John Sturgess was a British citizen working in Troy who developed a series of innovative hydraulic water wheel governors, devices that regulated the speed with which hydropower dynamos turned. Trust us, it’s important. Here is his 1907 patent diagram for one of the devices. “The principal objects of the invention, when used to control the speed of a prime mover, are to secure a more efficient and satisfactory operation of the mechanism for controlling and regulating the supply of fluid, under pressure, to the motor, whereby a gate, controlling the supply to the prime mover, is operated.”
The Sturgess Governor Engineering Company manufactured in West Troy, which we now know as Watervliet. It was acquired by the venerable Ludlow Valve company in 1905, moved to Troy, and continued to operate under the Sturgess name until about 1918. Its old facility in Watervliet was, in 1907, intended to be repurposed for the Empire Pearl Button Company, but it was found to be too small for the 700 workers the button company intended to employ; the building would only accommodate 400.
Leave a Reply