Patd. May 23, 1901

Aunt Phil · January 30, 2012, 07:21:15 PM

I know exactly what it is, a cistern pump, and I know US Windengine & Pump Co Batavia Ill had one hell of a lot of pride in their products and some damn good patternmakers & molders from the detail in the lettering on both the base collar and handle.

I also know this pump sat in an abandoned farmhouse on a long abandoned road forgotten since the old man who lived there till he died in 1961. The power was cut off, the poleline removed, and the farmer who currently works the land can't decide if it's worth demolishing the house so he just works around it.

Now I need to decide if I'll put it next to my kitchen sink and fake a couple water pipes to it. First I need to decide if I'll leave it as it is, with the handle the old man's hand wore the paint off, or repaint.

Sure would be nice if I could stumble onto something about it on the web, but every dang hit on US Windengine is for a windmill.

kxxr · January 30, 2012, 07:36:42 PM

The Batavia Historical society's web page has a pump ad on one of their pages, and a little bit of history about the company. You may have seen that already.
http://www.bataviahistoricalsociety.org/
Phone 630-406-5274
Also, somewhere along the line, Challenge and USWE merged to for the US Challenge Company. I only read that on another forum. They also ended up deciding to try contacting the historical society.

Papaw · January 30, 2012, 08:20:09 PM

Oh yes! I think you should dummy it up! Make it look functional, maybe even plumb it to a rainwater catch tank.

rusty · January 30, 2012, 09:02:47 PM

Yeah, a little invisible plumbing would be kewl...

Patent is 675,062, assigned to, us wind engine & pump co. (surprise ;P)

Aunt Phil · January 30, 2012, 10:38:42 PM

One of these days Rusty's going to get caught in the basement files of the Patent office.

When they do they'll probably hold him hostage & make him work.

lbgradwell · January 30, 2012, 11:53:52 PM

Tell us how many rubes you fool after you dummy up the pipes... :)

Branson · January 31, 2012, 07:37:35 AM

Very cool! A bunch of years ago, I was researching water pumps for Sutter's Fort -- there had been one inside the walls in Ye Olde Dayes. A friend called me and said there was a wooden pump, complete, in the basement area of an antique shop. He also pointed out that it was summer, and the staff would be out on the front porch. If I went down in the basement area, I could see the thing, and probably take it apart enough to see how it worked.
He was right, and I did take it apart, taking dimensions and making drawings before I reassembled it and walked out whistling.

The Fort never got around to commissioning the pump, but somewhere I still have the drawings.

Lewill2 · January 31, 2012, 11:53:29 AM

I have 2 that I made into lamps, one is a pitcher pump and the other is a full size pump that I mad into a floor lamp. I didn't drill or modify either pump.

Papaw · January 31, 2012, 04:23:14 PM

Very nice ! Does moving the handle turn the light on?

Lewill2 · January 31, 2012, 06:47:37 PM

No, I didn't go that far. I have another one in process that is going to be another floor lamp if I ever get it finished.

scottg · February 01, 2012, 01:35:01 AM

My Great Aunt Catherine, when I was little, had a pitcher pump at the kitchen sink.
The water table was dead easy in that part of Kansas, so when you wanted water you sank a well exactly where you needed it. There were other pumps around the farm, with a shallow well for each.
yours Scott

mrchuck · February 01, 2012, 10:57:17 AM

I pumped water for my Grandmother from the kitchen sink. The well was about 20 feet away, and 20 feet deep, white rock abutments at the waterline to place things on to keep cool.

The ice box used ice and I still have the Ice sign you set out for the delivery. I also still have the ice tongs that I used when I got a little older and bigger. The tongs are in my tool cabinet.

I expect somewhere today that hand water pumps are still in use and reliable!

RedVise · February 05, 2012, 08:50:00 AM

Quote from: Lewill2 link=topic=3376.
I have 2 that I made into lamps, one is a pitcher pump and the other is a full size pump that I mad into a floor lamp. I didn't drill or modify either pump.

I like the red one a lot, and what is it sitting on ?

Brian L.

Papaw · February 05, 2012, 11:06:56 AM

QuoteI expect somewhere today that hand water pumps are still in use and reliable!

They are still being sold here in the states. I have bought several for a friend who takes them to Paraguay when he goes home on vacation, they are in demand in the outlying areas there.

Lewill2 · February 05, 2012, 03:00:07 PM

The red one is sitting on an antique fold up bed side commode, under the wood lamp base there is a round wood lid that covers the removable porcelain steel pot. That is one of the things that I received from my great grand father's and grand father's estate. The large wood lid folds down and the arm rests fold down inside the cabinet.

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Patd. May 23, 1901