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http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2010.web.dir/Brooks/types-of-water-wheels.html

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Types of Water Wheels - The Physics of a Water Wheel

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The Noria is a vertical type wheel that uses ceramic containers to catch water as they dip into the water at the bottom of the wheels revolution, and it is turned by the force of the water current acting on paddles spaced evenly about the wheel.

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https://www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/hydro-energy/waterwheel-design.html

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Waterwheel Design for Micro Hydro Energy

Hydro Energy is the technology that converts the energy of moving water into mechanical or electrical energy, and one of the earliest devices used to convert the energy of moving water into usable work was the Waterwheel. Water wheel design has evolved over time with some water wheels oriented vertically, some horizontally and some with elaborate pulleys and gears attached, but they are all designed to do the same function and that is too, "convert the linear motion of the moving water into a rotary motion which can be used to drive any piece of machinery connected to it via a rotating shaft".

Early Waterwheel Design were quite primitive and simple machines consisting of a vertical wooden wheel with wooden blades or buckets fixed equally around their circumference all supported on a horizontal shaft with the force of the water flowing underneath it pushing the wheel in a tangential direction against the blades.

These vertical waterwheels were vastly superior to the earlier horizontal waterwheel design by the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, because they could operate more efficiently translating the momentum of the moving water into power. Pulleys and gearing was then attached to the waterwheel which allowed a change in direction of a rotating shaft from horizontal to vertical in order to operate millstones, saw wood, crush ore, stamping and cutting etc.

Types of Water Wheel Design

Most Waterwheels also known as Watermills or simply Water Wheels, are vertically mounted wheels rotating about a horizontal axle, and these types of waterwheels are classified by the way in which the water is applied to the wheel, relative to the wheel's axle. As you may expect, waterwheels are relatively large machines which rotate at low angular speeds, and have a low efficiency, due to losses by friction and the incomplete filling of the buckets, etc.

The action of the water pushing against the wheels buckets or paddles develops torque on the axle but by directing the water at these paddles and buckets from different positions on the wheel the speed of rotation and its efficiency can be improved. The two most common types of waterwheel design is the "undershot waterwheel" and the "overshot waterwheel".

The Undershot Waterwheel

Undershot Water Wheel Design

The Undershot Water Wheel Design, also known as a "stream wheel" was the most commonly used type of waterwheel designed by the ancient Greeks and Romans as it is the simplest, cheapest and easiest type of wheel to construct.

In this type of waterwheel design, the wheel is simply placed directly into a fast flowing river and supported from above. The motion of the water below creates a pushing action against the submerged paddles on the lower part of the wheel allowing it to rotate in one direction only relative to the direction of the flow of the water.

This type of waterwheel design is generally used in flat areas with no natural slope of the land or where the flow of water is sufficiently fast moving. Compared with the other waterwheel designs, this type of design is very inefficient, with as little as 20% of the waters potential energy being used to actually rotate the wheel. Also the waters energy is used only once to rotate the wheel, after which it flows away with the rest of the water.

Another disadvantage of the undershot water wheel is that it requires large quantities of water moving at speed. Therefore, undershot waterwheels are usually situated on the banks of rivers as smaller streams or brooks do not have enough potential energy in the moving water.

One way of improving the efficiency slightly of an undershot waterwheel is to divert a percentage off the water in the river along a narrow channel or duct so that 100% of the diverted water is used to rotate the wheel. In order to achieve this the undershot wheel has to be narrow and fit very accurately within the channel to prevent the water from escaping around the sides or by increasing either the number or size of the paddles.

The Overshot Waterwheel

Overshot Water Wheel Design

The Overshot Water Wheel Design is the most common type of waterwheel design. The overshot waterwheel is more complicated in its construction and design than the previous undershot waterwheel as it uses buckets or small compartments to both catch and hold the water.

These buckets fill with water flowing in at the top of the wheel. The gravitational weight of the water in the full buckets causes the wheel to rotate around its central axis as the empty buckets on the other side of the wheel become lighter.

This type of water wheel uses gravity to improve output as well as the water itself, thus overshot waterwheels are much more efficient than undershot designs as almost all of the water and its weight is being used to produce output power. However as before, the waters energy is used only once to rotate the wheel, after which it flows away with the rest of the water.

Overshot waterwheels are suspended above a river or stream and are generally built on the sides of hills providing a water supply from above with a low head (the vertical distance between the water at the top and the river or stream below) of between 5-to-20 metres. A small dam or weir can be constructed and used to both channel and increase the speed of the water to the top of the wheel giving it more energy but it is the volume of water rather than its speed which helps rotate the wheel.

