Another outing to Wales looking for water turbines - photos are phone.
Carreghofa. A former corn mill in which the water wheel was replaced by a turbine.
It’s located next to the wheelpit and is readily identified as an early Gilkes spiral-cased Francis type.
The dynamo was made by Phoenix in Bradford who became part of English Electric after WW1.
Mounted above the dynamo is what I assume is a load balancing resistance.
The turbine took water from a canal feeder, so the the flow was probably fixed with any unused juice from the dynamo being dissipated as heat.
No clues from the electrics panel which was empty - Wyatt of Whitchurch have appeared before in the first post on hydraulic rams.
Dolanog. The corn mill here had a small hydro plant to generate electricity which has now been modernised and contains an Ossberger crossflow.
However sometimes the old turbine is kept and I found it not far away.
It’s a Little Giant, originally produced, as far as I can tell, by J C Wilson & Co in Canada in the late 1800s.
The same design was subsequently manufactured or distributed by several other companies, including some in the UK.
The inlet flow could be directed to run through only the bottom half of the rotor if water was in short supply by a gate valve.
The 1914 vintage dynamo was also kicking around.
Here’s one in action at a restored mill.
Glyn Arthur. Another turbine-powered generator, this time for a farm.
It’s a Armfield Pelton, with water coming from a lake, or maybe another lake higher up the stream.
The generator has gone and the turbine was in bits, so I put it back together.
Control mechanism for the spear valve.
This is either a bit of vehicle junk or a centrifugal governor.
Armfields were one of the firms who imported Little Giant turbines in the early 1880s before going on to manufacture their own, very similar, version called the ‘The British Empire’.
There was one of these under the mud in Blackpool Mill, and a couple of other Armfield reaction turbines have appeared in previous posts.
They evidently did Peltons as well although I haven’t found much info apart from a couple of pictures.
Carreghofa. A former corn mill in which the water wheel was replaced by a turbine.
It’s located next to the wheelpit and is readily identified as an early Gilkes spiral-cased Francis type.
The dynamo was made by Phoenix in Bradford who became part of English Electric after WW1.
Mounted above the dynamo is what I assume is a load balancing resistance.
The turbine took water from a canal feeder, so the the flow was probably fixed with any unused juice from the dynamo being dissipated as heat.
No clues from the electrics panel which was empty - Wyatt of Whitchurch have appeared before in the first post on hydraulic rams.
Dolanog. The corn mill here had a small hydro plant to generate electricity which has now been modernised and contains an Ossberger crossflow.
However sometimes the old turbine is kept and I found it not far away.
It’s a Little Giant, originally produced, as far as I can tell, by J C Wilson & Co in Canada in the late 1800s.
The same design was subsequently manufactured or distributed by several other companies, including some in the UK.
The inlet flow could be directed to run through only the bottom half of the rotor if water was in short supply by a gate valve.
The 1914 vintage dynamo was also kicking around.
Here’s one in action at a restored mill.
Glyn Arthur. Another turbine-powered generator, this time for a farm.
It’s a Armfield Pelton, with water coming from a lake, or maybe another lake higher up the stream.
The generator has gone and the turbine was in bits, so I put it back together.
Control mechanism for the spear valve.
This is either a bit of vehicle junk or a centrifugal governor.
Armfields were one of the firms who imported Little Giant turbines in the early 1880s before going on to manufacture their own, very similar, version called the ‘The British Empire’.
There was one of these under the mud in Blackpool Mill, and a couple of other Armfield reaction turbines have appeared in previous posts.
They evidently did Peltons as well although I haven’t found much info apart from a couple of pictures.
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