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Photographer: James King
Taken: March 10, 2018
Caption: ASME Marker
Additional Description: National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark

Knight Foundry
Established 1873

One of the nation’s earliest iron foundry-machine shops remaining in operation and one of very few water powered. It was founded by Samuel N. Knight (1838 to 1913) to produce machinery for the gold mines of the region. Knight was one of several inventors experimenting with impulse turbines to exploit the area’s high-head water power for driving hoists, ore stamps, and other mining machinery. He patented an efficient “water wheel” that came to dominate the field prior to the introduction of the Pelton turbine in the mid-1880s. Knight turbines drive most of the machinery here.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers - 1994
NL113
Submitted: June 29, 2021, by James King of San Miguel, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p594305
File Size: 1.899 Megabytes

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