Historical Clippings Book (HC-04) (198 pages)

THE SACRAMENTO BEE Sunday, October 20, 1968 Page B5 Water-Powered Sewing Machine Was l if a 1) q Forerunner Ot Huge Power Plants By Wallace Lagorio Bee staff writer tured throughout the world.tion projects in South America. post during the construction of . But one of the best known man-land in Africa as well as in Eu-. the Hell Hole project on the DOBBINS, Yuba Co. — Thejufacturer is the J. M. Voith Co.!rope. . Middle Fork of the American forerunner of the 45-ton horizon-. of Heidenheim, West Germany,. voith’s project representative River. tal water wheels which will turnjthe supplier on the Colgate and} ; ge Largest Cast twin generators at the Colgate. Narrows Dam jobs. The firm pigs Lee eee S. ; E ' z 2 A I 20-y eteran with the big} Muller says the devices desPowerhouse was invented less!has installed water wheels and company which manufactured] tined for Colgate are the largest than a “country-mile” from/other equipment in most of the r } 1 Mex. antiaircraft weapons during/one-piece Pelton wheels ever here in the Yuba County com-. !mportant hydroelectric genera‘World War II. He held a similar) cast. He ‘says his firm subconmunity of Camptonville by its. jtracted with a Swiss foundry to jcast the monsters, But the er were shipped to Heiden. most celebrated citizen, Lester! Allen Pelton. . The huge wheels, 1614 feet in. diameter, are capable of devel-. oping 220,000 horsepower of en-. ergy — a far cry from an early) version built by Pelton 90} years ago to power a tiny sew-. ing machine. Generators at the. Colgate station near here willl turn out 284,000 kilowatts of . power. . Lester A. Pelton was born in Vermilion, Ohio, in 1829 — 18 years before another Ohioan by the name of Thomas A. Edison. The work of the two men was to revolutionize the world by triggering the great industrial explosion, still under way. As a boy, Pelton spent every waking hour dreaming about the newly opened West, particularly the gold fields of California. Shortly after celebrating his 18th birthday, Pelton packed a small bag, said goodbye to his friends and family and headed west — on foot. He made his way to Sacramento and took a job peddling salmon and sturgeon to the men who arrived aboard the river steamers. Got Mill Job Pelton had some experience as a millwright before leaving Ohio. So when he learned that the mill in Camptonville — the} heart of the gold country — needed a hand, he applied for the job and got it. During slack periods at the mill, Pelton, a skilled carpenter, worked on various building jobs around the community. The old. Camptonville schoolhouse, which still stands today, is lasting. evidence of Pelton’s carpentry. Fascinated with the power of. water, Pelton —.so the story. goes — would sit by the hour} watching the hydraulic miners} Sluicing away hillsides with} powerful streams of water. . He took notes and made} sketches of the nozzles, which,. he noted, created an increase in] water pressure by reducing the} size of the pipe. Armed with this} information, his inventive genius} and a little luck, Pelton per-. fected his water-powered wheel, . Instead of the flat surfaces of} buckets then in use on grist-mill Pelton developed split! 5 or split cups against} nh water was directed under. Sewing-Machine Power His first working model did not use the split-cup principle, but did utilize water under pressure tO pOwer a_e small odel Grove-Baker sewing The machine now is by Bill Groves of Campwhose grandmother. it with her from the. ast. Groves also has the origiel built by Pelton to nin ine. life-long resident of e and an employe of >OQunty road department, 5 old rusting Pelton re since 1960. ds ahan store i i \ N { ‘ 1 j { } . i / ae } . t i . e } . \ ~ ¥ i . ‘ j = \ % ‘ . od \ , Y § . bs SS \ } 4 7 Domes ~ a i__-__Mr. and Mrs. Bill Groves of Camptonville inspect a prized possession, an 1849 model sewing machine which was operated by water power. Below is the water wheel built by Pelton to power the machine, This crude device with a single water jet led to the development of split-cup Pelton wheels which play an important role in hydroelectric generating plants throughout the world. Bee Photos N heim for finishing by the firm’s . craftsmen. Z . The balance of the wheel jmust be exact to insure precise jtiming between the water inlets jand the buckets. Six nozzles will . direct streams of water into 35 jsplit buckets under 600 pounds . pressure per square inch. This . force will cause the -big wheels jto whirl at 180 revolutions per . minute. . There have been many wheels jlarger in diameter than those built for Colgate, but they have lnot been of the one-piece varijety. Shortly after thé turn of the jcentury, a 20-foot Pelton wheel drew the attention of the nation’s power engineers. It drove . a generator at the Buck’s Lake }Station in Plumas County, And before 1900, a 30-footer was used in Nevada City. Still standing, the wheel was rescued from decay a few years ago when a group of interested persons raised several thousand dollars to preserve it. The big wheel was capable of turning at a rate of 65 revolutions per minjute. The power generated at the two stations in the Yuba County Water Agency’s project, will earn enough to pick up the enjtire tab of the huge project. The Jagency has a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to [purchase at least $7.6 million . worth a year for the next 40 jyears — more than enough to retire the bonds sold to finance the job. And it was all made possible by the Camptonville millwright and his friend’s sewing machine.

