© Mark Ollig
Before electric utility lines canvassed the country, East Coast factories utilized falling water for the power needed to operate their machinery.
In his book, “The Big Switch,” Nicholas Carr addressed the mid-1800s water wheel Henry Burden designed and constructed to power the machines inside his ironworks factory.
I became fascinated by the story of Burden’s energy-producing water wheel.
Henry Burden, an engineer, was born in Dunblane, Scotland, April 22, 1791.
He moved to Troy, NY in 1822, to become superintendent of an ironworks factory, called Troy Iron and Nail Factory.
In 1848, Burden took ownership of the ironworks factory and changed its name to Henry Burden & Sons.
Burden had previously begun constructing a large water wheel to harness the power of the rapidly rushing water flowing through a stream from the waterfall located near his factory.
Engineering a path for the water by building a dam to form a holding pond, Burden constructed a series of gates to control its flow into a canal feeding the giant water wheel he erected near the ironworks factory.
The Burden Water Wheel was a 70-foot-tall-by-12-foot-wide, iron and wood water wheel with a central cast iron hub attached via 264 1.5-inch-thick iron rods. The rods were fastened to 10-inch-by-10-inch pine timber, which formed the base the wooden floats or “buckets” were built upon.
He completed the final construction of his water wheel in 1851.
The operation of the water wheel included a person who rotated a hand-lever on its base to increase or decrease the volume of water turning the water wheel. This would adjust its speed, providing the power output as required by the horseshoe, railroad track spike, and nail-making machines operating inside Burden’s factory buildings.
The water wheel’s reported maximum capacity was 482 horsepower, with an average output of 282 horsepower.
The Burden Water Wheel was once the most powerful vertical water wheel in the world, and was described as “The Niagara of Water-Wheels,” by the poet, Louis Gaylor Clark.
Upon seeing The Burden Water Wheel, George Ferris Jr. was said to have been inspired to build a similar style structure with seats for people to ride on during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Henry Burden passed away in Troy, NY, Jan. 19, 1871.
His water wheel continued to generate the power needs for the machines inside his sons’ factory until its closing in 1896.
By the early 20th century, it became more cost-effective to operate factory machines using electricity from the commercial power grid versus constructing and maintaining water wheels or other independent power generation systems.
Speed up to 2020.
During the last two months, outdoor field hospital tents resembling mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) units have been erected in cities across the country.
These field hospitals will relieve congestion in the number of available hospital beds currently being used by COVID-19 patients.
Powering the equipment used in these field hospitals is usually accomplished with diesel-fueled portable generators.
Concerns about this type of fuel are that breathing in the fumes can inflame and damage the lining of the lungs, weakening the body’s ability to fend off respiratory infections.
Combusting diesel fuel into the air directly next to the COVID-19 patients inside tents being treated for respiratory disease was something hospitals needed to take into consideration.
One Sacramento, CA field hospital is using an Energy Server platform provided by a company called Bloom Energy.
An Energy Server is a fixed, enclosed powering system.
One Bloom Energy Server looks like a large industrial stainless-steel refrigerator.
Its dimensions are 14-feet-by-9-inches tall, by 8-feet-by-8-inches wide by 7-feet deep.
An Energy Server is essentially a power plant in-a-box, and can be interconnected to provide the necessary electrical requirements for the equipment it supplies power to.
Bloom’s Energy Servers are powered by fuel cells; electricity is produced through an electrochemical reaction – not combustion.
This powering method virtually eliminates the smog-forming pollution and hazardous particulate matter that comes from combustion-based power generation sources, like diesel generators.
The Energy Servers can provide always-on power 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
As to the fate of The Burden Water Wheel, one photograph taken around 1914 shows it lying on its side in ruins.
Apparently, the aging load-bearing brick pier on its south side collapsed, causing the gigantic water wheel to tip over.
Sadly, Henry Burden’s famous water wheel ended up a mangled pile of wreckage lying upon the ground.
The iron from his water wheel was used for scrap metal just before the start of World War II.
Additional details regarding The Burden Water Wheel can be found from the Society for Industrial Archeology at https://bit.ly/35tD2bX.
Information about Bloom Energy’s onsite power generation solutions can be found at https://www.bloomenergy.com.
Stay safe out there.
Before electric utility lines canvassed the country, East Coast factories utilized falling water for the power needed to operate their machinery.
