with no moving parts harnessing compressed air starting in 01888, possibly a #pulser-pump like the one formerly at the Alhambra. “The ram, although credited to Priestly, may have actually been built in 1901–02 by David Hyde. During its construction, a competitor, North Side Irrigation, developed an alternative system and the ram was apparently never used commercially.[5] It was reported to have been functional in 1901.[6]” #mechanisms #history
on 02026-01-06#video by #Practical-Engineering on "pulser pump" water pumping #mechanisms with no moving parts that we believe existed at the Alhambra until the 18th century, recreated by Cáceres in the 20th. The YouTuber here recreated it using acrylic “sheet goods” cut by his friend’s service bureau. He entrains air in the downward flow of water, as in a trompe, and separates the air out of the water at a lower elevation, also as in a trompe. But then he lets the compressed air out of a long riser pipe, and it hasn’t completely separated, so some water is still entrained in it, but less than on its downward trip, so it can raise the water above its initial level. Basically it’s a trompe connected to an #airlift-pump. As with a geyser pump or a #hydraulic-ram pump (also depicted), only a small fraction of the water is pumped upwards. Dean Millar’s paper calls trompes “hydraulic air compressors (HACs)”.
on 02026-01-06