ALLEN Z.

ALLEN Z. 15.09. 1795 Providence RI/USA 17.03. 1882 Providence RI/USA Zachariah Allen graduated from Brown University, Providence RI, in 1813, where he had acquired a love for knowledge. In 1821 he devised a system to heat several rooms of a house from a single stove with a system of heat-conducting pipes. In 1822 he organized and constructed a woollen mill on the banks of Woonasquatucket River, North Providence RI, constructing a series of dams to provide power to the machinery. The Allendale Mill contained innovative fire-safety features including the first use of heavy fire doors, a sprinkler system, and rotary fire pumps. He invented later the first practical automatic cut-off valve for steam engines, patented in 1833, which was 50 years later proclaimed to be one of the great inventions made in steam engineering. In 1852 Allen purchased a mill near Smithfield RI, rebuilt it and increased its water power by raising the dam height of the millpond. He later added steam power and enlarged the mill further. Allen deserves credit for the first discharge measurement of a large river in the USA. In the summer of 1841 he visited the Niagara Falls deciding to determine the power of that ‘marvel of the world’. First, water discharge was measured. Allen stated: ‘Very little attention appears to have been hitherto bestowed on the investigation of the comparative volumes of water discharges by the great rivers of the globe’. A reach was selected below the outlet of Lake Erie, where the flow depth was 9 m. Three cross-sections were considered, 200 m apart, and surface floats were run at 10 locations, resulting in a surface velocity of 3.4 m/s. Using the velocity formula of Johann A. Eytelwein (17641848), the discharge was estimated. The power of the Niagara Falls was observed that it was more than 40 times than then used in all Great Britain. Later, it was noted that the true average discharge of Niagara River was about 85% larger than the actual measured discharge, and about 50% larger than the maximum. Allen, Z., Blackwell, E.R. (1844). On the volume of the Niagara River, as deduced from measurements made in 1841. American Journal of Science and Arts 46(1): 67-73. Kolupaila, S. (1960). Early history of hydrometry in the United States. Journal of the Hydraulics Division ASCE 86(HY1): 1-51. P Perry, A. (1883). Memorial of Zachariah Allen 1795-1882. Wilson & Son: Cambridge MA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachariah_Allen P https://library.brown.edu/cds/portraits/display.php?idno=182 P

ALLISON J.C. 12.07. 1884 San Diego CA/USA 29.05. 1936 La Jolla CA/USA Joseph Chester Allison was enrolled for the course in engineering at Stanford University, Stanford CA, but ill health forced him to stop. In 1902 he joined the California Development Company, Calexico CA. It promoted the reclamation of the Imperial Valley Desert by diversion of the water of Colorado River near Yuma AZ. Allison became assistant engineer responsible during the break of the River in 1906, threatening the permanent inundation of Imperial Valley. He then reconstructed the canal structures which were previously installed. He was promoted in 1910 to chief engineer, and advanced to assistant general manager of this development. He first improved Sharp’s Heading in Mexico, the main point of diversion for the lateral canal system of Imperial Valley. In 1911 the northern portion of the Imperial Valley irrigation enterprise was taken into service, with Allison as supervisor of the canal system. From 1912 to 1915 he solved the problem of flood water of Colorado River along Volcano Lake, and the water famine due to lowwater stage in a scoured river bed below the sill of the Alamo Canal Intake at Hanlon AZ. He succeeded in building a diversion weir across the river by the hydraulic process. In 1916, when the assets of the California Development Company were acquired by the Imperial Irrigation District, Allison became private consultant at Calexico, acting as the consultant for the District and other companies. He and his associates saw possibilities in land development on the Mexican side of the Colorado River Delta, in Baja California. Irrigation was supplied from the Alamo Canal of the Imperial Irrigation District, entering Mexico near the point of diversion. Allison was the guiding spirit of these engineering features, including the financial and commercial aspects. The project was completed successfully. He was later also involved in the development of the Delta Land Company with its own irrigation system. Both large pumping plants on the Alamo Canal as also a large gravity diversion from the Canal were employed for irrigation, an enterprise which also proved successful. He opened in 1924 an office in Los Angeles CA. A man of exceptional ability, combined with the qualities of an engineer, passed suddenly away at age of only 52. He was member ASCE from 1917. Allison, J.C. (1916). Control of the Colorado River. Proc. ASCE 42(5): 681-709. Anonymous (1939). Joseph C. Allison. Trans. ASCE 104: 1875-1878. Kerig, D.P. (2001). El valle de Mexicali y la Colorado River Land Company 1902-1946: 215. Mexicali. P