Water turbine took about one hundred years. Development occurred during the Industrial revolution, using scientific principles and methods. They also made extensive use of new materials and manufacturing methods developed at the time. The word turbine was introduced by the French engineer Claude Burdin in the early 19th century and is derived from the Greek word "τύρβη" for "whirling" or a "vortex". The main difference between early water turbines and water wheels is a swirl component of the water which passes energy to a spinning rotor. This additional component of motion allowed the turbine to be smaller than a water wheel of
Water turbine speeds of the water turbines. A variety of flyball systems, or first-generation governors, were used during the first 100 years of water turbine speed controls. In early flyball systems, the flyball component countered by a spring acted directly to the valve of the turbine or the wicket gate to control the amount of water that enters the turbines. Newer systems with mechanical governors started around 1880. An early mechanical governors is a servomechanism that comprises a series of gears that use the turbine's speed to drive the flyball and turbine's power to drive the control mechanism. The mechanical governors were