A garden is the region of a house where varieties of plants are found and where people can practice their gardening skills. Adding a few other garden pieces such as garden furniture will also make better gardens accommodating and a lot of people go the extra mile in decorating their gardens to provide more elegance. One such decorative piece that provides gardens their stylishness is a garden fountain.

Fountains are well-known for their continuous spouting and cascading water flow with the help of a pump. Putting a fountain in gardens can significantly enhance a garden’s appeal and attractiveness wherein people and birds can relax next to it.

Today’s modern fountains get their constant water flow because of electric-powered pumps. But, not many people are aware that ancient fountains already had the equivalent function prior to the discovery and use of electricity. How is this possible?

History

Ancient fountains were built and used by different cultures for different purposes. Fountains and wells were used mainly to distribute fresh water to the residents. The ancient Romans were perhaps the most famous when it comes to engineering water delivery. If the nearest source of fresh water is beyond the practical access of one of the Empire’s cities, the Romans would erect an elaborate system of channels that function as the pipe network where the water from the nearest stream, falls, or lake would flow along. Water that passes through these aqueducts are then collected in reservoirs that could be circulated again using another network of aqueducts that wouldfill up the city’s wells, pools, baths and fountains.

A few of the old famous and beautiful flowing fountains are the Trevi fountain of Italy and the fountains of Peterhof from St. Petersburg, Russia. These fountains were able to spout tall jets of water and constantly made cascading flows without the use of pumps.

Technical Principle

A fountain’s continuous water-flow is created by two major forces, gravity and pressure. The way these two forces affect fountains is that the flow and spouting height on fountains are determined by how far above the ground and how fast the source of the water is.

Back then, early fountain builders relied on height and gravity for fresh water distribution to fountains and all sorts of water structure sources. Now, electric pumps regulate the pressure and flow of water that will influence the height of the spout. Garden fountains are typically supplied with water by a water pump and the pressure and flow of the water onto the fountain’s basin is controlled by a system of pipes and valves.

The pressure that influences the upward flow of the water is influenced by the size and diameter of the pipes and primarily by valves. These valves act just like the valves on our faucets and showers that we turn clockwise so water would get released. Just like any other valve, fountain valves made it possible to effortlessly regulate a fountain’s water-flow. The smaller the enclosure of the liquid, the greater the pressure of the liquid coming out of it creating a greater burst of liquid. You can try this by covering the nozzle of a faucet partially with your finger.

Even though fountains have a plain concept of function, they still need skillful architecture and well-planned construction to have e graceful waterflow. Intricacy on fountains’ designs should also be given detail consideration since nearly all better garden fountains are intended to fascinate other people and guests.