BIG WATER-WHEEL

Inangahua Times, 22 August 1931, Page 1

BIG WATER-WHEEL

(NEARLY A CENTURY OLD PRESERVATION PLAN A new move is under way to preserve the “Niagara of water wheels, as he famous old Burden water wheel at Troy, New York, was called. ) SouveD’r hunters hive removed so 1 many of the parts which went to make ud its once mighty whole that the e remains only a hare hint of 1 s on. mat majestic outline. Built nea ly a cen u y ago it was the largest overshot water wheel in the United States, and was surpassed in si z e by only one other waterwheel in the world, the wheel n the Isle of M n , j Unused since 1898, the Burden wheel I fell into a state of decay, but a group of elccl'ical engineers mte.es ed in i - restoration say there is enough left to make rebuilding practical, Gen rating 1200 horsepower, the wheel flooring and shal s weighed more than 925 tons. It held thnty-six buckets, each of which was twenty fret wide, the width of the wheel itself twenty feet long and five feet nine inches deep The d ameter of the wheel was tix y feet. The power generated when it was in motion ran the entire Burden Iron Company plant, which then employed 1800 men. The lale Mr Henry Burden, designer of the wheel, often referred io it as th outstanding achievement of his long career as an inventor and manufacturer. The wheel operator regulated the flow of water to the wheel from Burden Pond, approximately 2500 ft, a minute being availab e When the supply of water became somewhat uncertain the wh. el slipped into a state of idleness and wrs never used again.