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Along with the soap, I started
developing a hand pump.
I would make it with Bertram,
a dwarven blacksmith, without the help of Nicholas, who was busy with the
toilet and the soap.
I told Bertram about my
background from my grandfather.
He came here at my grandfather’s
invitation, but he owed my grandfather something.
“I will never let your
secret out of my mouth, rest assured.” (Bertram)
He put his hand on my head and
promised me that.
Now, back to the main topic,
why are hand pumps included in sanitation?
The reason lies in the wells I
saw.
A well without a pump is, of
course, a hole in the ground. Therefore, the opening is large and the
possibility of foreign matter entering the well is high.
I forgot where I saw it, but there
was once a story about an animal falling into a well, then causing an epidemic.
It is certainly possible in
wells with large openings and incomplete lids. Even a single rat falling into
the well would severely contaminate it.
It is dark inside the well, making
it difficult to confirm that an animal has fallen in, and it is too late for
the disease to spread. Furthermore, removing them would require a major cleanup
operation, emptying the well and cleaning it out.
On the other hand, a pump-type
well, even if it is poorly constructed, can pump up water several meters high,
so there is no need for wells to be opened.
Since iron pipes would rust, a
pump made of copper pipes and a copper cylinder would be less expensive to
maintain.
As far as I could tell, the
copper could be molded and cast, so all I had to do was give them a drawing of
the structure.
The structure itself is a
prototype positive displacement pump with just two check valves, so I don’t
think it would be too difficult.
(Pumps are my specialty as a
plant manufacturer, and I am especially good at constant displacement pumps.
Well, it was just a matter of combining things ordered from vendors, but I know
the principle…) (Zack)
At first, I thought so
confidently.
However, when I started making
it, it did not go well.
First of all, it was difficult
to make the pump body and cylinder part out of copper.
And it is not strong enough.
Copper ingots are quite
expensive and cannot be used in large quantities, which is why we tried to make
them thin, and we needed to make them cheap in order to popularize the product.
Trial and error were conducted to achieve the optimum thickness.
When we reached a certain dead-end,
Bertram asked me a question.
“Why do you insist on
copper? Iron would be a little stronger and cheaper in the first place.”
(Bertram)
“I decided to go with
copper because it’s easier to maintain. The pipes will be in the water for a
long time, and if they are not copper, they will rust and become useless.”
(Zack)
“Well, that’s right.”
(Bertram)
“And if you keep copper
and iron in contact with each other all the time, the iron will fall apart quicker.
That’s why I decided to use the same material for the pipe and cylinder.”
(Zack)
“Really? But only if they
touch each other directly, right? Then why don’t you just put a piece of wood
between them?” (Bertram)
I was stunned by his words.
(That’s right. I had stuck
with it because I didn’t have anything that could be used as a joint, but wood
would be a good enough substitute. If the wood deteriorates, we can replace it.
I’m afraid my thinking has become rigid. I have the brain of a four-year-old,
so I should be more flexible…) (Zack)
Unlike conventional copper,
castings will be made with molten copper.
Accuracy will be an issue
since it will be made in parts, but as expected of dwarves, they will make
almost exactly what I ordered.
A cylinder with an inside
diameter of 10 cm was made, and a lever was attached to the crank. I also
attached a rod and a check valve to the bucket and a check valve to the inside
of the cylinder.
The difficult part is the seal
around the outer circumference of the bucket and the actuation and sealing of
the check valve.
The seal on the outer
circumference could be sufficiently covered by the manufacturing precision, and
the check valve was confirmed to work without any problems after several adjustments.
The copper pipes were also
made by pounding a block of copper, and then the flanges were made in
five-meter lengths so that they could be connected.
(It seems like it would work.
I didn’t expect him to make each screw by hand, but he did. He is a very
dexterous dwarf.) (Zack)
On June 28, about a month
after starting the development of the pump.
We temporarily assembled the
completed pump in the workshop and tried it out.
A tub of water was placed
under the pump to check how well it pumped up.
As I was too small for a
four-year-old, Bertram had to move the lever.
“You just move this lever
up and down, right?” (Bertram)
I nodded broadly and smiled at
the dwarf standing on the platform and immediately began to move the lever.
It was only about two meters
to the tub, and after a few ups and downs, the water immediately gushed out.
“So that’s how it works! We’ve
succeeded!” (Bertram)
Bertram’s happy voice could be
heard from above.
“It’s a great success!
It’s going to work so well …”
I was impressed as I watched
the water spurt out of the water outlet.
(Finally, a success, even
though the soap didn’t work at all…) (Zack)
As I was impressed, Bertram,
who had come down before I knew it, lifted me up and put me on his shoulders.
“All right, buddy! How
many of these do I have to make! Tomorrow I’m gonna start making in bulk!”
(Bertram)
That day, I reported the
completion of the pump to my grandfather and father, and the next day it was decided
to install it in a well in the village north of the eastern hill where
Bertram’s workshop was located.
The next day, with grandfather
and father watching over us, we installed the pump in the well. At first, we
wanted to test its capacity, so we tried it in a well with a slightly lower
water level and found that it had the capacity to suck up about five to six
meters.
Theoretically, it would be ten
meters, but due to the accuracy of the workmanship, I expected it to be seven
to eight meters. It may be my lack of knowledge, the limit of the check valve,
or the altitude, but the capacity was slightly lower than expected. However, I
was a little relieved to find that a well on level ground could be used since
the water table was about three meters below the ground surface.
As we began to install the
well in earnest, the villagers gathered around and looked at it with curiosity.
When Bertram demonstrated how to produce water, they became even more
interested and moved the levers one after another.
Both adults and children were
amused by the demonstration and were happy to scoop up the water again and
again.
“It seems that if you pump
out too much water, the water will get muddy and stop coming out. Don’t get
carried away.” (Bertram)
The adults scratched their
heads in disappointment when Bertram told them that, and the children looked a
little disappointed when the adults stopped them.
(It sure would be fun. The
only thing I’m worried about is how to maintain it, but the structure is simple
enough that I’m sure we can work it out…) (Zack)
The first success of the
Rathmore Village Reform Plan was the hand pump.
(It’s a labor-saving solution,
but I don’t think it’s quite what it was intended for in the first place.
Everyone’s happy, so we’ll make do…) (Zack)
I asked my grandfather and
father to help Bertram with the labor, and I was scooping up water from the
well with my hands.
A/N: As for the story, I wanted to put it a while back, but it just
didn’t sit right, and it was almost continuously an internal affairs type of chapter.
By the way, I have never made
soap or hand pumps.
I’ve seen the inside of a hand
pump a long time ago, and I thought that it would be easy to write [T/N: 逆止弁 or “Gyakushiben”] check valve = [T/N: チェック弁 or “Chekku-ben”] check valve (I almost wrote [T/N:
チェッキ弁 or “Chekki-ben] “checky valve” or a
valve checker). Also, I thought it would be easy to make them, so I had them made
easily in the story.
T/N: Support me by donating on Paypal and Ko-fi or become a Ko-fi Supporter. You can also rate and review the series on Novel Updates. Don’t forget to add it to your reading list! Thank you.
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