alternatehistory.com

The Pelton Wheel is among the most efficient types of water turbines. While turbines, in general, date to no earlier than the 18th century, there are esrlier examples, most tantalizingly a water wheel from Roman Tunisia that was more properly a turbine. In general, we can say that a Pelton Wheel is up to 10 times as efficient as any other water wheel.

So what if some ingenious engineer stumbled across the efficient shape of a Pelton Wheel? Lore says that Pelton accidentally came up with the invention after seeing a cow get sprayed in the nose with a hose. Take that story for what you will. Conveniently, the first Pelton Wheel was wooden, so we don’t need to feel constrained by good metallurgy.

Lets be conservative, and say that a pre-industrial society would have difficulty in perfecting their construction, and rather than 10 times as efficient, they might be merely 5 time or thereabouts. How might the middle ages or even antiquity look with vastly more productive mills?

Or, less flamboyantly, how might the industrial revolution look if these turbines came into use a century early?
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