place

Holyoke Testing Flume

1870 establishments in Massachusetts1932 disestablishments in MassachusettsAmerican companies disestablished in 1932American companies established in 1870Buildings and structures in Holyoke, Massachusetts
Commercial laboratoriesDefunct engineering companies of the United StatesHistoric Mechanical Engineering LandmarksHydraulic laboratoriesLaboratories in the United StatesPulp and paper industryTechnology demonstrationsTest equipment
Holyoke Testing Flume emblem
Holyoke Testing Flume emblem

The Holyoke Testing Flume was a hydraulic testing laboratory and apparatus in Holyoke, Massachusetts, operated by the Holyoke Water Power Company from 1870 to 1932, and used to test the performance of water turbine designs, completing 3,176 tests of efficiency in that time.: 100  It was described by Robert E. Horton in court testimony as the only facility of its kind in the 19th and early 20th century, which made possible the standardization of American water turbines. Indeed Clemens Herschel, who managed and redesigned the facility in the 1880s, later described it in Congressional testimony as the "first modern hydraulic laboratory" in the United States and the world. It was through Herschel's need to determine the water power consumption of different mills, and in this testing system that he would invent the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring large-scale flows, which still retains widespread use in modern technology today.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Holyoke Testing Flume (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Holyoke Testing Flume
Race Street, Holyoke

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Holyoke Testing FlumeContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.19958 ° E -72.609826 °
placeShow on map

Address

Race Street

Race Street
01040 Holyoke
Massachusetts, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Holyoke Testing Flume emblem
Holyoke Testing Flume emblem
Share experience

Nearby Places

Precious Blood Church fire
Precious Blood Church fire

Precious Blood Church of Holyoke, Massachusetts, burned on May 27, 1875, killing 78 people. The fire started at the front of the church as a candle flame ignited a curtain. There was a crush of people through the entrance at the back left and many people could not leave. It is one of the deadliest fires in American history, and was also known by newspapers domestic and foreign as "The Holyoke Disaster".Panic caused people to rush from the upper levels to a front door. The door was made to open inward only so many were trapped against the door. Reverend Andre Dufresne was the parish priest. He tried to calm the people and direct them as much as possible. A list of the dead is given below by first and last name and then age. Many were buried in a common grave on May 29 at the Precious Blood Cemetery in South Hadley. All were French Canadians. The wooden church had been built in 1870 and was replaced in 1876 by a brick church. There is a monument for the dead at the cemetery. The parish priest was also reburied there. The names have been taken directly from the monument. The names were determined from the Holyoke Deaths Register and from various newspaper articles. The accuracy is very high but there might still be small errors since there was a language barrier from the French immigrants to the English speaking officials and newspaper writers. Also the chaos of the days after the burning of the church was very high. One obvious correction that can be made in the future is seen in that French would use Marie and Celine and never Mary and Selina.The church complex is located on the city block formed by Cabot, South East, Clemente, and Hamilton Streets. Only the convent and rectory remain today since the brick church and school were dismantled. The Park Street School was located on the other side of Hamilton Street between Park and South East Streets. The school was used as a temporary morgue for the fire victims. The cemetery is on Willimansett Street Extension near the intersection of Routes 33 and 202 in South Hadley. The black memorial is in the center of the cemetery and the priest is buried behind that. The event and its aftermath were also later depicted in some detail in the Franco-American novel Mirbah by Emma Port-Joli Dumas, originally published in Holyoke's La Justice.