J.B.+Campbell+Water+Wheels--From+Technology+to+Aesthetic+Landscape+Elements

 = __J.B. Campbell Water Wheels: From Technology to Esthetic Landscape Elements __ =

__ I ntroduction /A bstract __
A water wheel, as shown below, is a large wooden or metal wheel with blades or buckets attached to its outer rim. Water wheels are set up near or along flowing bodies of water and rotate as water flows through them. This mechanical motion is then converted to some other type of energy to do work. So water wheels can be considered to be hydro-machines that convert the energy in moving water to other forms of power. John Blake Campbell and the Old-Fashioned Gearing in Mr. Henry Ford's Grist Mill 5 In his lifetime, John Blake Campbell was regarded as a master of the craft of water wheels. His company, J.B. Campbell Water Wheel Company, was located in the Lafayette Building in Philadelphia and manufactured and installed water wheels, dams, hydro-electric plants and water supply systems1. Towards the end of his life though, the advances in the electric industry caused the water wheels to become dormant and this master engineer became type casted as “that old man” that was cheated out of water wheel projects that rightfully should have been his. As the water wheels lost their place as major energy sources, Mr. Campbell became more involved in the restoration of water wheel driven mills, whether he was paid or not.



__Water Wheels: An Overview__


__Brief History and Basic Operation of Water Wheels __
 Even though water wheels are considered part of the 18th century Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe, they have been around since 1150 in Ancient India7. They have been used for irrigation in farmlands and in various mills. The water wheels are placed in the path of flowing water and their orientation is such that the motion of the water drives the blades or buckets on the outer rim. As the blades turn, gravity takes over and completes the cycle by causing the water to fall over the other side of the wheel. As such, the rotational motion is always constant except in times of drought. A shaft is connected to the center of the wheel to transfer the mechanical energy from the rotation to whatever machine may be connected on the other side. “The most common use of the water wheel was to mill flour, where it was known as the watermill, but other uses included foundry work and machining, and pounding linen for use in paper.”8 The water wheels were also used as electric power generators because according to Mr. Hazen, author of //The Water Wheel Album//, “rural electrification did not come along until the 1930's, and if you wanted electricity on your private estate you had to generate it yourself.”4

__Types and Materials of Construction __
There are different types of water wheels invented and they were made to meet requirements such as the location of mounting on a river, the direction of flow of a river and the amount of work that is required. They include: - Horizontal wheel - Undershot wheel - Overshot wheel - Backshot wheel The traditional material used to make the water wheels is wood but steel has also been used to build these hydro-machines. (For more information on water wheels, see the “[|Water Wheel]” Wikipedia article). 

__John Blake Campbell __
 <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">John Blake Campbell was born in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1890 and was raised in an area where he could witness the moving power of water and the numerous rural mills. “This inspiration led him to study hydraulic engineering at Cornell University. During 1915-1916 he returned to his mountain roots to study the old water-powered mills which survived near his home in Virginia.”5 He is quoted as saying “they’re just so beautiful. The water, the motion of the wheel. It’s just a picture, any water wheel, even the smallest ones. And they accomplish something. Nothing is any good unless it accomplishes something.”2

__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fitz Water Wheel Company __
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After graduation from Cornell University, Mr. Campbell went to work for the Fitz Water Wheel Company. He was an engineering salesman but was still actively interested in the manufacture and operation of the water wheels. He left the company after a disagreement with Mr. Fitz over the water wheels being bolted with rivets or spot welded together. He believed that this was not the most efficient way to make a water wheel and that better water wheels could be made a different way. The water wheels made this way were less efficient because some water could leak through the holes made for the rivets and the more parts to the wheel, the more possible locations for failure and the more maintenance work required.

