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PUMPS FROM THE DUMP



PUMPS FROM THE DUMP

Suresh Vaidyarajan & Arvind Gupta

Illustrations by: Avinash Deshpande

Published by Vigyan Prasar
C-24 Qutub Institutional Area,
New Delhi 110016 (India)

Price Indian Rupees Twenty only.


Send your comments to
arvindguptatoys@hotmail.com

































PUMPS FROM THE DUMP

Every little child does it
Making things from odds and bit
The whole world is a garbage pit
Collect some junk and make a kit.

You'll never be at a loss
Make do what you come across
Con - rod, piston, suction port
All these parts you don't import.

Little things all strewn around
A soda - cap lying on the ground
A hose, a spoke, a hollow stem
Lids and bottles all of them

Use these things to make a pump
A pump assembled from the dump
A pump to make the water pump
To quickly empty out the sump.

Making pumps will bring great joy
For each of them is a working toy
Play with them and get a feel
What's a valve and what's a seal.

It's best to try a theory out
Then you'll know it inside - out
Think, adapt and improvise
That's the rule of the wise.

Several pumps go up and down
While many pumps go round and round
Pumps are made of many parts
But the best pump is the heart.

Pumps bring water to the field
And thus better food crop yield
Pumps lift water from the well
Life without a pump is hell!


Various Valves
A valve is the heart of a pump. And there are many-many to make simple valves,
using very ordinary materials.

What is a valve?

A valve is a device, which enables water, or air to flow in one direction only. It prevents the
flow in the reverse direction. A valve is like a traffic policeman, on a 'one-way' road. He
allows traffic to go in one direction only, and stops all traffic in the reverse direction.
He always says GO to traffic in one direction and STOP it in the opposite direction.





















Marble Valve
Make a hole of about 8-mm diameter in the center of the
film reel bottle lid. Place a glass marble on it.
This valve will allow water to flow from bottom up, but
will prevent passage of water from the top to the bottom.
The problem with using steel ball bearings is that they
quickly rust in water.

Balloon Valve
Cut a balloon about 2.5-cm from the mouth end.
Stretch the mouth of the cut balloon and slide it on the
threaded end of a toothpaste tube.
If you blow in from the tube then the balloon will open and
allow air to pass through. But if you suck from the tube end
then the balloon will close and shut the passage of air.
This makes a very efficient valve.

How to make a hole in a bottle or a lid?
Take a film reel bottle and poke a hole in its
base with a divider point.
By rotating a taper scissors in this hole you
can make the hole bigger.
A hole of 8-mm in diameter should be good
enough.
You must ensure that the edges of the hole
are clean - without any burrs or protrusions.
You can also make neat holes using a
shoemaker's punch.



Flap Valves
Cut a 1 x 1.5-cm flat piece from an old bicycle rubber tube. This flap can be hinged to the
outer base of the bottle by applying a rubber adhesive like Fevibond on half the flap and
sticking it. However, the rubber adhesive tends to come out, especially if you use the pump
in water. So it is better to affix the flap by putting a staple on one side. Later the two prongs
of the staple can be bent using a long nail. In this way the flap valve is mechanically and
permanently attached to the bottle. If you suck through the bottle, the flap will shut the hole
and the valve will be closed. If however, you blow in, then the valve will open and allow
passage of air. You could affix the flap valve either on the outer base of the bottle as shown,
or else you can fix it inside the bottle base too. Where you fix the valve would depend upon
its use.







Plastic Strip Valve
One can also make a very efficient valve using the brass body of an old bicycle tube, and a
strip of plastic sheet cut from an old milk bag. Make a hole in the strip and slip it inside the
brass valve body. Then bend the strip on the circular seat of the brass body. Slip this valve in
the base hole of a film reel bottle, and affix it with a lock nut. If you blow through the brass
body, air will pass through. But if you try to suck through the valve body, the air will be
stopped. This is a very efficient valve. Think of several other kinds of valves.


Inertia Pump
This is a simple and perhaps, a most amazing pump! Any hollow tube - PVC pipe,
papaya stem, or a short length of bamboo, can be made to pump up water!







2. Take a 40 -50 cm PVC pipe, the kind, which is used, for household electrical wiring.
Rub its ends on sandpaper to make than smooth. Hold the pipe with your left-hand and move
it up and dawn into a bucket of water. Keep the palm of your right-hand or the top of the
pipe and open and close it with each up and down reciprocation like a hinge. Soon water will
start squirting out. In this case the up-down motion of the left-hand does the pumping while
the right-palm acts like a valve. The use of the hand palm gives an excellent physical feel for
a valve.

How does this pump work?
When the pipe is plunged in the water, because of the inertia of the water, a bit of the water
rises in the pipe. Air is expelled as the palm is lifted and the top of the pipe is open. Now the
palm closes the top. The water, which has risen, cannot go down. With every stroke, a little
water rises in the pipe, and ultimately squirts out. Try and find the maximum height to which
you lift water by this means? Modifications of this simple inertia pump are still used in parts
of Andhra Pradesh (India) for lifting water.

1.Can your convert a bamboo tube into a pump?
Any hollow tube - a PVC or metal pipe, a short
length of bamboo, or even a 30-cm long papaya
stem can be made to pump up water.
Take a short length of bamboo.
Using a poker make a hole in the nodes, so that
the bamboo becomes a connected hollow tube.
In villages, is often easier to find a hollow plant
item - like papaya stems. The nice thing about
the papaya stem is that all children can have fun
with their pumps and own them too.
Jerk Pump
This pump is akin to the Inertia Pump. There is a difference however.
In this pump a foot valve replaces the hand palm valve.






























































1.Take a film roll plastic
bottle and make a 8-mm
hole in the center of its
base. Cut a 1.5 x 1-cm
piece of old cycle tube.
Apply rubber adhesive
(Fevibond) to one side of
this rubber flap, and stick
it inside the bottle (you
can also staple it). The
flap valve will open and
close like a hinge.
2. Take a 30-cm long
PVC pipe with an
outer diameter of
2.5-cm. Cut a strip
from an old bicycle
tube 2 x 20-cm long.

3. Wrap the rubber strip
tightly on one end of
the pipe and secure it in
place with a bit of
rubber adhesive like
Fevibond
. This end of
the pipe should be just
thick enough to fit into
the mouth of the film
roll bottle.

4.
Tightly
fit the
pipe in
the
bottle.

6. Now hold the pipe with one hand
and move it up and down in a bucket
of water. Soon water will out from
the PVC bend on each down stroke.

5. Attach a right angle bend to the top of
the pipe.
Toothpaste Tube Pump
This pump is just like the Jerk Pump. The only difference is that the materials used,
both for the pipe and the valve are very different.



















































1. Old toothpaste tubes are not for
throwing. Take a tube and cut it 2-cm
from the mouth end. Clean it up. With
a nail make a hole in the tube near the
crimped base.

2. Cut a balloon about 2.5-cm from the mouth
end. Stretch the mouth of the cut balloon and
slide it on the threaded end of the mouth of
the tube. This makes a very efficient valve.

3. Insert this valve end in the big toothpaste tube
as shown. Also insert a plastic straw (a Frooti
straw or an old refill) in the hole near the
crimped end. The cut balloon allows flow of
water in one direction. Water can enter the tube
from below but cannot come out from that end.
The cut balloon is a very efficient valve.

4. Hold the tube with your hand
and move it up and down into a
mug of water. After a couple of
strokes water will start squirting
out.
Tube Pump
Adding a piston and a delivery valve to the previous Jerk Pump can make the Tube Pump.