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some time in the 1870s. Pelton was watching a spinning water turbine when the key holding its wheel onto its shaft slipped, causing it to become misaligned. Instead of the jet hitting the cups in their middle, the slippage made it hit near the edge; rather than the water flow being stopped, it was now deflected into a half-circle, coming out again with reversed direction. Surprisingly, the turbine now moved faster. That was Pelton's great discovery. In other turbines the jet hit the middle of the cup and the splash of the impacting water wasted energy."
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157:. His grandfather, Captain Josiah Pelton, who lost most of his assets as a sea-captain during the War-of-1812 era, shortly later brought his family to Ohio. Lester's father was Allen Pelton, and his mother was Fanny Cuddeback, from another local early pioneer family. As a youngster, Lester worked on his family's farm and probably attended the nearby "Cuddeback" grade-school.
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Pelton's ideas for improving the turbine water wheel came from his studies of mining equipment and operations in
California's gold rush country. Summary descriptions of the local technology observed by Pelton, and of the science by which his turbine water wheel extracts kinetic energy from a coursing
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also were used to supply power, but these were inefficient in converting the kinetic energy of mountain streams to horsepower. D.P. Stern reports: "According to a 1939 article by W. F. Durand of
Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering, Pelton's invention started from an accidental observation
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his wheel as well as his novel design of the double cup runner, and in 1888 formed the Pelton Water Wheel
Company in San Francisco to supply the growing demand for hydropower and hydroelectricity throughout the West and world-wide. 'Pelton' is a trademark name for the products of that company, but
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cup (in effect two cups side-by-side), then splitting the impinging water-jet directly onto the common vane of the double cup—captured a stream's kinetic energy more efficiently. There were two prime results of Pelton's design: it consolidated the introduction of a new physical science into the
303:, Pelton's design proved much more efficient. The Pelton design provided 90 percent efficiency (of converting streamflow kinetic energy to horsepower) while the next best competitor achieved less than 77 percent—at a time when most extant water wheels typically rated less than 40 percent.
329:, who designed and installed an over-sized wheel of 30 feet diameter; it performed successfully, greatly increasing the hydropower delivered by the Pelton runners to produce compressed air for mining operations.
192:. Pelton spent much of his time reading and observing mining activity; his work and studies gained him critical knowledge of mining equipment and processes and related engineering principles.
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The Pelton wheel also provided sustained power during (typical) lowflow conditions in a mountain stream. In 1887 a miner attached Pelton's wheel to a
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Steam-heat powered much of local mining activities but required a lot of wood for fuel; nearby forests were routinely decimated. Turbine
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263:(i.e., elevation energy) sites. Before Pelton, almost all water turbines were reaction machines powered by water pressure, or
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wheel was being sold as the industry standard, but in a head-to-head competition staged in 1883 at the Idaho Mine in nearby
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Pelton died in
California at the age of seventy-eight and is interred at his family cemetery site in Vermilion, Ohio. His
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and sold his catch locally; and he worked in wood-milling and carpentry. In 1860, after the gold strikes in the nearby
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295:. In 1878, at the Mayflower Mine in Nevada City, he installed the first operational Pelton wheel. At that time the
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Experimenting and modelling, Pelton improved upon the efficiency of the Knight wheel (developed earlier by the
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design is still used to produce hydroelectric power in the United States and around the world, as shown
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In 1850, young Pelton, along with several other local males, emigrated from Ohio to participate in the
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In 1895, the largest installation of Pelton's wheel during his lifetime was accomplished at the
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In the late 1870s Pelton modeled, tested and manufactured his first turbine wheel, dubbed the
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water-jet which could be conveniently developed from a small mountain stream.
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137:. Recognized as one of the fathers of hydroelectric power, he was awarded the
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The North Star Mine and
Powerhouse & Pelton Wheel Museum official website
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turbine; and it revolutionized the use of turbines adapted for high
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ancient human quest to develop hydropower, i.e., the science of the
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the term is widely used generically for similar impulse turbines.
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Genealogy of the Pelton Family in
America; 1892, by J.M. Pelton
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Pelton wheel, circa 1880, built by Miners
Foundry, Nevada City
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was cast as Pelton in the episode "Wheel of
Fortune" on the
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turbine cup. Alternatively, the Pelton wheel—by deploying a
164:. He was not successful as a gold-miner, but he fished the
556:(gov.) tax-delinquency records of Huron County, Ohio, 1826
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as well as world-wide. In the late 1870s, he invented the
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inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame in
108:(September 5, 1829 – March 14, 1908) was an American
567:"Lester Allan Pelton: father of hydroelectric power"
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who contributed significantly to the development of
627:"Miners Foundry – Allans Machine Shop Founded 1856"
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Figure from Pelton's original patent (October 1880)
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153:Lester A. Pelton was born in a log-cabin in rural
598:"Planetary Gravity-Assist and the Pelton Turbine"
511:. National Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from
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349:Monument to Pelton in Camptonville, California.
655:. Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum. Archived from
141:during his lifetime and is an inductee of the
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325:, Grass Valley, California, by the engineer
533:Land-deeds of Huron County, Ohio, 1815–1838
412:mounted in Camptonvlle, California, in the
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653:"Knight Foundry and Sutter Creek"
155:Vermilion Twp., Erie County, Ohio
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804:19th-century American inventors
509:Hall of Fame / Inventor Profile
143:National Inventors Hall of Fame
569:. Richard Neale "Rich" Tarrant
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799:American mechanical engineers
633:. Historical Marker Database
384:, awarded Lester Pelton the
361:. Later designs such as the
16:American mechanical engineer
814:People from Vermilion, Ohio
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824:American fluid dynamicists
323:North Star Mine Powerhouse
255:turbine as opposed to the
223:mountain stream follow...
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196:Inventing the Pelton wheel
723:Introductory turbine math
420:, California, and at the
279:Building the Pelton wheel
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341:Death, legacy and awards
687:Internet Movie Database
428:, California Resort at
390:Benjamin Franklin Medal
310:and produced the first
293:Nevada City, California
374:The Franklin Institute
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182:California Mother Lode
679:"Wheel of Fortune on
505:"Lester Allen Pelton"
445:syndicated television
436:, among other sites.
386:Elliott Cresson Medal
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139:Elliott Cresson Medal
95:Elliott Cresson Medal
719:at Wikimedia Commons
515:on December 19, 2012
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327:Arthur De Wint Foote
162:California gold rush
839:Inventors from Ohio
829:Engineers from Ohio
809:American carpenters
717:Lester Allan Pelton
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73:Oakland, California
25:Lester Allen Pelton
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794:1908 deaths
789:1829 births
418:Nevada City
783:Categories
773:California
486:References
470:Hydropower
430:Disneyland
271:of a high
238:at nearby
186:millwright
178:Yuba River
176:—near the
149:Early life
118:hydropower
81:Occupation
65:1908-03-15
749:Biography
398:Alexandra
372:In 1895,
190:carpenter
663:July 28,
637:July 26,
631:hmdb.org
608:July 28,
602:Phy6.org
573:July 29,
519:July 29,
464:See also
402:Virginia
334:patented
273:velocity
257:reaction
180:and the
110:inventor
85:Inventor
735:Portals
434:Anaheim
332:Pelton
314:in the
253:impulse
132:impulse
120:in the
63: (
308:dynamo
244:single
98:(1895)
91:Awards
75:, U.S.
52:, U.S.
406:Akron
761:Ohio
694:2018
665:2011
639:2011
610:2011
575:2011
521:2011
359:here
265:head
261:head
188:and
116:and
58:Died
43:Born
432:in
424:in
416:in
376:in
291:in
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