Is there anyone that can answer as to How Victorian era, private/home
owned water fountains worked?
I am exhausted from the number of searches that I have done .. all to
no avail!

Sure, I have learned about the Roman aqueducts and the flow of water
from hillsides 'but', assuming that not Every Victorian home lived
hillside and 'We Know' that the electric pump wasn't in use at that
time .. How did these fountains work?

Maybe they were Force Flowed in someway but, that would not explain
How the return was made!
Example: from spout to bowl, back to reservoir and then to spout
again?

There is probably a simple explanation but if there is .. I have
overlooked it!

I know that this is a strange question but I have reason to ask.

I am not able to take photos of a Large, three section, all copper
fountain that I just purchased from a renowned antique store .. until
Saturday.

The pictures need to be shot in daylight and I wont have any free time
until this weekend.

If anyone is interested in pictures, I will be happy to post them at
that time.

I can tell you that the copper sections are very old, very dark and
Very heavy. (as well as having some green areas. lol)

There are also a couple of figural pieces attached to this fountain
and I Swear that they are brass but are almost Black with the years of
accumulated patina.

I used a dremmel and paste cleaner, in a Real Small, out of sight area
to verify this.
It took Almost fifteen minutes just to lighten a spot the size of a
pencil eraser!

Any clues would be So Greatly appreciated.

Mc

In article . com,
says...

Sure, I have learned about the Roman aqueducts and the flow of water
from hillsides 'but', assuming that not Every Victorian home lived
hillside and 'We Know' that the electric pump wasn't in use at that
time .. How did these fountains work?

Maybe they were Force Flowed in someway but, that would not explain
How the return was made!
Example: from spout to bowl, back to reservoir and then to spout
again?

Are you sure there *was* a return? Before the era of water meters, many
fountains simply took an acceptably small flow of water from the supply
and fed it into a pond that percolated naturally into the ground.

There are also a couple of figural pieces attached to this fountain
and I Swear that they are brass but are almost Black with the years of
accumulated patina.

I used a dremmel and paste cleaner, in a Real Small, out of sight area
to verify this.
It took Almost fifteen minutes just to lighten a spot the size of a
pencil eraser!

Quite possible that you removed a finish applied at the foundry, not
accumulated patina. I happen to have a 1910 catalog from the Fonderie
Artistiche Riunite in Naples, which includes samples of the finishes
they offered on their bronzes, and one of the finishes is nearly black,
a very deep green/brown combination. This was sometimes used for
contrast, much like the intentional blackening of recessed details on
silverware.

If you care about the historical accuracy of your find, I wouldn't
polish off any more of that blackness until having it inspected by
someone familiar with similar works.

--
is Joshua Putnam
http://www.phred.org/~josh/
Braze your own bicycle frames. See
http://www.phred.org/~josh/build/build.html

On 21 Mar 2007 23:06:04 -0700, "mrclose" wrote:


Is there anyone that can answer as to How Victorian era, private/home
owned water fountains worked?
I am exhausted from the number of searches that I have done .. all to
no avail!

Sure, I have learned about the Roman aqueducts and the flow of water
from hillsides 'but', assuming that not Every Victorian home lived
hillside and 'We Know' that the electric pump wasn't in use at that
time .. How did these fountains work?

Again, no real knowledge, except to say that there was electicity
during some of the Victorian era (1837 to 1901, I guess). Once the
lightbulb was popular (starting 1879) other things got invented very
quickly. Maybe couldn't get a motor and pump as small as today, but
if one is really rich, what does it matter to him? Conservation was
not an issue.

But I don't know enough to say they used electric pumps for your
fountain.

Maybe they were Force Flowed in someway but, that would not explain
How the return was made!

mrclose wrote:
Is there anyone that can answer as to How Victorian era, private/home
owned water fountains worked?
I am exhausted from the number of searches that I have done .. all to
no avail!

You've got my curiosity going. Knowing the general area and age of the
fountain would help. Most likely, it ran from a public water supply.
NYC had piped water system by 1800. Just about any combination of
pumps, cisterns and servants ) I did a google search, but too much
junk to wade through. I ran across a ref. to a roof-top cistern, so any
combination of wealth and resources might have come into play.

On Mar 22, 2:06 am, "mrclose" wrote:
Is there anyone that can answer as to How Victorian era, private/home
owned water fountains worked?
I am exhausted from the number of searches that I have done .. all to
no avail!

Sure, I have learned about the Roman aqueducts and the flow of water
from hillsides 'but', assuming that not Every Victorian home lived
hillside and 'We Know' that the electric pump wasn't in use at that
time .. How did these fountains work?

Maybe they were Force Flowed in someway but, that would not explain
How the return was made!
Example: from spout to bowl, back to reservoir and then to spout
again?

There is probably a simple explanation but if there is .. I have
overlooked it!

I know that this is a strange question but I have reason to ask.

I am not able to take photos of a Large, three section, all copper
fountain that I just purchased from a renowned antique store .. until
Saturday.

The pictures need to be shot in daylight and I wont have any free time
until this weekend.

If anyone is interested in pictures, I will be happy to post them at
that time.

I can tell you that the copper sections are very old, very dark and
Very heavy. (as well as having some green areas. lol)

There are also a couple of figural pieces attached to this fountain
and I Swear that they are brass but are almost Black with the years of
accumulated patina.

I used a dremmel and paste cleaner, in a Real Small, out of sight area
to verify this.

What were you hoping to achieve by removing the patina? How do you
know the patina was not an intentional effect?

That renowned antiques store took your money and they'd probably be
willing to offer/locate some information if you asked them nicely.

R

"mrclose" wrote in message
ups.com...

Is there anyone that can answer as to How Victorian era, private/home
owned water fountains worked?
I am exhausted from the number of searches that I have done .. all to
no avail!

"Private/home owned water fountains" were very rare before
electric pumps but used the same hydraulic pressure that
made the large fountains work in classical Rome, at Versailles
in 1780, and in other "water gardens." The hydraulic pressure
systems are described in books you will find in the libraries of
schools of architecture or engineering. You may also find it was
in Victorian times uneconomic to scale down a system that
supplied (say) 200 jets in order to supply only one or two.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)