You could try the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills www.spoom.org. David Hayes --- On Wed, 8/6/08, D'Angelo, James (Atlanta,GA-US) <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: D'Angelo, James (Atlanta,GA-US) <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: HISTARCH Digest - 4 Aug 2008 to 5 Aug 2008 (#2008-179) To: [log in to unmask] Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 10:35 AM I am working on a mill site in Roswell GA and am trying to get information on the remains of a hydroelectric generating system was installed circa 1920. There are no visible markings on the badly corroded machinery or remaining parts - penstock and housing were in process of being cut up for scrape during WWII when effort to do so was abandoned for some reason.(see Figures 1-4 at: http://www.thegars.org/MysteryArtifacts.html). The system employed a horizontal shaft which is connected to a General Electric generator (Figure 2). Figs 3 & 4 show what remains inside the forward half of the housing. No better view of this "wheel" or flywheel? is possible, but in the foreground one can see the breaking system. Because an approximately 6' section connecting the penstock to the elbow that enters the top of the housing is missing, I also have no idea of how water from the penstock may have been directed to whatever kind of wheel was in there. One large butterfly valve was found in partial excavation of the wheel pit (see bucket loader Fig 1) but not sure if it belonged to this or early turbine. The Sanborn maps (1880-1911) depict a wood flume (as opposed to iron penstock by the 1920's) leading to a horizontal turbine with vertical axis. The 1853 Mill originally had a large breast wheel. I excavated a large (61" d.) iron turbine wheel (Figures 5-6) as well as pieces of its housing from the earlier 19th c. turbine. If you have any thoughts on the identification of the penstock and housing, or the earlier wheel I would greatly appreciate it. If you haven't already done so, please take a look at other mystery objects on this web page... Thanks, Jim James J. D'Angelo, RPA, Ph.D. Archaeologist TRC 4155 Shackleford Road Suite 225 Norcross, Georgia, 30093 770.270.1192 x125 phone 770.270.1392 fax 404.580.2079 cell [log in to unmask]