IEEC2.2 12 Keep that Wheel a-Turning: Why and How the Hybrid of Steam Pumping Engine and Water Wheel Combinations was Appropriate Technology in Changing Times

Keep that Wheel a-Turning:

Why and How the Hybrid of Steam Pumping Engine and

Water Wheel Combinations was Appropriate Technology in Changing Times

John Kanefsky and John Townley

An off-print from

Transactions of the 2nd International Early Engines Conference - Volume 2 pp49-62

Summary

This paper outlines the history of, rationale for, and continued use of beam engines and Savery pumps for raising water to recirculate over water wheels in the eighteenth century and beyond.  It concludes that combining steam engines and waterwheels was for many locations and industries a logical technology and best business practice, not a weakness; those who stuck with hybrid technology were generally rational, not backward.