CMC and Rodney Hunt built remarkable micro to small hydro turbines - in the days prior to grid power, there was a huge demand for little turbines to provide electricity, mechanical milling, compressed air and pumping … my friend Ron Macleod lives in Rodney Hunt’s house, a sawmill in the 1870’s that Hunt rebuilt in the early 1900’s. It has a dam, 36” penstock to the basement and several 6” Francis turbines that provided power, compressed air for shop use and to pressurize the domestic water and a fire suppression system, and there’s still a glass test rig where Hunt would mount new designed runners and vary head pressure and flow to evaluate runner and blade shape efficiency. No computer simulations - every design was real world tested. Allis designed the most efficient Francis runner ever made in 1915, which is still running in Idaho. 94% water to shaft.
My turbine is s 10” CMC Francis design, Ron made it 16 years ago. 2 hp on 9’ of head.
In 1790 there was a 2-5 hp water mill within a days walk of every 120 people in the USA, used for milling wood, turning and working wood, mulling leather and grinding grains. Access to a mill “was considered the difference between civilization and the frontier.” (History of industrial power in the United States)