Pumping an unusual source for labor.
We'll take this project to a captive audience.

Asahel Hubbard of West Windsor received a patent on this day in 1828. He had invented a "Revolving Hydraulic Engine," better known as a rotary pump.

Hubbard found funding from Jabez Proctor, who used his political influence to get Hubbard appointed as warden of the Vermont State Prison in Windsor. Hubbard installed equipment and began paying prisoners up to 25 cents per day producing his rotary pumps.

The St. Louis Aqueduct Company in Misssouri purchased a rotary pump for its municipal water system. Hubbard delivered it personally, transporting the pump all the way by wagon.

The Fairbanks Museum of St. Johnsbury describes the pump as "two meshed gears revolving in a watertight casing. Water was picked up at the bottom of this device and carried around the sides of the casing but prevented from returning by the meshing of the gears and thereby thrust out the top in a steady stream."

Image courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.

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