Generally, overshot waterwheels are built as large as possible to give the greatest possible head distance for the gravitational weight of the water to rotate the wheel. However, large diameter waterwheels are more complicated and expensive to construct due to the weight of the wheel and water.

When the individual buckets are filled with water, the gravitational weight of the water causes the wheel to rotate in the direction of the flow of water. As the angle of rotation gets nearer to the bottom of the wheel, the water inside the bucket empties out into the river or stream below, but the weight of the buckets rotating behind it causes the wheel to continue with its rotational speed. The empty bucket continues around the rotating wheel until it gets back up to the top again ready to be filled with more water and the cycle repeats. One of the disadvantages of an overshot waterwheel design is that the water is only used once as it flows over the wheel.

The Pitchback Waterwheel

Pitchback Water Wheel Design

The Pitchback Water Wheel Design is a variation on the previous overshot waterwheel as it also uses the gravitational weight of the water to help rotate the wheel, but it also uses the flow of the waste water below it to give an extra push. This type of waterwheel design uses a low head infeed system which provides the water near to the top of the wheel from a pentrough above.

Unlike the overshot waterwheel which channelled the water directly over the wheel causing it to rotate in the direction of the flow of the water, the pitchback waterwheel feeds the water vertically downwards through a funnel and into the bucket below causing the wheel to rotate in the opposite direction to the flow of the water above.

Just like the previous overshot waterwheel, the gravitational weight of the water in the buckets causes the wheel to rotate but in an anti-clockwise direction. As the angle of rotation nears the bottom of the wheel, the water trapped inside the buckets empties out below. As the empty bucket is attached to the wheel, it continues rotating with the wheel as before until it gets back up to the top again ready to be filled with more water and the cycle repeats.

The difference this time is that the waste water emptied out of the rotating bucket flows away in the direction of the rotating wheel (as it has nowhere else to go), similar to the undershot waterwheel principal. Thus the main advantage of the pitchback waterwheel is that it uses the energy of the water twice, once from above and once from below to rotate the wheel around its central axis.

The result is that the efficiency of the waterwheel design is greatly increased to over 80% of the waters energy as it is driven by both the gravitaional weight of the incoming water and by the force or pressure of water directed into the buckets from above, as well as the flow of the waste water below pushing against the buckets. The disadvantage though of an pitchback waterwheel is that it needs a slightly more complex water supply arrangement directly above the wheel with chutes and pentroughs.

The Breastshot Waterwheel

Breastshot Water Wheel Design

The Breastshot Water Wheel Design is another vertically-mounted waterwheel design where the water enters the buckets about half way up at axle height, or just above it, and then flows out at the bottom in the direction of the wheels rotation. Generally, the breastshot waterwheel is used in situations were the head of water is insufficient to power an overshot or pitchback waterwheel design from above.

The disadvantage here is that the gravitational weight of the water is only used for about one quarter of the rotation unlike previously which was for half the rotation. To overcome this low head height, the waterwheels buckets are made wider to extract the required amount of potential energy from the water.

Breastshot waterwheels use about the same gravitational weight of the water to rotate the wheel but as the head height of the water is around half that of a typical overshot waterwheel, the buckets are a lot wider than previous waterwheel designs to increase the volume of the water caught in the buckets. The disadvantage of this type of design is an increase in the width and weight of the water being carried by each bucket. As with the pitchback design, the breastshot wheel uses the energy of the water twice as the waterwheel is designed to sit in the water allowing the waste water to help in the rotation of the wheel as it flows away down stream.

Generate Electricity using a Waterwheel

Historically water wheels have been used for milling flour, cereals and other such mechanical tasks. But water wheels can also be used for the generation of electricity, called a Hydro Power system. By connecting an electrical generator to the waterwheels rotating shaft, either directly or indirectly using drive belts and pulleys, waterwheels can be used to generate power continuously 24 hours a day unlike solar energy. If the waterwheel is designed correctly, a small or "micro" hydroelectric system can produce enough electricity to power lighting and/or electrical appliances in an average home.

Look for Water wheel Generators designed to produce its optimum output at relatively low speeds. For small projects, a small DC motor can be used as a low-speed generator or an automotive alternator but these are designed to work at much higher speeds so some form of gearing may be required. A wind turbine generator makes an ideal waterwheel generator as it is designed for low speed, high output operation.

