How the Mill Works
| No. 1. The Leffel Water Turbine |
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Until
then the Clifton mill used an under shot water wheel, which simply
means the water ran behind the lower back side of the wheel. The
water wheel that
most people think of when they think of old mills is called an The turbine at Clifton Mill gets it's water supply from a mill race, which is simply a small stream or creek that is made by cutting a channel and diverting water held back by a dam. |
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The
Leffel Turbine is named after James Leffel who founded The Leffel
Turbine company in Springfield, Ohio in the year 1861. When this
area of the mill burned in 1869, the water wheel was destroyed and
since the turbine was relatively new and more powerful, it was
installed. The mill's owners at the time were the Armstrong family.
over
shot wheel. 
Other mills that had very rough terrain would use a
sluice. A sluice is a man made water supply that is above
ground, supported
by wood structures. On
top of the wood structures is a long box like container that the
water would travel along. This turbine is a two sided turbine.
One side spins the main shaft for the mill and all of its
grinding and sifting, belts etc. The other side of the turbine
spins the shaft for the generator. 
The Leffel turbine creates almost 300 horse power at 900 RPM. Water
from the mill race enters the turbine from the top tube. It passes
through valves and paddles which spin them around. The paddles are
attached to a piece that holds the main shaft, so when the paddles
spin, the shaft spins. The water is discharged through the
draft
tubes at the bottom. It is these draft tubes which help give the
turbine its power or torque. The pull of
the water falling down the
draft tubes give it more power. The turbine also creates a strong suction from the smaller pipe in the front. This suction power was
used in the early days to help vacuum out the mill. On the back side
of the turbine there was a strong push of air which was used to cool
the place down by blowing the constant air over a block of ice. The
water power was also used for the millers work bench area to turn
the lathe and table saw. This is pure clean power, the water is not
heated or treated in any way.