THE SACRAMENTO BEE Sunday, October 20, 1968 Page B5 Water-Powered Sewing Machine Was l if a 1) q Forerunner Ot Huge Power Plants By Wallace Lagorio Bee staff writer tured throughout the world.tion projects in South America. post during the construction of . But one of the best known man-land in Africa as well as in Eu-. the Hell Hole project on the DOBBINS, Yuba Co. — Thejufacturer is the J. M. Voith Co.!rope. . Middle Fork of the American forerunner of the 45-ton horizon-. of Heidenheim, West Germany,. voith’s project representative River. tal water wheels which will turnjthe supplier on the Colgate and} ; ge Largest Cast twin generators at the Colgate. Narrows Dam jobs. The firm pigs Lee eee S. ; E ' z 2 A I 20-y eteran with the big} Muller says the devices desPowerhouse was invented less!has installed water wheels and company which manufactured] tined for Colgate are the largest than a “country-mile” from/other equipment in most of the r } 1 Mex. antiaircraft weapons during/one-piece Pelton wheels ever here in the Yuba County com-. !mportant hydroelectric genera‘World War II. He held a similar) cast. He ‘says his firm subconmunity of Camptonville by its. jtracted with a Swiss foundry to jcast the monsters, But the er were shipped to Heiden. most celebrated citizen, Lester! Allen Pelton. . The huge wheels, 1614 feet in. diameter, are capable of devel-. oping 220,000 horsepower of en-. ergy — a far cry from an early) version built by Pelton 90} years ago to power a tiny sew-. ing machine. Generators at the. Colgate station near here willl turn out 284,000 kilowatts of . power. . Lester A. Pelton was born in Vermilion, Ohio, in 1829 — 18 years before another Ohioan by the name of Thomas A. Edison. The work of the two men was to revolutionize the world by triggering the great industrial explosion, still under way. As a boy, Pelton spent every waking hour dreaming about the newly opened West, particularly the gold fields of California. Shortly after celebrating his 18th birthday, Pelton packed a small bag, said goodbye to his friends and family and headed west — on foot. He made his way to Sacramento and took a job peddling salmon and sturgeon to the men who arrived aboard the river steamers. Got Mill Job Pelton had some experience as a millwright before leaving Ohio. So when he learned that the mill in Camptonville — the} heart of the gold country — needed a hand, he applied for the job and got it. During slack periods at the mill, Pelton, a skilled carpenter, worked on various building jobs around the community. The old. Camptonville schoolhouse, which still stands today, is lasting. evidence of Pelton’s carpentry. Fascinated with the power of. water, Pelton —.so the story. goes — would sit by the hour} watching the hydraulic miners} Sluicing away hillsides with} powerful streams of water. . He took notes and made} sketches of the nozzles, which,. he noted, created an increase in] water pressure by reducing the} size of the pipe. Armed with this} information, his inventive genius} and a little luck, Pelton per-. fected his water-powered wheel, . Instead of the flat surfaces of} buckets then in use on grist-mill Pelton developed split! 5 or split cups against} nh water was directed under. Sewing-Machine Power His first working model did not use the split-cup principle, but did utilize water under pressure tO pOwer a_e small odel Grove-Baker sewing The machine now is by Bill Groves of Campwhose grandmother. it with her from the.

ast. Groves also has the origiel built by Pelton to nin ine. life-long resident of e and an employe of >OQunty road department, 5 old rusting Pelton re since 1960. ds ahan store i i \ N { ‘ 1 j { } . i / ae } . t i . e } . \ ~ ¥ i . ‘ j = \ % ‘ . od \ , Y § . bs SS \ } 4 7 Domes ~ a i__-__Mr. and Mrs. Bill Groves of Camptonville inspect a prized possession, an 1849 model sewing machine which was operated by water power. Below is the water wheel built by Pelton to power the machine, This crude device with a single water jet led to the development of split-cup Pelton wheels which play an important role in hydroelectric generating plants throughout the world. Bee Photos N heim for finishing by the firm’s . craftsmen. Z . The balance of the wheel jmust be exact to insure precise jtiming between the water inlets jand the buckets. Six nozzles will . direct streams of water into 35 jsplit buckets under 600 pounds . pressure per square inch. This . force will cause the -big wheels jto whirl at 180 revolutions per . minute. . There have been many wheels jlarger in diameter than those built for Colgate, but they have lnot been of the one-piece varijety. Shortly after thé turn of the jcentury, a 20-foot Pelton wheel drew the attention of the nation’s power engineers. It drove . a generator at the Buck’s Lake }Station in Plumas County, And before 1900, a 30-footer was used in Nevada City. Still standing, the wheel was rescued from decay a few years ago when a group of interested persons raised several thousand dollars to preserve it. The big wheel was capable of turning at a rate of 65 revolutions per minjute. The power generated at the two stations in the Yuba County Water Agency’s project, will earn enough to pick up the enjtire tab of the huge project. The Jagency has a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to [purchase at least $7.6 million . worth a year for the next 40 jyears — more than enough to retire the bonds sold to finance the job. And it was all made possible by the Camptonville millwright and his friend’s sewing machine.