Lester Allan Pelton

Lester Allan Pelton ( born September 5, 1829 in Vermilion Township, Erie County, Ohio, † March 14, 1908 buried in Vermilion, Ohio) was an American inventor.

During the gold rush in California, he worked as a carpenter, electrician and plumber.

By chance, he stumbled upon the idea for the Pelton turbine. Lester Pelton had a waterwheel with highly curved blades built in his work in California, by chance met during the commissioning of a water jet only the outermost part of the blade ring. The speed of the wheel took out abruptly and rose so that the water wheel was destroyed by the centrifugal force. A systematic study of the phenomenon brought evidence that the momentum of the water jet is best used in the turbine when the blades took the form of two shallow bowls. The water jet is thereby deflected back in the original direction, the kinetic energy of the beam is optimally utilized by this arrangement. Lester Pelton was able to use his invention on an industrial scale from 1880.