The Pelton Turbine consists of a wheel with a series of split buckets set around its rim; a high velocity jet of water is directed tangentially at the wheel.  The jet hits each bucket and is split in half, so that each half is turned and deflected back almost through 180º.  Nearly all the energy of the water goes into propelling the bucket and the deflected water falls into a discharge channel below.

The Turgo turbine is similar to the Pelton but the jet is designed to strike the plane of the runner at an angle (typically 20°) so that the water enters the runner on one side and exits on the other. Therefore the flow rate is not limited by the discharged fluid interfering with the incoming jet (as is the case with Pelton turbines). As a consequence, a Turgo turbine can have a smaller diameter runner than a Pelton for an equivalent power.

The Crossflow turbine has a drum-like rotor with a solid disk at each end and gutter-shaped “slats” joining the two disks.  A jet of water enters the top of the rotor through the curved blades, emerging on the far side of the rotor by passing through the blades a 2^nd time.  The shape of the blades is such that on each passage through the periphery of the rotor the water transfers some of its momentum, before falling away with little residual energy.