Restoration process brings new life to old turbine at Hagley Mills

DESIGN AND GRAPHICS BY DAN GARROW

By John Micklos, Jr.Special to The News Journal

ot far from the banks of the Brandywine River on thegrounds of the Hagley Museum and Library lay buriedtreasure. This was no pirate’s treasure with an “X marksthe spot” map. Instead, it was a perfect treasure forHagley – an artifact steeped in history that also hadpotential for modern use.

The buried treasure was a Hercules Turbine WaterWheel, which helped power DuPont’s Hagley gunpowder

yard beginning in 1890. When the yard closed in 1921, DuPont bull-dozed the buildings, and most of the large metal remnants were takenfor scrap metal during World War II.

Staff believed this turbine lay buried near the river below the mill-wright and machine shop. They had three clues: 1) An old photo takenfrom the far side of the river showed the vague outline of a powerstructure; 2) The machine shop building has a pulley wheel outside,suggesting that it was once connected to an outside power source; 3) There was a U-shaped hole in the ground facing the river, which waswhere the turbine would have operated.

The du Pont family had left a bequest for an unspecified project,and John McCoy, curator of mechanical exhibitions, suggested findingand restoring the turbine. After clearing some wooden debris, Hagleystaff located the turbine and unearthed it in the summer of 2011. “Sur-

prisingly, it was largelyintact,” said Joan Hoge-North, director of mu-seum services.

It took eight monthsfor restoration team mem-bers – which included Ha-gley staff and volunteers –to disassemble, clean up,and reassemble the cast-iron turbine, which weighsbetween 1,500 and 2,000pounds. “We are blessedwith a number of volun-teers who are retired engi-neers,” said Hoge-North.Their expertise provedcritical in the restoration

process, which used not onlyHagley’s 19th-century machine shop, but also new technology.

The restoration went smoothly, but for many months the teamstruggled to design the pit that would house the turbine. “We triedmany different designs and possibilities,” said Hoge-North. “Wewanted to make this work, look right, and not be a maintenance night-mare.” Finally, team members came up with a design they thought

would work. Soon after, avolunteer doing online researchdiscovered the original owner’smanual for the turbine, which con-firmed their calculations were accurate. RCFabricators in Wilmington built the steel skeleton for the pit, whichalso has a series of 12-foot wooden beams weighing 800 pounds each.Powered by water flowing down from the mill race above, the turbinewill supply 43 horsepower of energy to the machine shop, which is cur-rently powered by an electric motor. Using a 19th-century turbine tocreate green energy by taking something off the grid represents both“a symbolic and real step” in promoting sustainability at Hagley, saidHoge-North.

“We wanted to show how this site has always been a place of con-stant experimentation and innovation,” Hoge-North concluded. “Thiswill help us bring the story right up to the present.”

COMING NEXT WEEK: LONGWOOD GARDENS’ NEW MEADOW

ONLINE QUIZ AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHICTest how much you’ve learned aboutHAGLEY’S RESTORED WATER WHEELat delawareonline.com/didyouknow

1 A mill race (canal) hasbeen diverted from the waters

of The Brandywine. A gate isopened, allowing water to race into

an open pipe.

2 The water travels underground throughthe pipe into an enclosed pit area where the

water wheel turbine has been installed.

3 Water gushes in and around the turbine and itspins under the pressure. The speed can be regulated by

the amount of water allowed in. The spinning turbine turns avertical rod extending from the turbine to high above the pit.

4 This rod starts turning a wheel on top. The wheel is connectedby rope to a second wheel on a vertical support.

5 This spinning rope assembly is attached to another, which inturn is connected to a wheel mounted on the machine shop out-side wall.

6 A hole was drilled through the machine shop wall and a rodconnects to a wheel-and-belt assembly inside. This connects toother wheels and ultimately powers the shop’s machines.

A POWERFUL DISCOVERYWalk the walkHagley offers a periodic “H2 Oh!” walk-ing tour focusing on the evolution ofwater power from the water wheel tothe steam engine. The tour includes astop at the restored turbine. Upcomingtours are scheduled for June 7 and July 5at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Reservations aresuggested. For details, click here:www.hagley.org/walking-tour-h2-oh%21

Happy anniversaryThis year marks the 200th anniversary ofthe Hagley Yard, which opened in 1814to expand capacity to meet the growingdemands for gunpowder during the Warof 1812. In 1814, the DuPont Co. pro-duced 374,000 pounds of gunpowder forthe federal government, up from just2,850 pounds in 1811 before the war

began.When thewar ended,the compa-ny’s facilitiesand reputa-tion allowedit to contin-ue to thriveeven whengovernmentorders driedup.E.I. du Pont’svision for thegunpowdermills was “tomake some-thing biggerand better

than anything that existed,” according toLucas Clawson, Hagley’s referencearchivist. Consequently, throughout thecompany’s early years du Pont plowed alot of money back into the powder yardsto expand and update them. “He want-ed them to be lasting and permanent,”Clawson said. He certainly succeeded inthis vision, with the yards operating suc-cessfully for more than 100 years.

