Water Power

Water Power. Waterwheels. Up until 1918 the textile mills along the river were powered directly by water using turbine waterwheels. The earlier saw and grist mills used other kinds of waterwheels., In the early mills the breast wheel or overshot wheel provided power directly to the machines. The first textile mills of the 1830s used the more efficient turbine style wheel. In the 1890s the mills were restructured. Coal-powered Corliss engines ran the weaving and spinning equipment, and the water-powered turbine wheel at the Athens Factory produced electricity to light both mills. This continued until the dam was damaged in the 1920s and the turbine wheel stopped. Electricity was purchased to run both the machines and lights, ending the use of the river for power., (captions) , Undershot Wheel , Sitting in the river an undershot wheel pushes on the flat blades. They are simple to construct but not efficient during flood or drought., Breast Wheel , Water is directed towards the buckets about midway on a breast wheel so that gravity and tbe force of the water provide power., Overshot Wheel , The overshot wheel uses channeled water falling from above. The wheel rotated by the gravitational pull of water in the buckets., Turbine Wheel , Turbine blades are curved and set vertically. The water funeled apainst the blades forces the axle to spin. Turbines are the most efficient style of waterwheel.