Raising Water to a Mountaintop; Self-Turning Smokeless Chimney
A siphon-and-sand filter to carry pure water to a summit, plus a wind-turning, smoke-free chimney
The main study and its diagram (points 9, C, A, P, S, o, b, m) describe a scheme for supplying pure water to the top of a mountain: a siphon lifts spring water from a well at the foot, delivering it into a large cistern whose bottom is pierced with tiny holes and packed with washed river sand so that the water filters clean into a lower vessel. Two smaller drawings at the lower right treat chimneys: one crowned with a weathervane cowl that turns to any wind and is stopped at night, and a chimney section (labelled air and well) devised so as not to smoke. The sheet combines a hydraulic supply system with practical building devices.
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Supplying pure water to a mountain summit by siphon and sand filter
Once the system is filled with water up to point 9, the outlet m at the foot of the mountain is unstopped. A siphon (cicognola) rises from a well of living water at the base to the summit at m A; the bottom of A is pierced with tiny holes and the space between A and b packed with fine washed river sand, so that water percolating through it collects clean in the vessel p S. The cistern A C must be much larger than A b, the sand soaked before use, and p S filled with water.
Chimney with a wind-turning cowl
A chimney topped with a vane-like cowl that turns to face every wind, and which is stopped up at night so that outside air does not enter it.
Section of a chimney that does not smoke
A cutaway of a chimney marked with air and well, showing how to build a flue that gives off no smoke by providing suitable air vents (spiracoli).