If there is a fairly fast flowing river or stream near to your home or garden which you can use, then a small scale hydro power system may be a better alternative to other forms of renewable energy sources such as "Wind Energy" or "Solar Energy" as it has a lot less visual impact. Also just like wind and solar energy, with a grid-connected small scale waterwheel designed generating system connected to the local utility grid, any electricity you generate but don't use can be sold back to the electricity company.

In the next tutorial about Hydro Energy, we will look at the different types of turbines available which we could attach to our waterwheel design for hydro power generation. For more information about Waterwheel Design and how to generate your own electricity using the power of water, or obtain more hydro energy information about the various waterwheel designs available, or to explore the advantages and disadvantages of hydro energy, then Click Here to order your copy from Amazon today about the principles and construction of waterwheels which can be used for generating electricity.

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Hydro Energy is the technology that converts the energy of moving water into mechanical or electrical energy, and one of the earliest devices used to convert the energy of moving water into usable work was the Waterwheel.

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https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Waterwheel

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A waterwheel is a type of device that takes advantage of flowing or falling water to generate power by using a set of paddles mounted around a wheel. The falling force of the water pushes the paddles, rotating a wheel. This rotation of a wheel can be transmitted to a variety of machines through a shaft at the center of the wheel. These wheels are generally large and composed of wood or metal with many blades or buckets along the edge of the wheel to capture the power of the moving water.

Waterwheels are usually positioned vertically over a water source. This means that the axle is positioned horizontally. This axle transfers the energy from the falling water to a drive belt or a system of gears that then operates some sort of machine. These wheels require some source of falling or flowing water, and these sources can include streams or rivers. Sometimes special ponds known as mill ponds were created by damming a flowing stream. This creates a special channel known as a from the pond to the waterwheel.

Although waterwheels are not used widely today, hydroelectric dams function on the same basic principle of using the power of flowing water to move machines known as turbines.

Overshot Wheel

Overshot wheels are a type of waterwheel that can be built if there is a significant height drop in the river or body of water being used to move the wheel. Generally, these are built on the side of a hill as a drop of at least 4.5 meters.

In this type of waterwheel, the water exits the flume above the wheel itself. The water then falls down onto the blades of the waterwheel, pushing the wheel forward. The fact that water is introduced at the very top of the wheel means that the water falls the greatest distance, making the wheel highly efficient - from 80-90%.

Undershot Wheel

In areas that have little to no slope, undershot waterwheels are the only type of waterwheel that will work. Since there is almost no drop in the water, these wheels are inefficient compared to other types. This is because the waterwheel relies on there being large quantities of water moving quickly to move the wheel. Because of this, the wheels tend to be built on large, strong rivers.

In this type of waterwheel, there is no flume. Instead the water rushes along the bottom of the waterwheel, spinning it backwards compared to the water flow. This spinning motion occurs because the water pushes along the blades that are in contact with the surface of the water.

Breastshot Wheel

Breastshot wheels are used where there is a moderate drop in the height of the water. Generally, breastshot wheels are used if there is a drop between 1.8 to 2.4 meters. These waterwheels were particularly important in the Industrial Revolution, and during this time period the wheels tended to be made out of iron. These wheels can be made to be very large to increase their power output.

In this type of waterwheel, water flows onto the wheel about half way up and pushes the blades of the wheel downwards as it falls. The water then continues to flow underneath the wheel, pushing it more as it flows forward.

For Further Reading

References

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A waterwheel is a type of device that takes advantage of flowing or falling water to generate power by using a set of paddles mounted around a wheel. The falling force of the water pushes the paddles, rotating a wheel.

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Types of Wheels Animated  -- scroll down!

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Types of Wheels Animated  -- scroll down!

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https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/the-power-of-water/

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Salisbury Historical Society, New Hampshire

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Daniel Webster's father Ebenezer had a mill on Punch Brook (part of Franklin now) that was quite successful in the earliest pioneer days.

On Stirrup Iron Brook there were early mills near where the brook crosses under rte 127. These mills went on for about 100-125 years.

Several large mills existed on the Blackwater River in West Salisbury from the earliest times till about 1892.

A mill existed where Loverin Hill joins Hensmith.

There was a wood mill in the Sawyer family which was perched just above the blackwater but it is unclear how they harnessed the water below or if they used early gasoline or steam engines.

Another was on Mill Brook in what is now the flood plain.

Another existed on the Beaver Dam Brook.

