The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1868-01-30
"Giant Turbine Water Wheel.

L. NJ. LARsH, Esq, of the vicinity o.
this city, has invented a Water Wheel,
that is, wevfirmly believe, destined to
supercede all others, or to receive the
general award of being vastly superior
in every way. He has lately fitted up
three or four Mills on Indian Creek, with
his improvements. and they all work
like charm-giving entire satisfaction.
The Oxford (Ohio) Citizen, of recent
date, thus speaks Of the operation Of one
of these Wheels, put up in McCullough's
Touring mill in that neighborhood !:
"To show the power of the turbine we
will enumerate the amount Of machinery
that is worked by a wheel forty inches
in diameter It runs one set of four feet
burs, three bolts, three stand elevators,
shutter, -four packer, screen, jack
rope, and q line shaft running full
length of the mill; and yet there is
power enough left to work nearly double
that amount The turbine sits in the
bottom of the penstock and connects
with the machinery by long iron shaft
which runs through its center; leath-
er belt propels all the milling machin-
cry, and every thing moves without the
sli2 htest jar. The amount of water re-
quired is only seven feet head, and in
this Mr.. Larsh claims an advantage in
his invention over all others The wa
ter in the tail race runs from ST to S
inches in depth, the race being 10 feet
across the top. This wheel has also
another advantage-drifting leaves or
rubbish will not choke it. We saw Mr..
Larsh throwsinseveral armsfull Of leaves
in the sforebay and they all passed
through the race without checking the
operations of the wheel In compsri
son of the merits of the turbine over the |
over shot wheel we would state that the
turbine will utilize larger percentage |
ofthe force of'the water than tn best |
ordinary water wheels, namely, from |
IS to 80 per cent And then there is |
another point which is stronger than all |
other, claimed for the turbine. |
Every mill owner has experienced the |
difficulty of keeping an over-shot wheel |
IN working condition. 1t Is constantly |
getting out of order, and when the mill !
is most required for work it has to stop
for repairs to the wheel especially is !
this difficulty experienced in winter. |
The turbine being placed at the bottom |
of the penstock will not freeze and is not |
liable to breakage from floating de6ris.
Some Of the advantages Of this wheel,
over all others, are,-1, Putting down |
the wheel and Case, without using q |
bolt or screw in the water 2, supply |
ing the Step with water, so that it can !
never burn out 8. Taking the weight |
off of the Step by scroll bucket, and, !
at the same time, directing the water |!
into the wheel bucket 4, Making the |
Bridge-tree to adjust or raise the wheel |
inside. They also occupy little space
the action Of the wheel is uniform and |
uninterrnpted-the wheel, turning, usu-
ally completely within the water. aud |
the pressure outward on the floats be- |
ing the same in all directions, there is |
no strain or increased friction il par |
ticular direction on the axis--being en-
tirely submerged, its performance is !
uninterrupted by ice, and is little affect |
ed by floods or by drought. so long as
the wheel is covered-t utilizes alarge |
percentage Of power than ordinary |
wheels, and its efficiency does not de- |
crease il the same ratio Nth its veloci- |
ty, when the height or volume of water |!
is reduced For Saw Mills, Grist Mills, |
or for running any kind of machinery, |
this invention will be found to be Just |
the one thing needful. |
For information regarding it-terms,
etc, apply to the inventor, L. NJ. Larsh,
Richmond, Ind. sAsaa- e-oa stf