In his book, “The Big Switch,” Nicholas Carr addressed the mid-1800s water wheel Henry Burden designed and constructed to power the machines inside his ironworks factory.
I became fascinated by the story of Burden’s energy-producing water wheel.
Henry Burden, an engineer, was born in Dunblane, Scotland, April 22, 1791.
He moved to Troy, NY in 1822, to become superintendent of an ironworks factory, called Troy Iron and Nail Factory.
In 1848, Burden took ownership of the ironworks factory and changed its name to Henry Burden & Sons.
Burden had previously begun constructing a large water wheel to harness the power of the rapidly rushing water flowing through a stream from the waterfall located near his factory.
Engineering a path for the water by building a dam to form a holding pond, Burden constructed a series of gates to control its flow into a canal feeding the giant water wheel he erected near the ironworks factory.
The Burden Water Wheel was a 70-foot-tall-by-12-foot-wide, iron and wood water wheel with a central cast iron hub attached via 264 1.5-inch-thick iron rods. The rods were fastened to 10-inch-by-10-inch pine timber, which formed the base the wooden floats or “buckets” were built upon.
He completed the final construction of his water wheel in 1851.
The operation of the water wheel included a person who rotated a hand-lever on its base to increase or decrease the volume of water turning the water wheel. This would adjust its speed, providing the power output as required by the horseshoe, railroad track spike, and nail-making machines operating inside Burden’s factory buildings.
The water wheel’s reported maximum capacity was 482 horsepower, with an average output of 282 horsepower.
The Burden Water Wheel was once the most powerful vertical water wheel in the world, and was described as “The Niagara of Water-Wheels,” by the poet, Louis Gaylor Clark.
Upon seeing The Burden Water Wheel, George Ferris Jr. was said to have been inspired to build a similar style structure with seats for people to ride on during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Henry Burden passed away in Troy, NY, Jan. 19, 1871.
His water wheel continued to generate the power needs for the machines inside his sons’ factory until its closing in 1896.
By the early 20th century, it became more cost-effective to operate factory machines using electricity from the commercial power grid versus constructing and maintaining water wheels or other independent power generation systems.
Speed up to 2020.
During the last two months, outdoor field hospital tents resembling mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) units have been erected in cities across the country.
These field hospitals will relieve congestion in the number of available hospital beds currently being used by COVID-19 patients.
Powering the equipment used in these field hospitals is usually accomplished with diesel-fueled portable generators.
Concerns about this type of fuel are that breathing in the fumes can inflame and damage the lining of the lungs, weakening the body’s ability to fend off respiratory infections.
Combusting diesel fuel into the air directly next to the COVID-19 patients inside tents being treated for respiratory disease was something hospitals needed to take into consideration.
One Sacramento, CA field hospital is using an Energy Server platform provided by a company called Bloom Energy.
An Energy Server is a fixed, enclosed powering system.
One Bloom Energy Server looks like a large industrial stainless-steel refrigerator.
Its dimensions are 14-feet-by-9-inches tall, by 8-feet-by-8-inches wide by 7-feet deep.
An Energy Server is essentially a power plant in-a-box, and can be interconnected to provide the necessary electrical requirements for the equipment it supplies power to.
Bloom’s Energy Servers are powered by fuel cells; electricity is produced through an electrochemical reaction – not combustion.
This powering method virtually eliminates the smog-forming pollution and hazardous particulate matter that comes from combustion-based power generation sources, like diesel generators.
The Energy Servers can provide always-on power 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
As to the fate of The Burden Water Wheel, one photograph taken around 1914 shows it lying on its side in ruins.
Apparently, the aging load-bearing brick pier on its south side collapsed, causing the gigantic water wheel to tip over.
Sadly, Henry Burden’s famous water wheel ended up a mangled pile of wreckage lying upon the ground.
The iron from his water wheel was used for scrap metal just before the start of World War II.
Additional details regarding The Burden Water Wheel can be found from the Society for Industrial Archeology at https://bit.ly/35tD2bX.
Information about Bloom Energy’s onsite power generation solutions can be found at https://www.bloomenergy.com.
Stay safe out there.
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| Henry Burden |
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| The Burden Water Wheel, part of the Burden Iron Works in Troy, New York. I placed a red rectangle around the man in the foreground for size comparison. |
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| The Burden Water Wheel as it looked in 1899. |
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| Bloom Energy Servers |
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| Bloom Energy Servers |
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| Bloom Energy Servers |
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| Bloom Energy Servers |