In the water sector, as elsewhere, good ideas can be surprisingly old. One such old idea is the rope pump, which is over 2000 years old and was used in ancient China. A rope pump consists of a pipe that reaches down to the water, a rope or chain through the tube, washers attached to the rope that fit snugly inside the tube, and a wheel on top to draw the rope with washers through the pipe. The water is held between the washers in the pipe, and is pulled to the surface.
In its many ancient incarnations, the rope pump has been named the ball-and-chain pump, Chinese liberation pump, Noria pump, paternoster pump, chain pump, and many others. Its original design used tubes made of wood (hollowed-out tree trunks, for example), and big balls of leather or wooden plates. These earlier variations of the rope pump were used extensively for irrigation in agriculture and in the large and leaky wooden-canvas-hemp ships of the day, to pump out any unwanted water and prevent sinking.
Modern times
In the 70s, R. Van Tijen of the Dutch Demotech organisation reintroduced the pump, and started using modern materials such as PVC pipes and rubber car tires. It was introduced in Africa as “rope and washer pump” as a low lift pump for irrigation and family wells in the 70s. It never really took off, probably for reasons as its low lift capacity, its “Stone Age” image, and the lack of involvement of the local private sector.