A Look Back:
Hoping to harness the energy of the sea and turn it into electricity, an Orange County blacksmith tested a fantastical contraption called a wave motor at McFadden’s Wharf in 1896.
Part-time Santa Ana inventor D.F. Spangler envisioned his wave motor as a “bonanza,†he told the Los Angeles Times in February, 1896.
“Mr. Spangler is just a hard-working blacksmith, but he has ideas that indeed seem to be a benefit to mankind,†the Times reported.
The contraption consisted of a long lever with a hollow float, connected with two gear wheels to an air compressor. The air from the compressor would be piped to a large steam boiler. The device was meant to work on the same principles that drive a steam engine.
“The machine is a novel one, and is attracting a great deal of attention now by those who have heard of the use to which it may be put,†the Times reported.
Spangler announced in March 1896 that he would test his wave motor in Newport Beach at the end of McFadden’s Wharf, now Newport Pier.
“Messrs. W.S. Bartlett, Benton and Lafayette Flood of Santa Ana and Miss Ross of Fairview will stand by the inventor in the experiment, and if it proves a success the motors will then be manufactured on a larger scale,†the Times reported in March, 1896.
The trial run in Newport Beach was estimated to cost Spangler about $1,000 at the time.
“...but if the test is successful an arrangement will no doubt be made so that the power of the motor will be used by the Newport Wharf and Lumber Company and the Santa Ana and Newport Railroad Company in the handling of large quantities of freight from the end of the long wharf,†the Times reported.
The wave motor was up and running “beautifully,†at the wharf when it broke a few days into the trial run, the Times reported May 16, 1896.
An unusually low tide cause a heavy beam to break, putting a premature end to Spangler’s experiment.
“It will probably be a couple of weeks before the break is made good,†the Times reported.
No record of what happened to the motor after the beam broke could be found.
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