[5] It was through Herschel's need to determine the water power consumption of different mills, and in this testing system that he would invent the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring large-scale flows, which still retains widespread use in modern technology today.

Following its initial success however, the flume was opened to the public with Emerson operating it as a personal endeavor, furnishing funds for the use of Lowell water in its experiments.

[7]: 24  Among the first tests conducted thereafter were a series of competitive trials to find designs with the greatest efficiency, with the Swain and Leffel wheels attaining the best results.

[10] Its tests would be cited in superior court cases in the United States as the standard by which turbine wheel efficiencies were measured, into the early 20th century.

However, ultimately the apparatus would play a key role in the invention of the Venturi meter, the first accurate means of measuring large-scale flows, and indirectly was part of the technological progression which led to the development of the combustion turbine and jet engines.

[19][20] Despite eventual obsolescence of this type of flume, it would inspire a number of successors, including brief discussion in Congress of a proposed federal hydraulic laboratory.