the search for power
James and Edward had of course recognized that a their new mill would require more power.They achieved this by replacing the original waterwheels, which were located below the bell tower, with three wheels mounted one above the other so that the water cascaded over each in turn. That the masonry of the bell tower looks as though it may have been raised at some time to give a greater head suggests that when they replaced Daniel's two original wheels they took the opportunity to raise the level of the bottom dam, the Regulator.Their ingenious solution is almost unique - there is thought to have been only one similar installation in England.
This is not the first example of the brother's grasp of conceptual engineering. In 1794 their father had been granted a patent for what they christened the "Equilinium". This was not dissimilar from the carding machines used in other textile industries and is in principle still used by flax manufacturers today. But Daniel did not invent this machine - James and Edward did. It is said that because at the time they were minors, they could not take out the patent themselves. Actually Edward was twenty three and James twenty one when the patent was granted.
The Equilinium. Patent No. 1961
But by building the new mill the brothers had created a fundamental problem. Whilst the new wheel installation would drive both Daniel's original flax mill and the one just completed by James and Edward, it required the full flow from the Regulator. They could not afford to divert any water from the triple wheels to the two small dams built to power the cotton mill. If the mill complex including the cotton mill was to be kept in continuous full production, more power was needed. But the big question was how?
A steam engine was a possibility. In fact when Daniel had gone bankrupt, a steam engine was being installed. If it was ever completed, clearly it was not a satisfactory solution as far as the two brothers were concerned - the massive beam engines were expensive to run both in fuel and maintenance and did not provide the smooth rotation desirable when spinning fabrics.
Was there a way of getting more power from Sydnope Brook without compromising the power delivered by the three wheels? Of course the water came rushing down the narrow valley into the first of their two dams from well over a mile away and perhaps 150ft higher up. They recognised they were only using the head available at the Regulator - perhaps 40ft. Clearly there was scope.
It would be totally impracticable to install more wheels so far from the mill. But if they could bring the head of water available much higher up the valley to the mill, they could use it to generate power, providing the water was then discharged over the wheels. Their problem would be solved. They would achieve the seemingly impossible task of getting more power from the brook and yet maintaining the flow of water to drive the flax mill.
There was a slight snag - there was no such thing as a high pressure water engine.Certainly water turbines were in existence but were only at an experimental stage and moreover that was in France. The Pelton Wheel was sixty years away.
But James and Edward were undeterred - they would make their own water engine. This was the start of the Romping Lion.