The Waterfall That Compressed Air Without a Single Moving Part — The Trompe
Hidden Works
218 views
At Ragged Chutes in northern Ontario, a waterfall once supplied compressed air to the Cobalt silver mines without pistons, turbines, or a fuel-burning compressor. A hydraulic air compressor called a trompe used falling water to trap bubbles, carry them deep underground, and squeeze them under pressure.
The system turned the Montreal River into a regional utility. Water and air entered twin intakes, descended a 351-foot shaft, separated in an underground chamber more than 1,000 feet long, and sent cool compressed air through iron mains to power drills and hoists across Cobalt and Coleman.
This documentary follows the trompe from early ironworks to Charles Havelock Taylor’s industrial designs and the vast Ragged Chutes installation. It examines the buried geometry behind its “no moving parts” reputation, the pipe network that made or broke its economics, its effects inside the mining district, and why electricity eventually offered a more flexible way to move waterpower across the landscape. It also traces what remains: old pipe routes, mining scars, and a river that still produces electricity.
00:00 Water power through an air pipe
03:09 Continuous air for the furnace
06:18 A bubble through the mountain
13:31 Trompes in the mining district
17:07 Compressor inside the excavation
22:32 Air from chamber roof to drill
27:29 Air changes before the worker
32:27 Compressed air service costs
36:57 River power generation
40:34 Smaller trompe applications
42:49 The pipe route
Sources:
Leroy E. Schulze, Hydraulic Air Compressors, U.S. Bureau of Mines
Charles Havelock Taylor, U.S. Patent 892,772, Hydraulic Air-Compressor
Dean L. Millar, A Review of the Case for Modern-Day Adoption of Hydraulic Air Compressors
Cobalt Historical Society, Ragged Chute—Video Review
Town of Cobalt, History of Cobalt
Parks Canada, Cobalt Mining District National Historic Site of Canada
TransAlta, Ragged Chute
Hidden Works explores the forgotten machines, industrial systems, and supply networks that made the modern world function.
Subscribe for more documentaries about forgotten machinery and industrial history. Tell us which mine machine or water-powered industry Hidden Works should explore next.
#IndustrialHistory #ForgottenMachinery #Trompe #MiningHistory #CanadianHistory
The Waterfall That Compressed Air Without a Single Moving Part — The Trompe
Hidden Works
218 views
At Ragged Chutes in northern Ontario, a waterfall once supplied compressed air to the Cobalt silver mines without pistons, turbines, or a fuel-burning compressor. A hydraulic air compressor called a trompe used falling water to trap bubbles, carry them deep underground, and squeeze them under pressure.
The system turned the Montreal River into a regional utility. Water and air entered twin intakes, descended a 351-foot shaft, separated in an underground chamber more than 1,000 feet long, and sent cool compressed air through iron mains to power drills and hoists across Cobalt and Coleman.
This documentary follows the trompe from early ironworks to Charles Havelock Taylor’s industrial designs and the vast Ragged Chutes installation. It examines the buried geometry behind its “no moving parts” reputation, the pipe network that made or broke its economics, its effects inside the mining district, and why electricity eventually offered a more flexible way to move waterpower across the landscape. It also traces what remains: old pipe routes, mining scars, and a river that still produces electricity.
00:00 Water power through an air pipe
03:09 Continuous air for the furnace
06:18 A bubble through the mountain
13:31 Trompes in the mining district
17:07 Compressor inside the excavation
22:32 Air from chamber roof to drill
27:29 Air changes before the worker
32:27 Compressed air service costs
36:57 River power generation
40:34 Smaller trompe applications
42:49 The pipe route
Sources:
Leroy E. Schulze, Hydraulic Air Compressors, U.S. Bureau of Mines
Charles Havelock Taylor, U.S. Patent 892,772, Hydraulic Air-Compressor
Dean L. Millar, A Review of the Case for Modern-Day Adoption of Hydraulic Air Compressors
Cobalt Historical Society, Ragged Chute—Video Review
Town of Cobalt, History of Cobalt
Parks Canada, Cobalt Mining District National Historic Site of Canada
TransAlta, Ragged Chute
Hidden Works explores the forgotten machines, industrial systems, and supply networks that made the modern world function.
Subscribe for more documentaries about forgotten machinery and industrial history. Tell us which mine machine or water-powered industry Hidden Works should explore next.
#IndustrialHistory #ForgottenMachinery #Trompe #MiningHistory #CanadianHistory