Climax No.1 Water Pump

Prior to the introduction of mains supplies, the movement of water from the point of source to the point of use was a labour intensive manual task until the introduction of small pumps which could be driven by windmills or small engines (steam and later internal combustion). Large engine manufacturers like RA Lister & Co manufactured pumping sets employing pumps of their own manufacture, but a few independent specialist water engineers also captured a section of the market by manufacturing their own pumps. Of the independents, Duke and Ockendon of Littlehampton, Susssex were well known for their DANDO range of equipment, including windmill towers and Thomas & Son of Worcester were well known for their Climax range of windmills and pumps, an example of which is shown here.

The No.1 was the smallest pump in the Climax range and came in a number of variants. Represented here is the belt driven type. The basic reciprocating pump body could also be combined with an oilbath gearbox, probably for windmill applications.

Rotary motion isconverted to a reciprocating action via the crankshaft and the water is displaced from the double acting cylinder by the action of the piston, controlled by valves acting similarly to those in a steam engine. The reciprocating motion inevitably results in a pulsatile water flow, but the air vessel mounted atop the output manifold, has the effect of evening out the presure in the delivery pipe.