Morris Canal Reaction Turbine - Stewartsville, New Jersey
N 40° 41.692 W 075° 08.173
18T E 488491 N 4504894
A rare example of a 19th century reaction turbine is located here in a county park. This turbine is still in it's original setting, in an underground turbine 'hall' complete with tailrace.
Waymark Code: WMFFXT
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2012
Views: 8
This rare artifact of amazing early 19th century mechanical engineering is available for tours by appointment. The turbine is located in a Warren County park, open from dawn to dusk, that commemorates the Morris Canal and Plane 9 West. The Jim and Mary Lee Museum, located here in the original plane tender's house, is open the 2nd Sunday of the month 1:00 - 4:00 pm (April through October) except major holidays.
The Morris Canal utilized incline planes to haul canal boats over substantial changes in elevation. Plane 9 west was the tallest, with an elevation gain of 100 feet. Canal boats of 138+ tons were hauled up the incline plane resting on super-sized railroad flat cars in 15 minutes! The famous English-American engineer James Renwick conceived and designed the incline planes for the Morris Canal, and powered them with 30-foot diameter overshot water wheels. The water wheels were replaced with reaction turbines in 1850. The track gauge was 12 feet 6 inches, compared to railroad standard gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches. The approximate horsepower for this reaction turbine has been estimated to be about 30 HP. The canal boats carried up to 70+ tons of cargo. The total weight of boat, cable car, and cargo was a minimum of 138 tons. This does not include the weight of the wire rope cable. The wire rope had a diameter of about 2 3/16".
After Jim Lee purchased the old plane tenders house, following the abandonment of the canal in 1924 and just after the end of World War II, he and his family and friends began to excavate the turbine hall and tailrace over a period of decades. What they found is amazing, and we are lucky it was preserved.
The museum is full of artifacts from the Morris Canal in general, and remnants of the plane’s power plant. For example, a special bearing plate that was used to statically balance the turbine was found. When the turbine was at rest, it would settle down onto the tip of a cast iron post. Weights were added to the sides of the turbine so that it was less likely to wobble while running. This is very similar to the weights that are added to car wheels, only this took place in 1850! See the photo gallery for these details.
The first web link below leads to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers landmark listing (#38) for this incredible example of 19th century engineering. The second web link leads to a Warren County website dedicated to the preservation of the Morris Canal and the amazing history and infrastructure that it spawned. Warren County has also prepared an excellent
schematic on how the incline plane worked.