Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/892

 A New Era in Water Power Begun at the Henry Ford Farms

��HENRY FORD'S Farms serve as an experimental field for the various appliances being developed by Mr. Ford. His new home is located on the farms. This is near Dearborn, JVIichigan, on the north bank of the river Rouge, on the site of a pioneer mill.

It is well known that the great milling centers can furnish flour and even meal at better prices than the lowly country mill. As a result the grist mill is almost obsolete. Many a grist mill is being reconstructed, and turned into a hydro- electric power plant to light and heat nearby villages. But there are draw- backs to this conversion. There are high-water periods, and ice jams that reduce the water power. It is a curious fact that during times of great flow or over- flow, a small water- power is literally drowned out. In other words, the power is reduced sometimes al- most to nothing. This

��is due to the fact that water rises faster below than it does above a dam during a freshet. The tendency is to conceal even the location of a dam in very high water. Hence, the head pressure on the turbine water wheel is reduced, so that little or no water will pass through it, with the

�� ����The water power plant here shown is located at the Henry Ford Farms, near Dearborn, Michigan. The low head of water is increased by use of an "accelerator" which relieves the

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