How did they actually work?
We are fortunate in that not far from Salisbury, in Loudon New Hampshire, there is a historic farm restoration project well under way with several working water powered mills & machinery. Like the Sanborn mills, Salisbury mills no doubt cracked corn, ground flour, created feed, and created flax seed oil, created lumber and shingles etc. The following photos are courtesy of Sanborn Mills showing the beautifully restored Grist Mill and its Tub Wheel which is likely identical to our old Tub Wheels.

The Sanborn saw mill utilizes a shot water wheel as was no doubt used in Salisbury saw mills as well.

On this page there are also moving diagrams of all of old mill type mechanisms used by early New Englanders-courtesy of Old Sturbridge Village.
About Cracking Corn using Water power from the March Sanborn Mills Newletter:
Harnessing water power involves transferring the pressure of falling water as it passes through a turbine or over a water wheel to a series of gears attached to shafts at right angles to each other. Pulleys on parallel shafts connected by straps (or belts) can also transfer power (and change the speed of rotation). In this way a water wheel turning at ten revolutions per minute (rpm) can be "geared up" to run a millstone running at 100 rpm.

Millwright Brian Clough is working out how to power the antique corn cracker at the grist mill by making a new shaft and wooden gears that will be driven by the water wheel shaft.

According to Brian the shaft is octagonal because it provides faces to measure off and the facets make it easier to make the minute adjustments needed to have the whole gear system operate smoothly. We'll keep you posted with more images as the project proceeds.

Octagonal shaft made by Brian Clough.

If you are curious as to how Salisbury folk ran their mills a good opportunity to see the principles and machinery in action is on working display on the Sanborn Mills Farm.

For general information: http://www.sanbornmills.org/

For links on our site relating to the old Mills:

https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/commerce-and-industry/
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/remembering-the-mills/ https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/2090-2/
To gain further understanding on how our old mills operated, Old Sturbridge Village Massachusetts has granted us permission to share the following information from their website.

Thank You Old Sturbridge Village

An 1830's New England Living History Museum

There are three main principles of water power:
Flow
The volume (amount) of water. The greater flow, the more power obtained.
Head
The height of the fall of the water. The greater the height, the more power obtained.
Efficiency
The measure of how well a waterwheel captures the weight (from the flow) and force (from the head) of the water. The greater the efficiency, the more power obtained.

Water can only do its work when there is both head and flow. The earliest mill sites in New England were those where there was a natural fall of water which created head and flow. If there was no natural fall, head was created by building a dam. The kind of dam was determined by the type of stream bed and by the resources available. There were many options and dam builders could mix and match features. Dams often created ponds behind them, which stored water and effectively increased flow as well.

A crib dam is an interlocking framework of timbers filled with stones. This was the earliest and simplest type of dam, easy to build where wood and stones were plentiful. It was the most common dam built in the 1700s.

For some sites earth-filled dams with stone facing were more practical. Two stone walls were built about 12 feet apart and the space in between was filled with earth. This type of dam was built were river bottoms were either rocky or a smoooth flat ledge. These dams were the most common type built in the 1800s.

Decisions also had to be made about the downstream face of the dam, the spillway. It might be either a sheer wall or a series of steps. A sheer wall worked well on ledge, but constantly falling water could dig a hole in a sandy river bed. This weakened the foundations of the dam, which could be swept away in a storm. A step dam diverted water from the base of the dam. This type was a common form of factory dam built on soft stream beds.

The undershot wheel is probably the oldest type of waterwheel, having been developed over two thousand years ago. Mounted vertically on a horizontal axle, it has flat boards, called floats, mounted radially around the rim. It is turned by the impact of water striking these float boards as it flows under the wheel.

Undershot wheels are not very efficient, but they are fairly simple to build and can be placed into a rapidly flowing stream with a minimum of site preparation. When placed in a carefully channeled raceway, however, their efficiency increases somewhat. Small diameter undershot wheels, known as flutter wheels, can run at over 100 revolutions per minute and were the most common type of wheels to run the thousands of "up and down" sawmills that built early America.

The overshot wheel is a much more efficient wheel than the undershot; it can harness over 85% of the potential energy in falling water. However, it is more difficult to build, requires careful site preparation, and will not operate in many locations.

Mounted vertically on a horizontal axle, it has angled troughs-also called buckets-mounted all around the rim. Water fills these buckets from above, making one side of the wheel heavy and causing it to turn as the water in the buckets falls. At the bottom the buckets are in an inverted position so that they spill out the used water, which flows gently away. While the water filling the buckets has a slight force upon the wheel, the overshot is primarily a gravity wheel in that it is the dead weight of water in the buckets that causes it to turn.

