Paternoster Pumps .'
151
Chap. 17.]
same shaft with the wheel that imparts molion to the chain, as represent-ed in figures 49 and 54. a Tire description of this machine b y Staun ton issimilar to that previously given by the missionaries, and they enumerate thevarious modes of propelling it which he has mentioned. b But Nieuhoff,with the characteristic sagacity of his countrymen, noticed either these, orsome other machines for the same purpose, propelled by wind. Whenspeaking of the populous city of Caoyeu, and its environs, he observes,“ they boast likewise of störe of windmills, whose sails are made of mats.The great product of the country consists of rice, which the peasantStands obliged to look after very narrowly, lest it perish upon the groundby too much moisture, or foo much heat and drought. The windmills,therefore, are to draw out the water in a moist season, and to let it in asthey think fit.” That part of the country, he continues, is “ full of suchmills.” Several of them are represented in a plate, but without showingthe pumps moved by them. c
These were very likely to elicit the notice of a Dutchman; for drainingmills, worked by horses and wind, have been used in Holland since the14th Century. They consisted however principally of the noria andchain of pots.
It is uncertain when the chain pump was first employed in Europe;whether it was made known by Marco Paulo, Ibn Batuta , or subsequenttravelers in China , or was previously developed and introduced into use,independently of any Information from abroad. An imperfect machine isdescribed by several old authors. This was a common pump log, orwooden cylinder placed perpendicularly in a well; its upper end reach-ing above the level to which the water was to be raised, and having alateral spout, as in ordinary pumps, for the discharge. A pulley was se-cured to one side of the log near the lower orifice, and a drum or wheelabove the upper one. One end of a rope was let down the cylinder, andafter being passed over the pulley was drawn up on the outside, and bothends were then spliced or United over the drum. To this rope, a numberof leathern bags or stuffed globular cushions were secured at regulär dis-tances. The diameter of each was equal to the bore of the cylinder. Ribswere nailed across the periphery of the drum, and between these, thecushions were so arranged as to fall, in Order to prevent the rope fromslipping. When the drum was put in motion, the cushions entered in suc-cession the lower orifice of the pump, (which was two or' three feet belowthe surface of the water,) and pushed up the liquid before them, tili it es-caped through the spout.
Machines of this description were formerly employed in mines ; chainsof iron being substituted for the ropes, and sometimes globes of metal inplace of the cushions. The latter are figured by Kircher in his MundusSubterraneus, Tom. ii, 194. Among the earliest of modern authorswho have described these pumps is Agricola. He has given five differ-ent figures of them, but they differ merely in the apparatus for workingthem, according to the power employed, whetherof men, animals, or water.The following cut, No. 65 is from his ‘ De Re Metallica.’ It e.xhibits twoseparate views of the lower end of the pump, showing the mode of attach-mgthe pulley, and the passage of the rope and cushions over it. From theresemblance of the chains or ropes and cushions, to the rosary, or String°f beads on which Roman catholics count their prayers, these machines