Ohio History Journal

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NOTES

NOTES

JAMES LEFFEL: DOUBLE TURBINE WATER WHEEL INVENTOR

1. The general historical background of waterpower mechanisms may be found in

the following titles: Abbott P. Usher, A History of Mechanical Inventions (Cambridge,

1954), 382-411; Aubrey F. Burstall, A History of Mechanical Engineering (Cambridge,

1965), 243ff; and Charles Singer and others, eds., A History of Technology (Oxford,

1958), IV, 520-551.

2. The titles noted above describe the nature of the turbine. See also Kent's Mechani-

cal Engineers' Handbook (New York, 1950), II, Sec. 5-23.

3. Victor S. Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States (New York, 1929),

I, 407.

4. On the differences between reaction and impulse turbines, see especially Usher,

A History of Mechanical Inventions, 389.

5. Ibid.

6. See Singer, A History of Technology, IV, 529-531.

7. Burstall, A History of Mechanical Engineering, 247; Singer, A History of Technol-

ogy, IV, 529; and Usher, A History of Mechanical Inventions, IV, 391-392.

8. Singer, A History of Technology, IV, 530, 533-534.

9. Clark, History of Manufactures in the United States, I, 407.

10. Because of imprecise terminology employed by inventors and the Patent Office,

the number can be only roughly estimated. Through the 1830's, 1840's, and to some extent

the 1850's water turbines as such were not indexed in patent office reports; wheels

obviously embodying turbine principles were listed as re-acting, reaction, and water

wheels. A conspicuous example was Boyden's turbine invention of 1847, which was listed

simply as an improvement in water wheels, Index of Patents for Inventions, 1790-1873

(Washington, 1874), III, 1676.

11. These figures are based on a study of the Index of Patents for Inventions, 1790-

1873, III, 1676-1786; and the Reports of the Commissioners of Patents during the 1850's.

12. This contest is briefly described in Donald L. Kemmerer and C. Clyde Jones,

American Economic History (New York, 1959), 170.

13. Only bare-boned details on the Leffel family are available in printed sources. See

Allen Johnson, Dumas Malone, and Harris E. Starr, eds., Dictionary of American Biog-

raphy (New York, 1928-1936), XI, 139; and Simeon D. Fess, ed., Ohio Reference Library

(Chicago, 1937), III, 374.

14. Leffel Estate Documents in Clark County Historical Society, Springfield, Ohio.

15. James Leffel & Company, Illustrated Descriptive Pamphlet and Price List of

Leffel's American Double Turbine Water Wheel for 1870 (New Haven, 1870), 8. Leffel

Papers, Ohio Historical Society.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Directory of the City of Springfield, 1852 (Springfield, 1852), 113; [R. C. Wood-

ward], Sketches of Springfield (Springfield, 1852), 32.

19. The Republic (Springfield, Ohio), November 24, 1843.

20. W. H. Beers, Publisher, The History of Clark County, Ohio (Chicago, 1881), 522;

[Woodward], Sketches of Springfield, 32.

21. Beers, History of Clark County, 471.

22. Beers, History of Clark County, 471; Springfield and Clark County Ohio, Ameri-

can Guide Series (Springfield, 1941), 45; Edith I. Turner, It Happened in Springfield

(Springfield, 1958), 90ff.

23. Illustrated and Descriptive Pamphlet, 8.

24. Ibid.

25. Letters Patent No. 4,056, May 21, 1845.

26. Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 139.

27. Seventh Census of the United States, Schedule 5, Fifth Series, Production of

Industry, Clark County; in State Library of Ohio.

28. These national averages were developed from data found in J. Leander Bishop,

A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860 (Philadelphia, 1864), II, 485.

29. Report of the Commissioners of Patents for 1850, Pt. 1 (Washington, 1851),