Brass water turbine model

Brass water turbine model

Item Information

Title:
Brass water turbine model
Description:
Machined brass working model (3 x 3x 3.5 inches) of a large water turbine of an advanced, highly efficient type that was used to power New England mills in the late 19th century. The model is easily disassembled to show all its internal parts and how they interact. It has a freely spinning rotor with a clutch device on the end of its shaft, and an operable rack-and-pinion-driven gate that demonstrates how an operator of the full-sized unit would activate and deactivate the turbine by opening or closing off the flow of water to it. Every nut, bolt, screw and individual rotor vane has been fabricated by hand and meticulously finished. This was probably a salesman's or a company executive's model, used by a representative of the turbine manufacturer to demonstrate the product in faithful miniature to mill owners and millwrights who were the prospective buyers of full-size units. It bears a brass nameplate engraved 'Hunt, Waite & Flint/Pat'd June 15, 1869/Orange, Mass.'
Name on Item:
Hunt, Waite & Flint, Orange, Massachusetts ; Photographed by Eric Weber
Date:
[1869?]
Format:
Objects/Artifacts
Location:
Williamsburg Historical Society
Collection (local):
Williamsburg, Mass., Historical Society, Industrial Artifacts Collection
Subjects:
Machinery--Models
Water-power--United States--History
Water-power--Massachusetts
Machine industry--Massachusetts--Orange
Hunt, Waite & Flint
Turbine industry--United States--History
Places:
Massachusetts > Franklin (county) > Orange
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/4j03d976x
Terms of Use:
Permission to publish the image must be obtained from the Williamsburg Historical Society by writing to ddarienzo@cwmars.org or Meekins@cwmars.org. The Williamsburg Historical Society, Williamsburg, Mass., must be credited as the original source of the item for all use.
Contact host institution for more information.
Language:
English
Notes:
Part of the Williamsburg, Mass., Historical Society, Industrial Artifacts Collection.
Identifier:
Williamsburg Historical Society--Industrial Artifacts Collection--WHS 84-1 Brass water turbine model
brass_water_turbine_model