Cornish Pump
A significant problem in mining is groundwater removal. Water limited the depth of early miners until the Cornish pump was introduced in the 18th Century. Cornish pumps originated in the tin and copper mining region of Cornwall, England, and evolved significantly during the early 1800s.
Cornish pumps were costly and required a unique mineshaft with separate pumping compartment to accommodate piping and a massive reciprocating timber pump rod.
A Cornish pump system consisted of three main components: (1) Plunger pumps placed at intervals in the mineshaft, (2) A pump rod moving up and down to operate the pumps, and (3) A steam engine on the surface to set the pump rod in motion. A Cornish pump raised water in stages. Lift pumps and station pumps received power from the timber rod moving up and down in the shaft’s pumping compartment. Each pump overcame only a small head as it forced water upward to the next storage tank, and so on, until the water reached the surface.
Marker can be reached from Almaden Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
