3-021-134 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Experiments with Norton's Patent Tube-Wells, used by our army in Abyssinia, 1868. An invention 'adopted by the Royal Engineers for the ready supply of water to British troops in Abyssinia...It is an American invention...The holder of the patent in London is Mr. J. L. Norton...The experiments were...in a field near the Thames Ditton [railway] station...where forty or fifty gentlemen had assembled...the tube...was driven into the ground some 15 ft. or 16 ft., and the pumping apparatus being affixed, water was produced at the rate of from 10 to 12 gallons per minute...[A larger] tube...was also tested...The pumping apparatus was screwed on, and in a few seconds water was produced, abundantly pouring out at a rate estimated to be equal to 150 gallons per minute...by an outlay of some £5 or £6 every man can have his own tube well and pump in his back garden. The water produced is guaranteed to be entirely free from surface drainage; in fact, it is not only pure, but cool and filtered'. From "Illustrated London News", 1868.