Lynn Appleton's 1880 Cyclopedia of Applied Mechanics has several pages on Hydraulic Rams. A manual version of the device was apparently invented by an English watchmaker in 1772, and the automatic version (what my father called a "water hammer") was invented by Montgolfier in 1796. If you will send me your earthly address I can mail you a copy. Roy Underhill On Thu, 10 Apr 1997, Lynn Norris wrote: > We have just received a water ram (a gravity pump used in mountain > springs). If anyone knows of good places to research this beast. Please > let me know. > > Thanks, > > Lynn Norris > [log in to unmask] >