This large diameter wheel can generate a great deal of torque-twisting power. Its size means it cannot turn very rapidly, however, and so machinery that needs to run at higher speeds must use gears to increase the speed of rotation. But gears add cost, increase maintenance, and rob some power.

Overshot wheels cannot turn when the water cannot freely flow away from them, a condition known as back-water, or wading. Finally, many sites cannot accommodate an overshot wheel because there is not enough head, or drop to the water, to reach the top of the wheel.

The breast wheel, which was developed in the late middle ages, is somewhat of a compromise between the inefficient undershot wheel and the highly efficient but limited overshot wheel.

Like the overshot wheel it has buckets on its rim, but they face in the opposite direction. Water fills the buckets at the mid-point-or breast-of the wheel. The water's dead weight causes the wheel to turn. Often a concave shell, also known as a breast, is fitted near the underside of the wheel to keep water in the buckets until it reaches the bottom of the wheel, thereby increasing efficiency. The breast wheel can operate over a wider variety of water levels than can the overshot wheel, and does better in backwater conditions. Its large diameter requires gears to increase rotational speed when needed.

Versatility and moderate efficiency made the breast wheel the workhorse of American industry in the early 1800s.

The tub wheel in its simplest form is just a small undershot wheel mounted horizontally on a vertical axle. This configuration was developed in the early middle ages and was called a Norse wheel. Turned by the impact of a stream of falling water striking its paddles, its efficiency was increased somewhat by building a bottomless wooden tub around it. This tub harnessed more of the potential energy of the water before the water fell below the wheel.

The tub wheel is easy to build and maintain, and is fairly dependable. While it is not very efficient and does not generate a great deal of power, its relatively small diameter (usually less than six feet) allows it to operate at moderately high speeds, often eliminating the need for gearing. Sometimes it could be directly connected to the machinery it was to run. Small neighborhood mills often made use of tub wheels in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Outward-Flow Reaction Wheel

In the early 1800s many Americans were experimenting with different new waterwheel designs. One of these men was Calvin Wing of Maine, who patented this design in October 1830.

The reaction wheel is made of a hollow iron disk with a large hole on one side to allow pressurized water in from a penstock,and six angled holes on the rim to allow water to exit. The force of water squirting through these six angled jets causes the wheel to turn in reaction to the force of the exiting water.

The reaction wheel, in some ways the predecessor of the modern turbine, operates on water pressure. (The pressure is obtained by confining the water as it falls). It has moderate efficiency, can operate over a very wide range of water levels, and runs fairly well in flooded back-water conditions.

The wheel's cast iron construction makes it extremely durable; it will not rot like a wooden wheel. It is also compact, generating much power as well as achieving high speeds while taking up very little space and eliminating the need for costly gearing. It requires precision manufacturing and installation, and thus is somewhat expensive compared to a simple wooden wheel. The 1830s miller who bought one was taking a risk and making an investment in new technology.

Modern Hydroelectric Turbine

In the late 20th century, and probably throughout the 21st century and beyond, water power still has a place in America. Today, instead of generating mechanical energy to be used on-site, the energy of falling water is frequently converted to electrical energy to be transmitted for use elsewhere.

The turbine is a carefully engineered and highly efficient means of harnessing water power. Water is smoothly funneled into a restricted space where it turns the precisely designed impeller blades of the turbine, much as a breeze turns an unplugged electric fan. On the same axle as the turbine is a compact gear box and electrical generator. After the turbine has extracted most of the water's energy, the water flows gently downstream; very little energy is wasted by turbulence.

The power created by the waterwheels is delivered to the machinery by gears and belts. To run properly, machines must have their power at the right speed and direction. The waterwheel does not necessarily turn at the same speed and same direction as the machinery, so gears are used to adjust the speed and direction.

The water flows into the tub, turning the wheel. The wheel turns the shafts and gears connected to it. Leather belts connect the shafts and the machinery to provide the power to run the machine.

Sawmills were the most common kind of mills found in most 19th-century New England towns. America boasted over 31,000 sawmills by 1840. Most were owned and operated by farmers of above-average means, who often ran them seasonally, as water levels and the demands of their farm work permitted. Some cut lumber for sale, and those near cheap water transportation could ship their products to distant markets. Most sawmills, however, served neighborhoods due to the expense of transporting high-weight but low-value lumber any great distance over land. They charged local farmers by the board foot (a volumetric measurement one foot by one foot by one inch) to saw logs brought to the mill into boards, planks, and timbers. In a day one man with a sawmill could cut as much lumber as two men working by hand could do in a week.

