Water Wheel

A **water wheel** is a machine for converting the **kinetic** and **potential energy** of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A typical water wheel was used to drive a millstone. It consists of a wooden or metal **wheel** (rotor), with some **blades** on the outside rim. Most frequently, the wheel is mounted vertically on a **horizontal axle**, but it could be also opposite. **Vertical wheels** can transmit power through the **axle or ring gear and drive belts or gears**. **Horizontal wheels** usually directly drive their load. When the levels of water fall in the dry season, the water wheels lose their power. This problem was in some cases solved by mounting the water wheels on the abutments of bridges and taking advance of the flow there. Another common solution was provided by the ship mill, powered by the water wheels mounted on the side of ships moored in midstream. Water wheels are classified by how water is applied to the wheel, relative to the wheel's axle. We can distinguish **overshot, pitchback, breastshot, undershot and horizontal wheels**.