The Garfield water wheel, sometimes referred to as the Forrest Creek Mine water wheel, was a large water wheel used to power a stamper battery at a gold mine near Chewton, Victoria, Australia. Constructed in 1887, the water wheel was used until 1903 and then was dismantled in 1904. There are some remnants at its location.
There was insufficient water in local streams to power a water wheel. The Garfield mine and others in the area originally relied upon steam engines to power their stamper mills. It was not until the construction of the Coliban System of Waterworks (now Coliban Water) that the gold mining areas had a reliable source of water, diverted from the Coliban River, for both domestic and mining purposes. Eventually, at least seven water wheels were built and operated in the Castlemain-Chewton area. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Constructed in 1887, the Garfield water wheel was used until 1903 then was dismantled in 1904. [2]
Water flow to the Garfield wheel was via a 786 foot (258 m) long elevated flume—15 inch es wide by 10 inches deep (0.375 x 0.25 m) and mounted on a timber trestle structure—which connected to a branch race of the water supply near the top of an adjacent hill. The flow to the wheel itself was controlled by an arrangement of levers. The tail water from the Garfield wheel powered another water wheel (40 foot / 12.2 m diameter) belonging to the Manchester mine, about 400m away. [2] [6]
The wheel was stopped, when required, by diverting the water, from the overhead flume directly to the tail race, via a vertical bypass chute that allowed the downstream water wheel to continue working. The wheel was started, by feeding water so as to fill buckets part way up the wheel; once motion was achieved, the water flow was applied to the upper buckets and the wheel could then be run at up to its full power. [2] [6]
The backshot water wheel [1] was 72 feet (22 m) in diameter, and 2 feet 1 inch (64 cm) wide. The spokes of the wheel were made of wood, and its structure was strengthened by circular iron bands. It carried 220 galvanised iron buckets of five imperial gallons (22.7 litres) capacity each. At a flow rate of around 6,000 litres per minute, the huge waterwheel was capable of 27 hp (20 kW). The wheel rotated once every 45 to 55 seconds, corresponding to 1.33 to 1.09 rpm. Power was transferred via an iron gear wheel, mounted on the wheel at about two-thirds of the distance between its centre and rim. That arrangement reduced the torque applied to the axle of the water wheel, allowing the wheel to be of lighter construction than if power was transferred via its axle. Cogs on the gear wheel engaged with a pinion, which in turn drove a power transfer shaft, at a far higher rotational speed than that of the water wheel. The transfer shaft powered a 15-head stamper battery—probably later extended to 25-heads—via an arrangement of pulleys and flat belts. [2] [6] [5] [7] The battery ran at 78-86 falls per minute; [2] there being typically two cam arms per stamper head, the shaft of the battery probably ran at 39 to 43 rpm.
The stonework supports of the water wheel and the water races remain at the site, which is now part of the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. [3] [8] The Garfield ruins are the best preserved of at least seven water wheels that once operated in the Castlemaine-Chewton area and powered stamper batteries. [2] [7]
The Pelton wheel or Pelton Turbine is an impulse-type water turbine invented by American inventor Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to water's dead weight like the traditional overshot water wheel. Many earlier variations of impulse turbines existed, but they were less efficient than Pelton's design. Water leaving those wheels typically still had high speed, carrying away much of the dynamic energy brought to the wheels. Pelton's paddle geometry was designed so that when the rim ran at half the speed of the water jet, the water left the wheel with very little speed; thus his design extracted almost all of the water's impulse energy—which made for a very efficient turbine.
A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving car. Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century but they are no longer in common use. Uses included milling flour in gristmills, grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.
Castlemaine is a small city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The population at the 2021 Census was 7,506. Castlemaine was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine.
The Laxey Wheel is built into the hillside above the village of Laxey in the Isle of Man. It is the largest surviving original working waterwheel in the world. Designed by Robert Casement, the wheel has a 72-foot-6-inch (22.1 m) diameter, is 6 feet (1.8 m) wide and revolves at approximately three revolutions per minute.
