Hydraulic Ram

Hydraulic Ram is an arrangement for raising water up to a high level by means of the fall of a larger quantity of water from a lower level. The mechanism, if self-acting, could not raise the whole of the available water to a greater height than that from which it is originally supplied, and thus only a certain fraction of the supply is elevated. Nevertheless, for small installations the mechanism is useful and fairly efficient, though for larger ones it is best to have a chain of converters consisting of main supply pipe, set of turbines, set of force pumps worked by the turbines, and delivery pipe to the higher level. [Water Supply.] The hydraulic ram has the main supply pipe leading to a low level. The flow of water through a special valve develops enough pressure to close the valve, and the momentum generated in the moving water causes it to force open another valve leading to an air-chamber. The momentum being neutralised, the second valve closes and the first opens. The air in the chamber is compressed by the inflow of water, and now that the valve is closed it reacts and forces the enclosed water up a delivery pipe to a higher level. The whole process repeats itself again, and so by an intermittent action a portion of the supply is elevated to a higher level than that from which it is derived.