STATE OF NEW YORK
STATE WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION
| Henry H. Persons, | President. |
| Milo M. Acker, | |
| Charles Davis, | |
| John A. Sleicher, | |
| Robert H. Fuller, | |
| COMMISSIONERS | |
| David R. Cooper, | |
| Engineer-Secretary. | |
| Walter McCulloh, | |
| Consulting Engineer. | |
LYON BLOCK, ALBANY, N. Y.
Water Power
FOR THE
Farm and Country Home
BY DAVID R. COOPER
Engineer-Secretary
New York State Water Supply Commission
Second Edition
PRINTED FOR THE STATE WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION
BY J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
ALBANY
WATER POWER FOR THE FARM
AND COUNTRY HOME
BY DAVID R. COOPER
In the course of its general investigations of the water powers of the State, the Water Supply Commission has heretofore confined its attention to the possibilities for large developments, and the regulation of the flow of rivers and large creeks. No previous or general investigation of small creeks and brooks and their power possibilities has been made, not because they were considered unimportant, but because the Commission believes that if the State decides to take an active part in the regulation of the flow of streams and the development and conservation of water powers, it should confine its first activities to the larger units, leaving the smaller opportunities for later examination and for private and individual development. However, no comprehensive system of conservation can meet with universal favor unless it contemplates the prevention of waste, great or small, and wherever found.
Accordingly, the Commission desires to call attention to the valuable power which is now running to waste in thousands of [small creeks and brooks] in all sections of the State. Many of these minor streams present possibilities for small individual developments of power sufficient to supply all the requirements of the owner at a comparatively small cost. Numerous farms in the State have on them brooks or creeks capable of supplying power sufficient to furnish electric light for all the buildings. Others would also furnish power enough to drive a feed grinder, a churn or cream separator, or to run a wood saw, sewing machine or other machines and implements requiring a small amount of power for their operation. In short, there are numerous small streams now tumbling over ledges in barnyards or pastures whose wasted energy might readily be transformed and applied to useful work by the installation of small and inexpensive water-power plants. If the power of more of these were developed and substituted for manual labor, a great saving of time and energy would be accomplished, and financial profit would result.
Modern Application of Hydro-electric Power Vacuum Milking Machines
After the initial expense of installing the plant is paid, the cost of a small water power is inconsiderable, the plant requiring little personal attention and small expense for supplies and repairs. However, while the power of some streams may be developed at an amazingly small cost, in other instances the cost may be prohibitive. In this connection, one fact that is perhaps not fully appreciated is that the power of a waterfall is comparatively permanent, only its rate of availability being limited. While the stream may shrink in the dry summer and fall, it is quite certain to swell again in the spring and to continue the process, year after year, as the source of supply is continually renewed. But the power which might have been, but was not developed in the year 1910, cannot be reclaimed in 1911 or ever after. Much of the power that is wasted by inequality of the flow of the stream may be saved by conservation through water storage; but this sometimes involves a large outlay and therefore, generally speaking, the fullest use of the power of a small stream can best be obtained by using the stream as it runs, or at best after temporary storage behind inexpensive dams.
“Luminous” Electric Radiator
The Water Supply Commission believes that the possibilities for small water powers should be pointed out to the people of the State in order that there may be a better realization of the usefulness and value of this remarkable natural resource and that the farmers and residents of rural districts may take advantage of the opportunities to conserve and utilize them. It is believed that some facts relating to the utility of power in general and small water powers in particular, together with descriptions of some typical small water-power developments that are now in actual operation, and brief notes as to how such a power may be developed and applied, will suffice to bring the subject forcibly to the attention of those most interested, and furnish at least a beginning for observations in this comparatively new field, and stimulate a tendency to a more general utilization of this source of power, and a consequent saving of much energy now secured from coal, wood and other exhaustible producers of power. Accordingly, the following discussion of the many and varied uses for power on the modern farm, together with descriptions of developments now in use, and notes on developing a small water power, are submitted in the hope that they may be of interest and service to those who have chosen farming for their livelihood or pleasure, especially by assisting them in the consideration as to whether or not it may be worth while to develop the power of any particular stream. These discussions and descriptions are not intended to suffice as a practical handbook for laying out a power plant, but merely to point the way to an intelligent consideration of the possibilities, by showing what others have done and laying down a few fundamental principles, which should properly be taken into consideration in determining upon the development of a small water power.