page_title: Water turbine
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Water turbine / History / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: A propeller runner of a hydroelectric turbine A fixed-blade turbine runner 15 feet 10 inches (4826 mm) diameter rated 28000 HP (20880 kW). In 59 years of service this runner produced 7.5 terawatthours of energy. This runner was installed at Manitoba Hydro's Great Falls generating station. This runner is on display at the Manitoba Electrical Museum, Winnipeg. Note the fixed attachment of the roots of the propeller blades to the hub - this angle is not adjustable, unlike a Kaplan turbine. Deutsch: Das Schaufelrad einer Wasserturbine
context_page_description: A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts kinetic energy and potential energy of water into mechanical work.
  Water turbines were developed in the 19th century and were widely used for industrial power prior to electrical grids. Now they are mostly used for electric power generation.
  Water turbines are mostly found in dams to generate electric power from water potential energy.
context_section_description: The earliest known water turbines date to the Roman Empire. Two helix-turbine mill sites of almost identical design were found at Chemtou and Testour, modern-day Tunisia, dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The horizontal water wheel with angled blades was installed at the bottom of a water-filled, circular shaft. The water from the mill-race entered the pit tangentially, creating a swirling water column which made the fully submerged wheel act like a true turbine.
  Fausto Veranzio in his book Machinae Novae (1595) described a vertical axis mill with a rotor similar to that of a Francis turbine.
  Johann Segner developed a reactive water turbine (Segner wheel) in the mid-18th century in Kingdom of Hungary.  It had a horizontal axis and was a precursor to modern water turbines. It is a very simple machine that is still produced today for use in small hydro sites. Segner worked with Euler on some of the early mathematical theories of turbine design. In the 18th century, a Dr. Robert Barker invented a similar reaction hydraulic turbine that became popular as a lecture-hall demonstration. The only known surviving example of this type of engine used in power production, dating from 1851,  is found at Hacienda Buena Vista in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
  In 1820, Jean-Victor Poncelet developed an inward-flow turbine.
  In 1826, Benoît Fourneyron developed an outward-flow turbine. This was an efficient machine (~80%) that sent water through a runner with blades curved in one dimension. The stationary outlet also had curved guides.
  In 1844, Uriah A. Boyden developed an outward flow turbine that improved on the performance of the Fourneyron turbine. Its runner shape was similar to that of a Francis turbine.
  In 1849, James B. Francis improved the inward flow reaction turbine to over 90% efficiency. He also conducted sophisticated tests and developed engineering methods for water turbine design.  The Francis turbine, named for him, is the first modern water turbine.  It is still the most widely used water turbine in the world today. The Francis turbine is also called a radial flow turbine, since water flows from  the outer circumference towards the centre of runner.
  Inward flow water turbines have a better mechanical arrangement and all modern reaction water turbines are of this design. As the water swirls inward, it accelerates, and transfers energy to the runner. Water pressure decreases to atmospheric, or in some cases subatmospheric, as the water passes through the turbine blades and loses energy.
  In 1876, John B. McCormick, building on Francis's designs, demonstrated the first modern mixed-flow turbine with the development of the Hercules turbine, initially manufactured by the Holyoke Machine Company and subsequently improved upon by engineers in Germany and the United States. The design effectively combined the inward flow principles of the Francis design with the downward discharge of the Jonval turbine, with flow inward at the inlet, axial through the wheel's body, and slightly outward at the outlet. Initially performing optimally at 90% efficiency at lower speeds, this design would see many improvements in the subsequent decades in derivatives under names like "Victor", "Risdon", "Samson" and "New American," ushering in a new era of American turbine engineering.
  Water turbines, particularly in the Americas, would largely become standardized with the establishment of the Holyoke Testing Flume, described as the first modern hydraulic laboratory in the United States by Robert E. Horton and Clemens Herschel, the latter of which would serve as its chief engineer for a time. Initially created in 1872 by James B. Emerson from the testing flumes of Lowell, after 1880 the Holyoke, Massachusetts hydraulic laboratory was standardized by Herschel, who used it to develop the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring large flows, to properly measure water power efficiency by different turbine models. While skepticism of certain weir calculations were held by European hydrologists, the facility allowed for standard efficiency tes
caption: A propeller-type runner rated 28,000 hp (21 MW)
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