(What does this blog do for our readers?)
Hello Everyone, we at Windsor Manufacturing have decided to start compiling and sending out articles to keep you informed and up-to-date with information we find useful or even humorous in hopes that it will not only assist you, but also enlighten your day. We have a lot to share, but just to make sure we are starting out on the right page we thought we would give you a brief history of fluid power.
The word “hydraulics” originates for the Greek word hydraulikos, which in turn originates from hydror, the Greek word for water and aulos, meaning pipe. Water has played a large part in the advancement of mankind allowing us to utilize tools such as, water wheels to produce our food, clothes, tools, wood, paper, iron, cotton, etc. Today fluid power is more utilized in the form of pressurized fluid in order to produce large amounts of power. This is being used all around us in modern day applications, but if we look back in time it has progressed significantly.
Early uses of water power has dated back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, where irrigation has been used since the 6th millennium BC and water clocks had been used since the early 2nd millennium BC. Other early examples of water power include the Qanat system in ancient Persia and the Turpan water system in ancient China.
The Greeks constructed sophisticated water and hydraulic power systems for the use of water tunnels and channels, which is an early example of the use of the hydraulic wheel. By 100 AD a number of working machines using hydraulic power, such as the force pump used for raising water and in fire engines was adopted.
In ancient Rome many different hydraulic applications were developed, including public water supplies, aqueducts, power watermills and hydraulic mining. They were among the first to make use of the siphon to carry water across valleys and used “hushing” on a large scale to prospect for and then extract metal ores.
More recently, mathematicians, physicist and engineers have made discoveries adding to the benefit of all using fluid power. In 1648, Mr. Blaise Pascal, made a discovery that has become known as Pascal’s Law. Through his work he realized that pressure exerted anywhere in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted equally in all directions throughout the fluid. This laid the groundwork for further insights into how fluids could be harnessed for energy. In 1738, Daniel Bernoulli first formulated the Bernoulli’s Principle which says that an increase in pressure of flowing fluid must always be accompanied by a decrease in speed, and conversely, if a increase in speed of a fluid results in a decrease in pressure. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Joseph Bramah patented the hydraulic press, which was based on Pascal’s Law which formed the groundwork for the science of fluid power. Shortly after, the Americans developed the technique of producing electricity using hydropower and hydraulic power plants began to be built. Once the industrial revolution had firmly established itself, engineers and industrialists across the world realised they could utilise Bernouilli’s principles on a larger scale. It was until 1878 that William George Armstrong pioneered the first hydroelectric power plant. By 1886 there were 45 hydroelctric power plants in the U.S. and Canada. As time has passed, we have seen the development of different hydraulic components including seals, control valves and accumulators, all of which have lead to further uses of hydraulic power.
Today there are many different forms of fluid power that are currently being used or developed, when you look for it you can see all around us. Even after hundreds of years we are still harnessing the power of fluid. It will be interesting to see what future developments will be.
