Pelton_wheel Pelton wheel is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton (1829-1908) in the 1870s, and is an impulse machine, meaning that it uses the principle of Newton's second law to extract energy from a jet of fluid. Although the one-piece cast impulse water turbine was invented by Samuel Knight in Sutter Creek, in the California Mother Lode gold mining region, Pelton modified this invention to create his more efficient design. Knight Foundry is the last water-pow