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  Welcome to Backcountry Explorers

Backcountry Explorers Old Timer Tales

Pelton Wheel Powers The Mines

2/9/2018

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Pelton Wheel from sideWorking pelton wheel at the Kentucky Mine, Sierra County California
The pelton wheel was invented by Lester Allan Pelton (1829-1908) who is thought of as the father of hydroelectric power. Pelton was born in Vermillion Ohio and came to California in 1850. He became a fisherman on the Sacramento River for three years but then turned to the gold mines of Camptonville, Nevada City, and Grass Valley. In 1864 he became a carpenter and a millwright.

Patent drawing of water nozzle jet.Patent drawing showing water nozzle jet
During this same time period the gold mines in the area needed high amounts of power to drive the mills that crushed the gold ore and to run the drills and to pump air into the mines. The top fed paddle water wheels typically used in flour mills were too slow and very inefficient for this purpose and a much more powerful design was needed. To increase efficiency the paddles were replaced with turbines or buckets affixed around the outside of a wheel with a nozzle used as a water jet forced into the buckets from the bottom to increase the efficiency and power output. Even so, the water splashed backward from each bucket onto the next bucket cutting down on efficiency.

Patent drawing of Pelton WheelPelton Wheel Patent drawing
Pelton had a passion for developing an even more efficient water wheel and designed some thirty plus different wheels. His final design came about quite by accident. There are two stories surrounding this development. In the first, as told by his friend Jim Hutchinson, Pelton was visiting a neighbor and watched the neighbor use a garden hose to chase a stray cow out of his garden. Pelton noticed the water was divided as it struck the cow’s nose splitting into two sprays and deflecting out the sides of the cow’s nostrils. In the second more probable story, Pelton was watching one of his spinning water turbines when the key holding the wheel onto its shaft came loose causing the wheel to become misaligned from the nozzle jet. So instead of the water jet hitting the cup in the center, the slippage caused the water to hit the edge of the cups and it was redirected out the other side of the cups instead of slowing the direct flow of water.

Patent drawing of various Pelton  bucket designs.Patent drawing of various Pelton bucket designs
 Pelton first tried a staggered bucket design (Figure 12) but finally settled on a split double cup design (Figure 13) which gave Pelton the most efficient wheel. His new design was first used at the Mayflower Mine in Nevada City, California in 1878. Pelton later went on to patent his turbine design in 1880.
He met with little sales success until 1883 when the Idaho Mining Company of Grass Valley arranged a competition of four different water wheel design companies to help them decide which one to purchase. Pelton’s turbine wheel won with a 90.2% efficiency compared to the next closest company’s wheel at only 76.5%. This success drove his sales to the point that in 1888 Pelton started the Pelton Water Wheel Company in San Francisco.


Photo of Lester Allan PeltonLester Allan Pelton 1829-1908
In 1887 a miner attached Pelton's wheel to a dynamo and produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On August 27, 1889 the invention was officially patented. By 1893 the Age of Hydroelectric power was in full swing. It has proven to be one of the most efficient inventions in mining and in the production of hydroelectric power in our world.

Picture of biggest Pelton wheel ever built.Biggest Pelton wheel ever built
The biggest Pelton wheel ever built was thirty feet across built by Cobb and Hesselmeyer of San Francisco. Its speed was 65 rpm @ 350 psi and a single water jet of 1 3/4 inches producing over 1000 horsepower.

Out door pelton wheel photo
Outdoor display at Pelton Wheel Museum
Kentucky Mine pelton wheel
Working pelton wheel at Kentucky Mine, Sierra County
Photo of largest pelton wheel
Largest Pelton Wheel ever built
Black and white photo of pelton wheel
Pelton wheel in Pelton Wheel Museum

Demonstration of working pelton Wheel


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    Author

    Welcome!
    If you enjoy backcountry four wheeling, searching for lost ghost towns and gold mines, hidden Sierra lakes, or a challenging Jeep trail through a narrow desert canyon, we’ll show you some of our favorites. In this blog we tell some of the stories that we have found along the way.

    Happy Trails,
    Pans4au

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  • Home
  • Our Adventures
    • Death Valley >
      • Artist Drive, Death Valley
      • Badwater, Death Valley
      • Ballarat Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Broken Pick mine, Death Valley
      • Charcoal Kilns, Death Valley
      • Charles Manson Hide Out Barker Ranch, Death Valley
      • Chloride Cliffs, Death Valley
      • Corona Mine, Death Valley
      • Crater Sulfur Mine, Death Valley
      • Devils Golf Course, Death Valley
      • Geologist Cabin, Death Valley
      • Harmony Borax works, Death Valley
      • Ibex Springs Talc Mine, Death Valley
      • Inyo Mine, Death Valley
      • Keane Wonder Mine, Death Valley
      • Keystone Mine, Death Valley
      • Lost Burro Mine, Death Valley
      • Marble Bath, Death Valley
      • Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley
      • Morning Glory Mine Camp, Death Valley
      • Racetrack, Death Valley
      • Rhyolite, Nevada
      • Russell Camp, Death Valley
      • Ryan, Death Valley
      • Scotty's Castle, Death Valley
      • Skidoo Ghost Town, Death Valley
      • Stella's - Mengel Cabin, Death Valley
      • Teakettle Junction, Death Valley
      • Titus Canyon, Death Valley
      • Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley
      • Warm Springs, Death Valley
      • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
    • California Gold Country >
      • Alleghany, California
      • Big Springs, highway 49
      • Downieville, California
      • Forest City
      • Kenton Mine
      • Kentucky Mine and Museum
      • Love Falls Yuba River
      • Mountain House Henness Pass
      • Oregon Creek Covered Bridge
      • Poker Flat
      • Sierra Buttes Mine
      • Sierra City, Ca
      • Young America Mine
  • Story Blog
  • Our Company
  • Support