The Turbine

The Turbine. . , Rivers powered Connecticut's early prominence in manufacturing. Our Mill river alone powered 13 factories in the 19th century. Of those, the Whitney site endured the longest., Water power is renewable but not always reliable. Freezing in the winter and drought in the summer interrupted work. Storms overwhelmed dams and sluices. A growing factory could exhaust a river's reservoir and flow., Whitney Jr calculated that, in the best of months, his father's small dam and undershot wheels produced only 165 horsepower., In 1848 Whitney Jr introduced a radical innovation: a 4 foot diameter vertical impulse wheel contained in an iron housing. The workmen who cut the channel for this modest marvel were skeptical that it could replace the mammoth 14 foot wheel that Whitney Jr's father had trusted. Output rose 40%. Water power entered a new age., The last of the site's turbines is housed in the shed in front of you. We moved the black iron penstock that fed that turbine to the entrance of the Waterlab behind you. The Fly Ball Governor, ingenuity borrowed from the steam engine's inventors, opened and closed gates automatically to maintain the constant speed that machines required. Electricity did not replace the last of the sites water power until 1933.