Homestead mailing list

["WILLIAM JONES" <billj AT harborside.com>]

Robert Walton wrote:
> I googled, but nothing. what does it do? Pump water? Electricity?It's a 
> bike that runs on compressed air, or is just assisted by it, for getting up 
> hills.  Wirtz is most famous for his water pump, but there are vague 
> references to a Wirtz engine, which is the same as the pump, except that 
> instead of pumping when you turn it, it turns when you pump in air and 
> water.  I've had to back-engineer the whole thing, having found nothing 
> online myself.  There are other ways to skin this cat, alternately 
> supplying air and water, but I just used the good ol' air-displacement 
> water pump.  Here are a couple of links with 
> descriptions:http://www.marcdatabase.com/~lemur/rbt-scoopwheel.html
http://lurkertech.com/water/pump/tailer
Here's a pic of my first air-displacement water pump.  The 6-port pneumatic 
valve mounted on the wood is actuated by a strong neodymium magnet which is 
drawn to iron floats (cans) inside the cylinders (not visible).  This is a 
clever way of detecting when to reset, but now I prefer to compare the 
weights of the two cylinders with a sort of balance.  Also depicted is our 
new 6-port hydraulic valve (with the blue caps).  The latter will become the 
upper valve in the Wirtz alternator diagram, and the former will become the 
lower one, since it only deals with air. 
http://home.earthlink.net/~clanl/pic-002.jpg
OK, so here's how the Wirtz alternator works.  One pumping chamber is 
injected with compressed air, driving the water downward and out (the right 
one in the drawing, in state B); the other refills with water while 
compressed air is injected directly into a T in its line.
The upper valve switches both pumping chambers between compressed air and 
gravity-feed water, both injected into the top of the cylinder.  The lower 
valve swiches an open pipe (like a ground in electricity) back and forth 
between the two pumping chambers, and the compressed-air line back and forth 
between the left coil and the right coil.  Note that the check valves prevent 
this compressed air from flowing backwards into the pumping chambers.
There are some errors in the diagram.  The ports at the top of both cylinders 
cannot be pooled, as I've depicted them.  Instead it should be like the 
two-hole aluminum cans that used to be popular, the second hole being the 
open line that prevents air lock.  It's all so sloppy anyway, so I'll make a 
better diagram and post it soon.
The two pumping chambers are stretched on a chain connected around the two 
pulleys, so that when one fills with water, it falls.  The chamber filled 
with air then rises.  Levers connected to the two pulleys push U-shaped 
actuators in either direction, but only when the cylinders reach their 
furthest extent.  This allows the cylinders to fill and empty completely 
before the reset occurs.
The counterweight seen on the lower pulley (it could be on either) makes the 
system more decisive, and prevents
it from vacillating between the two states.  But it's drawn in the wrong 
position (it should point right in state B).
Let me know if there are any other questions, or if you find some flaw in my 
design.