Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 3: An Artisan Meets A Mechanic

It's been about two months since Daniel came to the strange fantasy world. He's gotten better every day at speaking and listening to the language of the world, which he had to learn the old fashioned way, and he wasted no time, practicing words in his head or reviewing with friendly citizens.

Now, a crowd is gathered around him as he finishes assembling his first invention in this world; a lever operated piston water pump. It doesn't get in the way of the bucket, which is what the town has been using for drinking water. It's sometimes surprising what the town does that magic can't yet accomplish. He was able to afford some custom-made piping made out of aluminum, and he was able to assemble the other parts himself using a mold he made for the housing, piston, and lever pieces, while he made a gasket out of a rubber-like material used by blacksmiths for scratch protection on decorative materials. He's not sure where it comes from yet, but it does the job, and it resists deterioration.

Daniel recalls something he read about on Earth about aluminum being hazardous for this kind of application, but when he did some research, the best he could find were single-sentence blurbs that had no reputable studies attached to them. If he has the chance he'll come back and replace the piping with better metal, but for now, it's what he can afford in this other world.

Once assembled, Daniel begins cycling the lever. He can feel the weight increasing; water is climbing but unable to sink back down thanks to the check valve in the pump. He keeps cranking the lever as the citizens gathered around him watch.

A young boy asks, "What's that supposed to do, Mister Daniel?"

He grins, saying warmly, "Just watch." He has a bucket below the spout, and it takes about a minute of cranking, thanks to the depth of the well, but suddenly, water spits out of the spout. Then, each swing of the lever causes an appropriate rush of water that causes the crowd to gasp and coo in amazement.

Gursille, the blacksmith, leans in close, watching the water come out. He gushes, "Amazing! Such a simple-seeming design. How much water can this contraption move?"

Daniel replies, still cycling the lever with relative ease, "Until the well's level gets below the suction bottom of the pipe."

This stuns everyone. He looks down, and the water level doesn't look any lower. "How deep is it?"

"I asked for a pipe that's pretty close to the bottom, but not all the way. Want to avoid silt. Should be about twenty feet of water head or more right now. Not sure how much it swings through the seasons."

One of the farmers in town for delivery replies, "We're in dry season now, with a few months to go. Probably drop a few feet at least."

Daniel explains with a nod. "Wells tend to draw from ground water, so as long as the water table remains..." He gets a few blank looks. Generally, they don't have to think about it because they get their bucket or two of water, typically, and keep going.

Daniel clears his throat. "It only makes it easier to fill larger vessels and personal buckets. I'll teach anyone who wants to know how to replace the gasket, since I don't know how long this material will last. The piping should last a good while."

Several of the villagers volunteer, and Daniel politely thanks them. "Thank you, thank you, but I can't do it right now. I have another appointment. I'll post a class in the adventurer's guild in about a week or so. It'll be free, but it'll take a little bit."

He gets many handshakes and shoulder pats as he does his best to extract himself to head to the apothecary that requested help with a cooling unit. As usual, it's something he might be able to service, but he won't know until he sees it. Otherwise, they're at the mercy of the next artificer to come into town, which apparently, isn't particularly often. From what he can tell, Daniel is a bandage to an artificer's surgery. His advantage is that he has modern-world knowledge, such as the pump. He'd love to assemble a motorized pump, but it'll take time before he can assemble shaft seals and bearings for the pump and motor, as well as figure out how to get hold of that much wire. Not to mention, he'd likely have to hand-wind the motor himself, which he's fuzzy on.