Fourneyron, Benoit (1802-1867)

French engineer. He invented the first practical water turbine 1827. In 1855 he produced an improved version. He went on to build more than 1,000 hydraulic turbines of various forms and for use in different parts of the world, including Niagara Falls, USA.

Fourneyron's water turbine was an outward-flow turbine. Water passed into guide passages in the movable outer wheel. When the water impinged on these wheel vanes, its direction was changed and it escaped round the periphery of the wheel. But the outward-flow turbine was unstable and speed regulation was difficult. Fourneyron patented an improved design which incorporated a three-turbine installation 1832.

Fourneyron was born in Saint-Etienne, Loir, where he studied at the New School of Mines. After graduation he worked on developing the mines at Le Creusot, oil prospecting, laying out a railway, and setting up tin plate - manufacture, which was previously an English monopoly.