Water! Power! Action!

The only remaining operational hydroelectric generator at any of Ford Motor Company’s former Village Industries plants, is now generating electricity at Sharon Mills! This mill was one of a handful of Henry Ford’s small manufacturing plants located in rural villages along local rivers in southeastern Michigan, in operation during the late 1930s until 1946.

Up until the 1930s, Sharon Mills did not have electricity. However, when Ford Motor Company converted the mill into a manufacturing facility, changes came to Sharon Mills. No longer was water from the River Raisin harnessed to turn millstones; it was used instead to generate electricity. When the gristmill was converted into a manufacturing plant, Henry Ford replaced the old turbine with an updated 30-inch Leffel turbine, and connected it to a generator to produce electricity. Appealing to his practical nature, Ford believed that water power was the cleanest and most efficient source of energy. The churning waters of the River Raisin provided enough energy to run the plant. (However, when water levels were low, a Ford V-8 engine was used for auxiliary power.) Operating at 150 RPMs, the generator’s output is over 40 horsepower. This exceeded the old rule of "one horsepower per person," since there was an average of only seventeen workers at the Sharon Mills plant. Today, the hydroelectric generator can still produce electricity, and after seven decades, it shows little wear.

How does the generator produce electricity? Located directly below the generator lies a device called a turbine. A turbine operates much like a waterwheel but is smaller and more efficient. Flowing water from the headrace hits the blades of the turbine and causes it to spin. A shaft connects the turbine to the rotor, which is the moving part of the generator. There are a series of magnets inside the rotor. The rotor turns inside the stationary part of the generator called the stator. Inside the stator are tightly wound coils of copper wire, and as the rotor—with its magnets—spins past the stationary wiring, an electrical current is generated that can power electrical outlets in the mill. Today, the majority of the building’s electricity comes from the local power company. However, when the generator is operating, a switch and an outlet wired to receive electricity produced by the generator become functional, lights above the generator begin to glow and any item plugged into the outlet will begin to work!

Be sure to visit the mill this season to see firsthand the operation of this impressive piece of Ford’s Village Industries history.

Kira Macyda, Park Planner