A hydraulic ram is a pump used to raise water from one level to another by utilizing the energy of the water itself that is flowing in a pipe. The design is based on the principle that occurs when a flow of water encounters a sudden blockage. The...

A hydraulic ram is a water-powered cyclic pump. It harnesses the forces of water hammer to pump a portion of the water being used to power the pump to a point higher than where the water originally started. It is sometimes used in remote areas, where...

Here on our 20-acre off-grid homestead in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, there are solar panels on a manual tracker, a house with passive solar designing, and organic gardens, but it's the "chu-chunking" ram pump that supplies our water from a spring...

Even in this age of technological "miracles" it sounds like magic: pump water -- uphill -- without wind, solar or electric power? Not only is there nothing magic about it, but hydraulic rams have been used since the 1700s. There is...

Rolls-Royce PhantomIn the world of automobiles, there is nothing more majestic than a Rolls-Royce Phantom. We recently had one on hand for familiarization and I thoroughly enjoyed the driving experience over a three-day weekend. The last time I spent a weekend driving a Rolls-Royce, we were...

In March we brought you a firstdrive report on the new topless Gallardo, which was headlined thus: "Lamborghini tries to one-up the neighbors in Maranello. And succeeds." That's a pretty bold assertion, particularly in light of the Gallardo coupe's second place in our "Lords of...