Water Wheel Millhouse | park, interesting place

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R E White, a local civil engineer, designed the waterwheel in 1932. He based it on an Italian
design from the 1700s. The wheel is 21 feet in diameter with paddle boards crafted
from select, heart redwood 5 feet in length, making the wheel about 5 1/2 feet wide. With
6 feet of water pressing against the wheel, it developed 38 horsepower at 7 revolutions per
minute. A complicated set of gears multiplied this speed 200 times to run a water pump
at 1400 RPM. This was designed to pump water for park use but was also built to be easily
and quickly converted to power an electric generator. When the Kern River flow was
full, the waterwheel pumped ample water through a 12-inch pipe to fulfill the swimming
pool and irrigation needs. When the river flow was low, electric pumps supplied the requirements.

Read more about Hart Park

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