The rocky terrain in Arkansas led to development of a unique model that Bob refers to as an "Arkansas bucket." Because it's difficult to dig a well in that rocky land, early settlers just sank a pipe into the ground. The Arkansas bucket looks like a stove pipe. Dropped into the pipe, the metal tube holds about the equivalent of a traditional bucket.
Bob's oldest pump - a "post pump" -was originally used by pioneers on the prairie. The post pump was made from a hollowed-out post. The pump's handle and spout are made of metal.
Another pump in his collection - a chain pump (or water elevator) - came from Missouri. That pump was used mostly on cisterns, he says. The transfer pump was used to pump water from creeks into steam tractors. Although many early-day threshing machines depended on water wagons, the transfer pump provided an alternative water source.
"The windmills would pump the water," he says. "They were engaged by a lever used to pump water into the tank."
Force pumps were used in homes to force water up the pipe connected to the water closet. The "full body" pump is one that doesn't have exposed pipe, like a pump made by the Monitor company, for instance. The smallest pumps in his collection are the pitcher pumps.
Pieces for his collection have not been hard to come by.
"You'd be surprised how many people have given me pumps," he says.
Bob operates in the same vein, giving duplicates to friends and relatives. On one occasion, Bob offered one to a friend visiting from Arkansas.
"He almost beat me down the stairs," Bob says.