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There are plenty of people who would like to be able to fetch their water from a traditional style well. ie one that consists of a rustic stone parapet, topped off with a simple frame that supports a winding handle from which hangs from the end of long rope, a wooden bucket.
This is now possible
for those who wish to avail of the Mobile Well Service. It's a bit like a mobile library, only it's a well.
It comes in the form of a large vehicle that tows a water tank and a tall tower. The tower is topped off with the traditional well apparatus described above, and once swung up into the vertical position, filled with water from the storage tank.
Now all that anyone who wants to fetch water using the traditional well apparatus must do, is to scale the side of the tower; lower the bucket down inside its well, then wind it back up again to the top.
The water must of course be carried back down to ground level, but smart users (who obviously need a waiting partner to empty the bucket at ground level) will of course swing the filled bucket over the outside of the well tower, and use the winding mechanism to lower it, saving themselves some extra effort.
http://historypoint...-rail-water-troughs
[pocmloc, Feb 06 2014]
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Why - that's just silly. bun |
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If there was some kind of mechanism concealed in the base, which grabbed the lowered bucket and the rope and pulled with a realistic amount of force, the actual lowering and filling and retrieving could be simulated I would say in a base no higher than 2 feet above the ground (allowing 2 inches base plate, 2 inches standing platform, 18 inch dia bucket and 1 inch clearance all round). |
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So the well user would mount a 2 foot high podium, on which was mounted the rustic well. They would lower the bucket into the dark well shaft - lower away! My word it must be at least 50 feet deep! - fill the bucket and haul it up. |
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// There are plenty of people who would like to be able to
fetch their water from a traditional style well. // |
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Really? Define 'plenty'. If I'm wrong (it happens) and it turns
out that there are
a siginificant number of people who want to fetch their
water from a 'rustic'
outdoor well, I'll hazard a guess that these people do not
live in a 'rustic' environment and have an overly
romanticized idea of rural life. Right now it's 8 degrees F
outside my house and I'm very glad for my hot'n'cold
running taps. If I had to go outside to my well, shovel the
snow off of it, heave the insulated cover aside and
repeatedly drop a steel-banded bucket down the hole to
break up the skin of ice on top before schlepping my
freezing-fucking-cold water inside one pail at a time just to
wash and make my oatmeal, I'd be pretty disgruntled. |
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You would then not choose to visit the Mobile Well. |
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//pocmloc// The climb is at the heart of whole idea and that which makes if entirely pointless. |
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Having the choice to stay indoors and not use the
Mobile Well is definitely a hidden perk. I'm starting to see
the
appeal. |
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You could dig a hole, line the hole with
appropriate
stones, and put a water tank at the bottom. The
tank has a lid. You use a simple mechanism at the
top of the well to raise the lid. Now you can use
the
traditional winch mechanism to lower a traditional
bucket into the water. Just remember to close
the
tank lid when you are done. The tank would need
regular water deliveries (implied by the main Idea
here) or it could be hooked up to the house water
supply. |
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You can do that, but it's not mobile, which is the whole
idea. |
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A truly mobile well should be doable. |
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What is needed is first to dice the overlying
terrain into vertical columns, a metre across. It
would be tempting to make these columns
hexagonal, but this would result in a major d'oh
moment later on. |
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Next, detach the columns from the underlying
strata, preferably at a natural bedding plane, and
definitely below the water table. |
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Then remove one of the columns. You are now
left with a hole which, extending below the water
table, will be a well. |
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The well can then be moved around as necessary,
simply by sliding columns into the vacant space
like one of those number puzzles. |
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How about a train track with 50 foot trench underneath it. A single handcar has the winch and stone surround on board. |
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[Alt] I think those who wanted to use a well in the freezing cold would have a genuine well installed. This is clearly a service for the occasional well user. |
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Who says it has to be a water well? If I were trying to sell a piece of property, I would imagine having an oil well squirting black gold all over the ground (for at least that period of time whenever prospective buyers were wandering about) would be a major selling point. And not only that, but... uh, wait a minute... |
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<GROGco lawyers racing up to the microphone> |
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...never mind; [upon the advice of my attorneys] I was only kidding. Dang it. |
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