The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-10-02
WHAT WE OWE TO WATER.
WHEELS

Our debt to the genius who first in
vented the waterwheel is a mighty
one. In this country alone the total
developed waterpower is equal to six
million horses and this is but a small
part Of the horse power which might
be utilized from falling water. Con-
seryative engineers estimate that uiti-
mately we will be using some geo .o00,-
900 horse power developed from fall
ing water. OF course this enormous
amount of energy will not come into
daily use until our coal supply dimin-
ishes perceptibly, making it cheaper
to construct huge dams and power
houses than it is to mine and handle
coal.
The waterwheel is really our first
power producer. The Chinese claim
that they We're using water power a
thousand years before we began to
record time at ALL But, for a long
time, human labor was SO cheap it lid
not pay to develop power producers
and the waterwheel was not readily
adopted. History records that as far
back as Ia B. c., crude waterwheel
served to operate small mill in
Rome This wheel was driven by tha
current of a swiftly moving stream.
These first waterwheels were noth-
ing more or less than large wooden
wheels with paddles fixed to the ont
er rim. The motion and pressure OF.
the current. moving at the rate of
three or four miles an hour, was suffi.
cient to turn the wheels and the
power was transmitted with belts and
wooden shafting.
The next development in water.
wheels was a large overshot wheel,
few examples of which exist in old
mills to this every day This type of
wheel was over twenty or thirty feet
in diameter and it was located below
waterfall. The water was piped to
the top of the wheel where it dropped
down and filled numerous buckets
affixed to the rim. The weight of
this water, OF course, was sufficient
10 turn the wheel These wheels. be-
ing SO large, carried enormous weight
of water and gave considerable horse
power
And next came the man who dis |
covered that curved blades could be
fastened to the bottom of vertical
shaft in such a manner that the nm
pact of the water would force the |
shaft around. Instead of using run.
ming or falling water he derived his
energy from the weight OF column |
of water enclosed inside a large wood |
en- cylinder. The weight and pressure
OF this water, varying with the weight
of the column, forced it against the
blades of the waterwheel with grear
force, whirling the shaft very rapidly /
This was the first impact wheel |
and the father of all turbine water |
wheels of today
The turbine waterwheel was a long
time coming in the perfect and econ
omical form so well known today For
hundreds of years the old fashioned I
"undershot" wheels were revolving
mill stones and the heavier and more /
powerful 'oyershot" wheels were used
where greater power was required /
The first turbine waterwheels were
far from being perfect, but even at
that they were vastly better and |
stronger than their wooden ancestors.
Those first waterwheels seldom gave
more than fifty horse power and that
is practically no power at all when
compared with the mighty turbine
wheels of this age.
Today there are many types of wa
terwheels suitable for any sized