Water Screw?

[BioProfessor]

Found this with my rock detector. Tripped over it and dang near speared myself with my MD. Anyway, I haven't a clue what it might be or do (I seem to be saying that a lot lately. )

It is made of clay but is crudely fired. Not fired in a modern or really hot kiln where you get the "ring" when you hit. It just gives a dull "thud" so it's not a modern manufactured piece as far as I can tell.

The outside is just scratched to make the groves. Doesn't look like a very sophisticated process was used.

This piece is 6.50" tall and 6.25" in diameter.

The inside looks like an auger with the center missing. It is very smooth and seemingly precise.

Any reason that a relatively long time ago somebody would make a clay pipe that would make water or air spin around as it passed through (or anything for that matter)?

Thanks,

Daryl

 

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[trikikiwi]

I still think Daryl's whatsit is for the transfer of a liquid or slurry,
but I do believe that lumbercamp's finds and possibly duffytrash's finds too are actually 'tower packers' or 'column packers'. These are used to provide a greater surface contact area for chemical or biological processes.

An example from this link
http://www.tower-packing.com/Dir_ceramic_packing.htm

Cheers, Mike

 

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[JamesE]

If inserted into boiler tubes both styles would provide more surface area for heat transfer.
Might be part of a still column. Larger surface area for condensate and swirl for centrifugal effect on vapor. jim

 

[BioProfessor]

Jim,

I looked at chimneys for forges and stuff and they have an "auger pipe" in them. I posted it on a forge forum and they said it was not an auger pipe for a chimney and had nothing to do with making a chimney draw better. Shot down again.

Thanks for the help.

Daryl

 

[JamesE]

Me thinks me is misunderstood not to improve draw, to improve heat tranfer, probably still not right, but a different principle for a different purpose jim

 

[BioProfessor]

I was referring to the swirl. That "tornado" effect is what vacuum cleaners use to increase suction. In a chimney it would increase draw?

Daryl

 

[JamesE]

At the risk of sounding like, don't I think I know everything?
The 'swirl' in a vacuum cleaner is not to increase suction but to induce centrifugal or centrepital effect on dust particles, depending on design, to concentrate the dust in either the center or circumference of the collectors' air column.
The spiral design is not a strong design so not likely these were intended as a support.
And I sure haven't seen every design of every mill, the ones I've seen use a hopper or drag to bring grain to the wheel. As a water screw, more efficient is the simple bucket wheel.
Might be something to feed a lime kiln or glass works, I think lime kilns used to be pretty common with most having been dismantled for materials when mass production and local fuel depletion made then unprofitable.
I still lean towards the low temp., low pressure boiler tube or still app., would need to be glazed for high temp or immersion, I would think clay for high temp apps. also.
If used in a forced air burner the spiral would improve fuel and air mixing, with air passing through the outside grooves for cooling.
A little similar to the stack funnel on steam locos, the expanded area of the stack allows smoke/cinder velocity to be slowed while injected exhaust (steam) cools it to help prevent fires.
But, essentially, I don't have a clue??

 

[BioProfessor]

OK, seems I don't know a lot about vacuum cleaners. Add another one to the list.

Here's all I got for a water pump. Make the cylinders small enough to keep straight and put a bunch of them together. Figure out a way to make them turn.

Daryl

 

[JamesE]

Sure, I understand 'Uncle Archies' (what we call him at home) screw,
Then, of course there's a but....if whoever made this understood the principle to make the screw at this level of sophistication, would also know it's more efficient (work/energy) to form the screw around a central shaft/axle.
I still go with who it was that suggested that it might feed a furnace or crucible.
If placed in a tube with gear or some drive attached to the casing tube, pressurized cooling air could be forced though the tube and grooves and into the furnace, or as a feeder for boiler, ground coal could be augered into a firebox. I still go with a materials feeder screw for a furnace (glass, metals, lime, fuel).
And as I'm writing, it occurs that it might be part or some kind of primitive well drilling set up, but doesn't look strong enough for that.
Or,,if these were stacked vertically on a perforated pipe, as muddy or sandy water were poured/drained into the top, induced spin and centrifical force would leave a clearer/cleaner central colunm of water in the central perforated pipe, back to the 'vacuum cleaner' theory.
Have you asked PBK yet, he knows everything!! or what book it's in!! 8)

 

[BioProfessor]

I'm sure PBK will chime in when all us amateurs give up.

Would it be more convincing that it is a water screw if I said they were found in a pile by a river with a canal dug from the river for about 1/3 mile inland? And the settlement on the canal was from the 18th century.

Daryl

 

[JamesE]

Depending on the water table, a dug well is more efficient than turning something this size and weight to move water inland. I'm still in the sand separator for boiler filling mode.
Can you describe the canals? Was it like a shipping center? Maybe a fire wood stop for steam boats?
jim

 

[BioProfessor]

10 feet wide x 8 feet deep. 1000 yards long. Hand dug. Dirt piles still evident. River about 15 feet from top of bluff where settlement area was. highest point for quite a ways.

Daryl

 

[JamesE]

I'm not following, is the canal on the bluff above the river and dry, or at river level filled with river water?
Another limb shall I prance out upon:
If hand dug the piles should be more of a continuous berm along the canal, machine dug is usually more like dig, pile,move,dig, pile , move....
Some water intakes have a lead in canal to settle out sediment, is it a for sure thing that the canal is part of the settlement and not the water system?
Also, the grooves may be for even heating during firing. stress relief.
Is the discoloration from ground stain or heat? And are the 'deposits' in the flukes built up or worn down? jim

The truth shall be known, and we will all be better for it, of course we'll be older and poorer, and better won't matter, ok, maybe the truth sucks.

 

[TomNWMI]

Could it be a sand or clay seperator for whatever material they were

digging out of that trench? Similar devices are used today in sand and gravel pits to seperate out and classify the size of the material for various construction uses.

Google "sand screw"

Tom

 

[BioProfessor]

The canal has been there for over 100 years according to maps of the village. They are hand-dug and the dirt is mostly a berm along side the canal. There are a few mounds but mostly it looks as though the dirt was just thrown out.

The village was there about 1730 - 1750 and then disappeared from the maps. They moved about 12 miles to an area free of Yellow Fever. Nobody has lived there since as far as the records go.

The canal is on a bluff on the highest land around the river. The river level is about 15-20 feet below the bluff. The canal runs from the river to the settlement and through what is now planted pines. Only ankle deep water now.

The color seems to be from fire. Just looks that way. They are not fired in a high temperature kiln as they don't have the "ring" of clay fired at a high temperature. The screw part inside is perfectly smooth. Some have suggested that the ridges are there to hold the piece in place as the screw is removed from the partially dried clay before it is fired.

I'll look at a sand screw. It could have been pulling sand from the river not water.

Thanks for the help.

Daryl