__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J. B. Campbell Water Wheel Company __
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After his parting from Fitz, Mr. Campbell served in the Army Engineers during 1917-1919. After the war, he came back home and although he became a lumberjack, the allure of the water wheels and mills still intrigued him. “John Blake Campbell married and then moved to Philadelphia and founded his own company in 1920. During this time he designed overshot water wheels in welded steel, essentially applying modern production technology to a relatively primitive device.”5 His company was called the J.B. Campbell Water Wheel Company and although his training in Fitz’s company is evident in the Campbell water wheels (same basic features), his modifications improved the efficiency of the water wheels. “A lot of the Campbell Water Wheels both vertical water wheels and water turbines were actually manufactured at one of the two Fitz plants, either Hanover, Pennsylvania, or Martinsburg, West Virginia. So even though they parted company about how the water wheels should be put together, Fitz did a lot of the actual work for Campbell. They either put the name, "Fitz Water Wheel Company," or "Campbell Water Wheel Company," on the water wheels or water turbines.”4 In his obituary, J.B. Campbell was hailed as the last man in America to build a water wheel because he was dedicated to his work and his interest never waned.

__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Later Years: “The Dying Craft of Water Wheels” __
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1960, Mr. Campbell closed his company but did not stop building and working on water wheels. He worked as a travelling consultant for the restoration of water wheels and mills on such grounds as “Washington Crossing State Park and the historic Wayside Inn in Sudbury Mass.” 2 to name a few. He designed, constructed and supervised the building of water wheels for Henry Ford, the Rockefellers and the du Ponts.3 He was truly the subject matter expert with regards to water wheels. He believed that “one person with some know-how and care could make a difference”.2 It has been said that technology is historically contingent in that it is shaped by the people and events surrounding it. Well, this was also evident in the case of the water wheels. In the later part of the 1800s, electricity and power lines essentially replaced water wheels as power sources. As a result, while the electrical industry grew, the water wheel companies depreciated. Even Mr. Campbell who was a recognized authority on water wheels had to bow out to electricity with great sadness: “I didn’t realize what power lines would mean. They [water wheels] just crept out.”2 He insisted that the sounds of water wheels should be preserved for all times. With regards to the new electric generators, he said, “I don’t like motors. No life to them, no interest, just a pure thing to give power. But an overshot water wheel on an old gristmill! Ah, the antiquity of it, the beauty of it, the romance of it …”2 He obviously loved working on water wheels but had to give some of that up with the development of electric power lines. With the power lines, one would not need a personal generator but can get electricity delivered to them from substations. Another reason why Mr. Campbell had to give up on doing some of the things he loved was because as he grew older, “he suffered from the problems of being type casted as an old man.”4 Also, “there was a hand full of restoration projects he was cheated out of because someone in each case went behind his back to the powers [that]-be, and said, "does that old man really know what he is doing". Some major restoration projects he got pushed out of include the Burwell-Morgan Mill in Millwood, Virginia, and the Cooper Mill, in Chester, New Jersey. People could be convinced to hire basically the man off of the street or the day labor who had no milling, millwright, hydraulic engineering, restoration or preservation experience over an old man who had a life time accumulative knowledge of it.” So humans and technology worked to make this water wheel master into an old man who was saddened by the lack of preservation of his craft. However, his legacy lives on in all the historic sites where his restored water wheels still stand.

__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Primary __
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1)  <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">J.B Campbell Water Wheel Company. Campbell Water Wheel Company Catalog. Philadelphia, PA, 1932. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(2)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">Dubin, Mary. “John Blake Campbell<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">, 97; master of the dying craft of water wheels.” Obituary. //The Philadelphia Inquirer// (29 October, 1987): 23-D (3) J.B Campbell Water Wheel Company. Archival Records. 1920-1962. Hagley Museum and Library, Greenville, Delaware.

(4) Hazen, Theodore. E-mail interview. 17 February, 2009. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(5) <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gnatowski, Richard. E-mail interview. 23 February, 2009.

__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondary __
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (6) Hazen, Theodore. “The Water Wheel Album: Page Eight”, 2000. Pond Lily Mill Restorations, April 1996. 5 Jan. 2009 <http://www.angelfire.com/journal/ millbuilder/album8.html>.

(7) Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui, "Water Works and Irrigation System in India during Pre-Mughal Times", //Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient//, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Feb., 1986), pp. 52–77.

(8) Research Institute for Sustainable Energy <http://www.rise.org.au/info/Tech/hydro/mech.html>