A trip hammer, also known as a tilt hammer or helve hammer, is a massive powered hammer. Traditional uses of trip hammers include pounding, decorticating and polishing of grain in agriculture. In mining, trip hammers were used for crushing metal ores into small pieces, although a stamp mill was more usual for this. In finery forges they were used for drawing out blooms made from wrought iron into more workable bar iron. They were also used for fabricating various articles of wrought iron, latten, steel and other metals.
Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. It has been designated "Australia's first notable town" and is notable for its 19th-century appearance, maintained since gold-rush days. At the 2016 census, Maldon had a population of 1,513.
A horse mill is a mill, sometimes used in conjunction with a watermill or windmill, that uses a horse engine as the power source. Any milling process can be powered in this way, but the most frequent use of animal power in horse mills was for grinding grain and pumping water. Other animal engines for powering mills are powered by dogs, donkeys, oxen or camels. Treadwheels are engines powered by humans.
A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation.
Blackwood is a rural village in Victoria, Australia. The township is located on the Lerderderg River, 89 kilometres north-west of the state capital, Melbourne, within the Wombat State Forest. Blackwood is in the Shire of Moorabool local government area and had a population of 387 at the 2021 census.
Chewton is a town in central Victoria, Australia in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area, 116 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Chewton had a population of 1313.
Quartz reef mining is a type of gold mining in "reefs" (veins) of quartz. Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust, and most quartz veins do not carry gold, but those that have gold are avidly hunted by prospectors. In the shallow, oxidized zones of quartz reef deposits, the gold occurs in its metallic state, and is easily recovered with simple equipment. Quartz reef mining played an important role in 19th century gold-mining districts such as Bendigo, Victoria, Central Otago in New Zealand, and the California mother lode.
This glossary of mill machinery covers the major pieces of machinery to be found in windmills, watermills and horse mills. It does not cover machinery found in modern factories.
The Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for over 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. These uses included corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article covers the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Penshurst and above Yalding.
Metcalfe is a locality in central Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Metcalfe had a population of 185. The name 'Metcalfe' probably derives from Baron (Charles) Metcalfe, Governor-General of India and later of Canada, who died in 1846. Metcalfe lies on the Coliban River, downstream from the Malmsbury reservoir.
Eylesbarrow mine was a tin mine on Dartmoor, Devon, England that was active during the first half of the 19th century. In its early years it was one of the largest and most prosperous of the Dartmoor tin mines, along with Whiteworks and the Birch Tor and Vitifer mines. Its name has several variant spellings, such as Eylesburrow, Ailsborough, Ellisborough, Hillsborough etc. It was also known as Wheal Ruth for a short period around 1850. The extensive remains lie to the north of the River Plym, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of Drizzlecombe, on the southern shoulder of the hill called Eylesbarrow on top of which are two prominent Bronze Age barrows.
A whim, also called a whim gin or a horse capstan, is a device similar to a windlass which is used in mining for hauling materials to the surface. It comprises a capstan or a wide drum with a vertical axle. A rope is wound around the drum, with both ends traversing several pulleys and hanging down the mine shaft. As the drum is turned around, one end of the rope is lowered, carrying an empty bucket, while the other one is raised, carrying a full load.
The Jim Crow goldfield was part of the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia, where gold was mined from the mid- to the late-nineteenth century.
Tyrconnel Mine and Battery is a heritage-listed gold mine between Kingsborough and Thornborough, Shire of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1876 to 1980s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
Golden Gate Mining and Town Complex is a heritage-listed mining camp at Normanton Road, Croydon, Shire of Croydon, Queensland, Australia. It commenced in 1886. It is also known as Golden Gate Township, Croydon Consols Pump Shaft, Golden Gate No.10 North Mine, Golden Gate Cemetery, Croydon Consols Battery and Cyanide Plant, and Golden Gate Mine. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 August 2009.
Coordinates: 37°04′20.0″S144°15′33.7″E / 37.072222°S 144.259361°E