Robert Barker (physician) explained

Robert Barker (died 1745) was a British physician and inventor. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1732.^[1]

Barker invented both a reflecting microscope, exhibited in 1736, and "Barker's mill", a prototype reaction turbine (1743).^{[2] [3]} According to James Dodson, he was a friend of Charles Labelye.^[4] He died in London, on 9 September 1745.^[5]

Barker's Mill

Barker's Mill, a rotating device powered by water and Newton's Third Law, is sometimes described as a 17th century invention.^[6] It is attributed to Dr Robert Barker F.R.S., in 1743. It was published by John Theophilus Desaguliers in his book Experimental Philosophy of 1744.^{[7] [3]} Desaguliers, who himself demonstrated the mill to the Royal Society, attributed the principle involved to Antoine Parent.^[8] French terms for the mill are tourniquet hydraulique, moulin de Parent or roue à réaction.^{[9] [10]}

A complex timeline of development ensued.

• As the Segner wheel, practical application of the idea is often credited to Johann Andreas Segner (1750).^[7]
• Leonhard Euler with the Euler wheel of 1754 developed Segner's concept.^[9]
• James Ferguson the lecturer notices in 1767 "a model of Dr. Barker's water mill".^[11]
• c.1790 James Rumsey had an "improvement upon Dr. Barker’s mill: a mode to allow circular or retrograde motion mills with a smaller quantity of water to be moved or turned".^[12]
• 1827 water turbine of Benoît Fourneyron.^[13]
• In 1839 James Whitelaw and James Stirrat of Paisley obtained a patent for a water turbine based on "Barker's Mill".^[14]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Royal Society Fellow details Barker; Robert (- 1745). 8 August 2018.
2. Book: Ratcliff, Marc J.. The Quest for the Invisible: Microscopy in the Enlightenment. 8 August 2018. 2016-02-24. Routledge. 9781317018407. 30.
3. Book: Dickinson, Henry Winram. Henry Winram Dickinson. A Short History of the Steam Engine. 8 August 2018. 2011-02-17. Cambridge University Press. 9781108012287. 187.
4. Book: Dodson, James. The Anti-logarithmic Canon: Being a Table of Numbers, Consisting of Eleven Places of Figures, Corresponding to All Logarithms Under 100000 ... With Precepts and Examples ... To which is Prefix'd, an Introduction, Containing a Short Account of Logarithms .... 9 August 2018. 1742. J. Dodson and J. Wilcox. x.
5. Web site: Medallic illustrations of the history of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II. Hawkins. Edward, Herbert Appold Grueber. 1885. Internet Archive. British Museum. 588. I. 9 August 2018. London.
6. Barker's Mill. 3.
7. Book: Project Technology, Schools Council (Great Britain). Industrial Archaeology of Watermills & Waterpower. 8 August 2018. 1975. Heinemann Educational Books. 9780435759100. 85.
8. Book: Musson. Albert Edward. Robinson. Eric. Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution. 8 August 2018. 1989. Taylor & Francis. 9782881243820. 45.
9. Book: Viollet, Pierre-Louis. Histoire de l'énergie hydraulique: moulins, pompes, roues et turbines de l'Antiquité au XXe siècle. 8 August 2018. 2005. Presses des Ponts. 9782859784140. 139. fr.
10. Book: Recueil de la Société polytechnique: ou Recueil industriel, manufacturier, agricole et commercial, de la salubrité publique, et des actes de l'administration propres à encourager les diverses branches de l'économie publique. 1828. Société polytechnique. 119.
11. Book: Ferguson. James. Henderson. Ebenezer. Life of James Ferguson, F. R. S.: In a Brief Autobiographical Account, and Further Extended Memoir. 8 August 2018. 1867. A. Fullarton. 154.
12. Web site: Rumsey Exhibit – 3-4 – the Museum of the Berkeley Springs. 8 August 2018.
13. Book: Hall. A. Rupert. Smith. Norman. History of Technology. 9 August 2018. 2016-09-30. Bloomsbury Publishing. 9781350017382. 238.
14. Web site: Whitelaw and Stirrat, Grace's Guide. 8 August 2018.