A book I was reading recently mentioned that the Romans used 'Egyptian Screws' to drain mines. Being totally ignorant on the subject of ES I did the usual Google search. Came up with this.
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/Screw/SourcesScrew.html 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes 
I'm now one rung up the ladder from beeing totally ignorant.

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There is a good reconstruction of one at the Minas de Rio Tinto Mining Museum (Spain). The picture I took isn't brilliant, but here it is:

🔗Minas-de-Rio-Tinto-Mixed-Mine-User-Album-Image-014[linkphoto]Minas-de-Rio-Tinto-Mixed-Mine-User-Album-Image-014[/linkphoto][/link]

Archimedes screws were used in the mines of Rio Tinto and Tharsis and parts of them have been discovered during later, opencast operations.

Eureka!! 😉

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Still in use today in many sewage treatment works dotted about the country as they can deal with solids as well as liquid in large volumes 😉

A manufacturer: http://www.esi.info/detail.cfm/Spaans-Babcock-Ltd/Archimedean-screw-pumps/_/R-31868_OL102JG 

and http://www.profeng.com/archive/archive+2009/2218/22180056.htm 

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I thought this was going to be a thread about Cleopatra having sex! :oops:

Okay I will leave quietly! 😉

I must admit I have always known them as Archimedes Screws. When I was a kid there was a working model of one at the Science Museum in London.

Thinking a bit more about it. There was a programme on TV a few yaers back (7 or 8?) where they recreated a few to see if that was how they watered the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They came to the conclusion that, once they had ironed out a few construction isuues, they were very efficient and could easily have supplied sufficient water. They had them in series to water higher levels. I seem to remember there was a limit to how much one screw could lift and still be operated by one man (or was it one ass?).

They have many advantages over normal pumps in low head high flow applications, simple, self regulating and run OK dry.

Secrets of lost empires was the T.V. program John is refering to.good series.

I have just looked that series up and none of the tiltles for both series' mentions the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They would appear to be available on DVD though.

I thought this was going to be a thread about Cleopatra having sex! :oops:

Okay I will leave quietly! 😉

I have to admit I thought long and hard about the title of the thread.

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Whoops!I think The T.V.series was `seven wonders of the ancient world`,not secrets of lost empires.Should find it on a well known internet shopping store.sorry about the confusion.If I remember rightly it was on t.v.about 10 years ago,though cannot be sure which channel.

Jimbo mentioned the continued use of Archimedean screws in sewage works and other places where pumps must deal with a hign solids content.

A later pump well-adapted to pumping liquids with a significant solid content was the pulsometer pump. In the later C19 and very early C20, pulsometer pumps, invented 1872, were well regarded for low-lifts (30 to 40 feet) where pumps had to cope with 'thick and dirty water' and on this account were recommended for use as pilot pumps in sinking and in coal washeries. Their main stated disadvantage was their large use of steam. [W.E.Lishman 'Pumping', pp. 169-192 in vol.3 & pp.193-253 in vol. 4, in W.S.Boulton (ed) 'Practical Coal Mining', London: Gresham, n.d. (c1910), 6 vols, esp. vol.4 pp.228-9] In mining applications I imagine they rapidly were superseded by electric pumps in the opening decades of C20, saving transmitting steam down to shaft bottom.

Besides Archmedean screws and pulsometer pumps, what other designs of pumps were good at coping with high solid contents?

Besides Archmedean screws and pulsometer pumps, what other designs of pumps were good at coping with high solid contents?

Air operated diaphragm pumps are often referred to as a AOD pumps or AODD pumps. They use the same technology as positive displacement diaphragm pumps however they contain no heat generating electrical components allowing safe, explosion-proof operation in hazardous areas. Used extensively in the food and mining industry for general transfer applications they are able to deliver flow rates up to 560 LPM. AOD pumps have the ability to handle low to high viscosity fluids and even particulates. They have the ability to self prime, can run dry without damage and are available in a variety of materials including PTFE and stainless steel.

Here's one http://www.coleparmer.co.uk/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=7444040&pfx=  and another http://www.coleparmer.co.uk/catalog/product_index.asp?cls=56160 

Used on mining & tunnelling sites throughout the world. 😉

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