ZUPPINGER

SWITZERLAND (see also List of Individuals)

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21.6.1814 Männedorf/CH - 15.11.1889 Stein am Rhein/CH

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Walter Zuppinger made from 1831 an apprenticeship with Escher & Wyss in Zurich, later the famous furnisher of turbines and hydraulic machinery. He stayed there until 1838 and became acquainted with water wheels, transmission machinery and mill equipment. His father, owner of a spinning-mill, founded in 1838 a branch firm in Ailingen, Southern Germany close to the Lake of Constance. His son joined him and developed a tangential wheel turbine which worked from 1841. It was this design which was the basis for the later Pelton turbine. Zuppinger returned to Escher & Wyss in 1844 as the director of hydraulic machinery. From 1855, he directed the Escher & Wyss branch firm in Ravensburg, Germany. To develop "his" tangential turbine, he gained a number of patents. In 1870, Zuppinger founded with others the paper mill works in Baienfurt close to Ravensburg. He retired after five years and finally devoted all his energies to the further advance of turbines. From 1885, Zuppinger lived again in Switzerland.

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The knowledge of Zuppinger in both technical and economical aspects made him to one of the foremost pioneers in hydraulic machinery. He has merits in the development of the tangential turbine, of which the name was immediately taken by the American Lester Pelton (1829-1908). The Pelton turbine is driven tangentially with a high-speed water jet that impacts twin-cups arranged along the perimeter of a wheel. To increase the effect of the water jet, the cups are so designed that the flow is practically reversed towards the approach flow direction. Pelton turbines are currently a standard design in hydraulic engineering for relatively small discharges and large hydraulic heads.

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_{Meissner, G. (1875). Die hydraulischen Motoren auf der Ausstellung in Wien. Der practische Maschinen-Constructeur 8(8): 125-128.}

_{Preger, M. (1978). Walter Zuppinger - Ingenieur und Erfinder und sein Beitrag zur Industrialisierung Oberschwabens. Schriften Verein für Geschichte des Bodensees und seiner Umgebung 96: 153-185.}

_{Zuppinger, W. (1884). Il trasporto delle forze motrichi a grande distanza. Amosso: Biella. Zuppinger, W. (1885). Wasserkraft und Wasserkraftanlagen. Zeitschrift VDI 29(4): 65-69; 29(5): 84-88; 29(6): 107-111; 29(7): 126-127; 29(8): 145-148.}

_{Zuppinger, W. (1913). Neuere Messmethoden zur Bestimmung von Wassermengen auf Grund von Versuchen der Schweizerischen Landeshydrographie. Schweizerische Bauzeitung 62(4): 49-52; 62(5): 57-60.}