The Garfield water wheel, sometimes referred to as the Forrest Creek Mine water wheel, was a large
water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous b ...
used to power a
stamper battery at a gold mine near
Chewton, Victoria
Chewton is a town in Mount Alexander Shire, Victoria, Australia, 116 kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2021 census, Chewton had a population of 763.
History
Prior to European settlement, the Chewton area wa ...
, Australia. Constructed in 1887, the water wheel was used until 1903 and then was dismantled in 1904. There are some remnants at its location.
History
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
The Coliban River, an inland perennial river of the northcentral catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands region of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters of the ...
, for both domestic and mining purposes. Eventually, at least seven water wheels were built and operated in the Castlemain-Chewton area.
Constructed in 1887, the Garfield water wheel was used until 1903 then was dismantled in 1904.
Technology
Water flow to the Garfield wheel was via a 786
foot
The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...
(258 m) long elevated
flume
A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...
—15
inch
The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...
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.
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.
The
backshot water wheel was in diameter, and wide. The spokes of the wheel were made of wood, and its structure was strengthened by circular iron bands. It carried 220
galvanised iron
Galvanization ( also spelled galvanisation) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are coated by submerging them in a bath of ...
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 . The wheel rotated once every 45 to 55 seconds, corresponding to 1.33 to 1.09
rpm
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines.
One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
. 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
A pinion is a round gear—usually the smaller of two meshed gears—used in several applications, including drivetrain and rack and pinion systems.
Applications Drivetrain
Drivetrains usually feature a gear known as the pinion, which may v ...
, 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
Sheave without a rope
A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft.
A pulley may have a groove or grooves between fla ...
and
flat belts.
The battery ran at 78-86 falls per minute;
there being typically two cam arms per stamper head, the shaft of the battery probably ran at 39 to 43 rpm.
Remnants
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.
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.
References
{{Coord, 37, 04, 20.0, S, 144, 15, 33.7, E, display=title
External links
Friends of Mount Alexander Diggings - Garfield Water Wheel
1887 establishments in Australia
North Central Victoria
Water wheels in Australia