An important discovery connected with the raising of water is claimed
to have been made by Dr. Bouron, a physician of some reputation,
residing at Heverville, Seine Inférieure. It appears that by a very
simple piece of mechanism he can raise a continuous stream of water to
almost any altitude, without labor of any kind, and without expense,
beyond that necessary for the first cost of the machine, and this is
by no means large, considering the amount of useful work which it
yields. Dr. Bouron states that the power of the machine is based upon
a natural and immutable mechanical principle, and that by it there may
be created a continuous current of water at the surface of the soil,
wherever there exists, no matter at what depth it may be, a spring of
water. The machine is intended to supersede all existing pumps, its
construction not being more expensive, whilst it has the additional
advantage that no expense is incurred for keeping it constantly and
usefully at work, although other pumps, especially when the water is
raised a great height, necessitates enormous expenses compared with the
useful effect produced, and that, too, during the whole time they are
at work. It must not be forgotten, however, that it is a stream and not
a jet of water which the new machine produces, so that, although it
would be well adapted to supply water to fire engines, for example, it
could not replace them. It is claimed that the machine will yield the
same quantity of water as that being produced by the spring to which
it is adapted, (less, of course, the loss inseparable from the working
of all mechanical apparatus), and at any height, whether it be one
thousand metres, two thousand metres, or more. Dr. Bouron also observes
that, however paradoxical it may appear, he has found “the greater the
height to which the water has to be raised the greater is the power of
the machine.” But the relative proportion of the power to the speed
is quite in conformity with the principles of mechanics. The greater
the height to which the water has to be raised, the greater the power
and the speed that can be brought to bear upon it; but the greater the
horizontal section of the column of water to be lifted, the more will
the speed diminish.