Big bangsThe structures where the powder wasproduced were specially built with three

sturdy walls.The wall fac-ing the riverand the ceil-ing weremade of flim-sy materialsso that anyexplosionwould blowstraight upand out ofthe building,limiting thedamage. Overthe years, the

mills experienced 288 explosions, killing228 people.

‘Safety first’DuPont’s famous workplace mottobegan in the powder yards. Owners andworkers took many precautions to pro-mote safety. For one thing, workerswore and carried no metal – no coins, nobelt buckles. Despite the constant risk ofexplosions, gunpowder making was stillsafer than mining or other dangerousoccupations of the 1800s.

Timeline of the gunpowder yards Some key dates in the history of the DuPont gunpowder yards

1799: Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours leaves Francewith sons Victor Marie and Eleuthère Irénée.1802: The DuPont Co. incorporates in the United States,and E.I. DuPont breaks ground for his first gunpowdermills.1804: The Eleutherian Mills Yard begins producing gun-powder. 1814: The company expands production into the newlybuilt Hagley Yard to meet the federal demand for gun-powder during the War of 1812.

1818: A massive explosion destroys the Eleutherian Mills Yard. Production con-tinues at the Hagley Yard.1827: The first turbine is invented in France. More efficient than the waterwheels that first powered the mills, turbines come into widespread usage at

DuPont in the 1840s.1846: Alfred Nobel invents dynamite, which revolution-izes the business. The powerful explosive plays a majorrole in building railroads, tunnels and dams during thewestward expansion in the United States.1860s: The DuPont mills produce 40 percent of the gun-powder used by the U.S. Army and Navy during the CivilWar.1890: The DuPont Co. purchases the Hercules TurbineWater Wheel that is now going back into service.1920: The last major explosion occurs at the mills.

1921: The mills close.2011: Workers unearth the turbine and begin restoration efforts.2014: The turbine goes back into operation.

Blue rockThe blue-hued “Brandywine BlueGneiss” (from which theWilmington Blue Rocks namederives) can be found throughoutthe Wilmington area and along theBrandywine River. DuPont used therock for constructing gunpowdermill buildings because it was plenti-ful and sturdy.

The big threeThe three ingredients for making explosiveblack gunpowder are a combination of 75 per-cent saltpeter, 12.5 percent sulfur, and 12.5percent charcoal. Sulfur was imported fromEurope. Charcoal was created by burning wil-low branches. Indian saltpeter had to beshipped halfway around the world. The highquality of the DuPont gunpowder gave it acompetitive advantage over other brands.

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KENNETT PIKE

Racing riverOne of the shortest rivers in the UnitedStates, the Brandywine River made upfor its lack of size with strategic place-ment and strong water flow. The riverdrops 127 feet over its last five miles,and its fast-flowing waters suppliedpower for many mills in the 18th- and19th-centuries, including the DuPontgunpowder facilities.

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The turbine on TheBrandywine will powerthe equipment inside the machine shop.DAN GARROW/THE NEWS JOURNAL

Workers install the restored turbine.

If You GoWhat: The restored turbine is slatedto make its first public appearanceWhen: June 7 Where: Hagley Museum and Library,200 Hagley Creek Rd., WilmingtonPhone: (302) 658-4200Website: www.hagley.orgHours: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

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Discovering and restoringthe turbineThe 1890 Hercules Turbine WaterWheel was discovered on the Ha-gley gunpowder yard buried nearthe river below the millwrightand machine shop (bottomphoto). When the yard closed in1921, DuPont bulldozed the build-ings, and most of the large metalremnants were taken for scrapmetal during World War II. It tookeight months for workers to dis-assemble, clean up, and reassem-ble the cast-iron turbine (topphoto), which weighs between1,500 and 2,000 pounds.The restored turbine wasdesigned by John B. McCormick,who held several differentpatents. This turbine was a pre-cursor to the mixed flow waterturbine, which revolutionizedU.S. industry.

Machineshop

Machineshop

Turbine

Millrace

Gate

Turbine

The turbine wasinstalled on the

edge of TheBrandywine,between the

rolling gunpowder

mills.

Rod

Excess waterspills into TheBrandywine .

How theturbineoperatesThe recovered turbine hasbeen installed on the banksof The Brandywine.Through the generatedwater power of the millrace and the turbine, 43horsepower is being sup-plied to the machine shop-without the aid of a motor.

*Note: Notto scale

75% saltpeter

12.5%sulfur

12.5% charcoal