From the 13th century until about the middle of the 19th, most sawmills consisted of a straight saw blade strung tight in a rectangular wooden frame, called a sash or gate. The saw sash is connected to a water wheel below it through a crank and by a wooden sweep or pitman arm (the latter taking its name from the man who, before sawmills made him obsolete, stood in a pit below a log and pulled a saw through the wood by hand to make boards). The turning motion of the water wheel is converted to the up and down motion of the saw by the eccentric crank. Some power from the saw sash is used to turn a large gear, called a rag wheel. This in turn moves the carriage which the log rests on, pulling the log through the saw. The saw cuts into the log on its down stroke, and the log moves forward again on the up stroke. After one board is sawed, the log carriage is run back to the other end of the mill, the log moved over, and another board cut. This process is repeated until the whole log has been sawed into lumber. Often a sawyer will square up two sides of a log first, then turn the log 90 degrees so that the flat sides are on the top and bottom. Then when he saws the log into boards they will all have straight edges.

Grist is grain, and grist mills of this same basic design have used water power to grind grains into meal for baking bread since at least the first century B.C. By 1840 the United States had over 23,000 grain mills. While some were commercial flour mills milling and sifting flour for distant markets, most were neighborhood grist mills, selling the service of grinding to nearby farmers. The customer paid a toll, or fraction of the grain he brought to the mill, in exchange for having his corn, rye, or wheat ground into meal. (In most of New England this toll was 1/16th of the grain.) The owners of early 19th-century New England grist mills were usually rather prosperous men, and like most of the population at that time, the majority were farmers.

To operate the mill, the miller places the grain to be ground in the funnel-like hopper above his pair of millstones, after first taking out his toll. Then he opens the sluice gate that lets water into his water wheel. As the weight of falling water turns the water wheel, large gears turning smaller gears make the shaft turn faster, much as the large gear on the pedals of a bicycle will turn the smaller gear on the wheel more rapidly. This power is transmitted to a vertical spindle, upon which rests a large, flat disc of stone, often weighing a ton or more. This stone spins just above, but not quite touching, an identical stone set stationary in the floor of the mill. Both stones have a pattern of grooves cut into their faces. As one stone turns above the other, their grooves cross much like scissor blades. Grain falling through the hole, or "eye", in the runner stone is cut apart as it passes between the two stones. The miller can adjust the distance between the stones to regulate how finely the grain is ground. The milled grains moves around the cover that is over the stones, until it falls through a hole into the meal chest. From there it can be scooped up into a sack to be taken home for baking.

For design layouts of a gristmill please go to the Old Sturbridge Village website link below:

Before wool can be spun into yarn for knitting or weaving into cloth, it first must be brushed, or carded. This tedious task was successfully mechanized in the second half of the 18th century by several British inventors, principally Richard Arkwright and James Hargreaves. By the late 1780s carding machines began to be built in the United States, carding as much wool in minutes as a hand-carder could do in as many hours. By 1811 the federal government estimated that on average every town had at least one carding mill where farm families could bring their wool and pay to have it carded. This made the domestic production of cloth much easier by removing this time-consuming step. As textile factories multiplied in the 19th century, however, people stopped making their own cloth at home, and custom carding mills declined. Today, of course, there are no longer thousands of neighborhood carding mills in America catering to people who make their own cloth at home by hand. The same technology, however, is still used in modern cotton and woolen factories.

Since 1773, carding machines have had the same basic design as they do today. They consist of a series of round brushes that align wool fibers as the wool passes from one end of the machine to the other. Each cylinder is covered with bent iron wires, which grab wool in one direction and release it in another.

Clean but tangled wool is fed into the machine from a conveyor belt, called a feed apron. Two small cylinders-called licker-ins-transfer the wool from the apron to the tumbler, which deposits it on the large main cylinder. This cylinder carries the wool through the machine. Along the way, it is removed by workers. Strippers then take it from the workers and deposit it back on the main cylinder. Near the end of the machine, a fancy with long bristles fluffs the wool up on the main cylinder so that a doffer can remove it. The wool is rolled up into rolls or silvers for spinning as it passes between a fluted cylinder and a concave shell.

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Daniel Webster's father Ebenezer had a mill on Punch Brook (part of Franklin now) that was quite successful in the earliest pioneer days. On Stirrup Iron Brook there were early mills near where the brook crosses under rte 127. These mills went on for about 100-125 years.