Water Wheel Breastshot

A breast shot water wheel is vertically mounted water wheel. It can be used on rivers or high volume flows with large reservoirs. It is rotated by falling water striking buckets near the center of the wheel's edge, or just above it. Breast shot wheels are the most common type in the USA and the early industrial revolution was powered mostly by breast shot waterwheels.

Water is admitted to the wheel about halfway up. The ordinary breast shot water wheel the water comes into the water wheel about at the center axis point. Then it flows out with the rotation of the wheel. The wheel is turning in the same direction that the water is flowing down the tailrace.

The efficiency of the wheel is around fifty percent, which means it is better than undershot Wheels but less efficient than overshot, back-shot or pitch back wheels. Another difference between the breast shot water wheel and the other types of wheels is that the breast shot water wheel is much wider.