TAINTER

TAINTER 06.01. 1836 Prairie du Chien WI/USA 05.02. 1920 Dunnville WI/USA Jeremiah Burnham Tainter was the inventor of the Tainter Gate used in hydraulic engineering. He went to Menomonie WI to work in a lumber mill where his brother was manager, inventing there the gate. He began his work in hydrology also in 1862, with the modification of pre-existing mill pond dams at Menomonie. Tainter had talent for designing water control devices to be used on the Red Cedar River and tributaries within the territory of the company. In 1886 the company needed a water control device that would almost instantly release enough water from the mill pond to allow the ponderous ‘Red River strings’ of lumber to float down to Dunnville and the larger Chippewa River. Tainter redesigned a basic but clumsy water control gate first developed in the East. Installed at Menomonie Dam, it proved to be an efficient device relatively easy to manipulate when opened. A bank of six gates provided an almost instant rush of water sufficient to send the long river strings on their way to market. Tainter took in 1885 patent no. 344, 878 for a sluiceway gate, as was announced in the Official Gazette in July 1886, the date of patent issue. Nothing further is known on Tainter according to Rouse except for the fact that he definitely did not spell his name with the ‘o’ sometimes found in handbooks. Rouse further states that the sector type of gate has been sketched by Leonardo da Vinci already in the 16th century. Tainter gates are hydraulic elements to control the flow of water at dams and locks. There are more than 300 of these gates on the Mississippi River Basin between Minneapolis and St. Louis alone. These standard hydraulic gates operate by using water power to support opening and closing manoeuvres. When a Tainter gate is closed water bears on the convex upstream side, but when the gate is rotated, the water flow below the gate helps to manoeuvre the gate. A critical factor in its design is the stress transferred from the skinplate to the radial arms, to the trunnion and the resulting friction. Lynch, L., Russell, J. (1996). Where the wild rice grows: A sesquicentennial portrait of Menomonie 1846-1996. Dunn Co. Historical Society: Menomonie WI. P Rouse, H. (1976). Jeremiah B. Tainter. Hydraulics in the United States 1776-1976: 55. Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research: Iowa City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Burnham_Tainter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainter_gate en.academic.ru.jpg P

TAIT C.E. 28.01. 1875 Vevay IN/USA 05.04. 1923 Los Angeles CA/USA Clarence Everett Tait graduated in 1899 from Purdue University, West Lafayette IN, with the BS degree in mechanical engineering. He entered the service of the US Department of Agriculture at Cheyenne WY, in its Irrigation Investigations Division, serving as assistant engineer. He there was concerned with the design of current-meter rating stations, waterstage registers, measuring weirs, and rating flumes, of which position resulted a Report on water storage in Northern Colorado. In 1903 Tait was placed in charge of the work of the Central Division of the US Irrigation Investigations USII. He cooperated with the state engineers of the Rocky Mountain States, supervised the field work and designed and constructed works for the first rice irrigation experiment in Arkansas. In account of failing health, Tait was transferred in 1905 to Southern California, and there was associated with Prof. Joseph N. Le Conte (1870-1950), in mechanical tests on pumping plants, the result being published in the 1907 Report. In 1906 and 1907, Tait studied the flow conditions of the Lower Colorado River, and wrote a Report on the Irrigation in Imperial Valley. In 1908 and 1909 he was in charge of the USII work in Arizona and Imperial Valley, studying silt problems and canal cleansing in the Southwest and on the Rio Grande River, with headquarters at Los Angeles CA. In 1912, in corporation with the State Conservation Commission, he supervised the field work in Southern California on the State irrigation resources. Another report followed in 1917 on the Conservation and control of flood water in Coachella Valley, and still another Report on the Utilization of Mojave River for irrigation in Victor Valley was published in 1918. At his stage, he was promoted to senior irrigation engineer. He was considered an authority in his profession. Anonymous (1924). Clarence E. Tait. Trans. ASCE 87: 1433-1434. Le Conte, J.N., Tait, C.E. (1907). Mechanical tests of pumping plants in California. US Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 181. Dept. of Agriculture: Washington DC. Tait, C.E. (1903). Storage of water on Cache La Poudre and Big Thompson Rivers. US Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 134. Dept. of Agriculture: Washington DC. Tait, C.E. (1908). Irrigation in Imperial Valley, California: Its problems and possibilities. US Government Printing Office: Washington DC. Tait, C.E. (1911). The use of underground water for irrigation at Pomona CA. US Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 236. Dept. of Agriculture: Washington DC. (P)