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EngQuest Water Wheel

Facts for Students
Water wheels are machines that use the energy of flowing
or falling water (or both) to turn the wheel. The axle of the
turning wheel can then power other machines to do work.
This kind of power is called hydropower.

mill race
rotating
cams lift and
then drop
the stampers
onto the ore
to crush it

The history of water wheels

Historians are not sure when water wheels were first
used, but it is known that they were in use in ancient
Greece several centuries BC (Before Christ). They were
also widely used in the Roman Empire, including for
the pumping of water from mines. It is also thought
that water wheels were developed separately in ancient
China, where they are known from the first century AD.

stamping-battery

ore

Example of a water wheel driven

stamping-battery machine.

Water wheels were used throughout Europe during the

Middle Ages, where they were the main source of power
for driving large machines. (Other sources of power were windmills and, animal and human
power). Water wheels drove the mills that ground grain into flour, and were
also used in metal foundries and to drive air blowers for the smelting of iron, for the crushing of
rock, and for the hammering of flax leaves to make paper.
The use of water wheels was limited to sites where there were suitable water supplies and
slopes. This was not always where the power was needed, such as in the population centres or
the mines and quarries. The use of water wheels to power large machines was replaced during
the Industrial Revolution by the new technology of steam power, which did not have the same
limitations.
mill race

The water wheel principle has been revived in more recent

times as water-powered turbines that use the energy of
water flowing down a slope to generate hydroelectricity.

How do water wheels work?

Water wheels consist of large wooden or metal wheels
which have paddles or buckets arranged around the outside
rim. The force or the weight of the water on the paddles or
buckets turns the wheel.
The axle of the wheel also turns, and this is used to drive
Example of a backshot water wheel.
the machine by way of belts or gears. The flowing channel
of water is called a mill race. The race that brings the water
from the mill pond to the wheel is called the head race and the channel that carries the water
away is the tail race.

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EngQuest Water Wheel

Both horizontal and vertical water wheels have been used, with the vertical type much more
common and efficient. Of these, two common designs are the 'undershot water wheel' and the
overshot water wheel.

Undershot water wheels

An undershot wheel is mounted above the mill race with
the bottom of the wheel in the water. The flowing water
strikes the paddles or blades and turns the wheel. The
faster the water is flowing the faster the wheel will turn.

mill race with

flowing water

Overshot water wheels

In an overshot water wheel the mill race brings the water
to the top of the wheel, where it strikes the paddles
or buckets and turns the wheel. This is more efficient
because as well as the force of the flowing water, the
weight of the falling water also helps to turn the wheel.
This design sometimes had buckets mounted only on
one rim of the wheel, so that these filled with water,
making that side of the wheel heavier.

Example of an 'undershot' Water Wheel.

mill race

Because it uses the potential energy of the falling water, an

overshot water wheel will still work even when the flow of
water is not very fast. The larger the diameter of the wheel,
the greater leverage and so the greater turning effect on
the axle that drives the machine.
The Beaconsfield Gold and Heritage Museum (Grubb Shaft)
in Tasmania has a working overshot water wheel that drives
a huge stamping-battery machine that was used to crush
the quartz ore containing gold. The machine was built in
1862 and still works!
Example of a overshot water wheel.
Another fine Australian example is the Bridgewater Mill in
South Australia built by John Dunn in 1859 as a flour mill,
and still preserved. This water wheel is an example of a backshot wheel, a version of the
overshot water wheel where the water from the race is introduced just behind the top of
the wheel.

Bridgewater Mill - 'backshot' water wheel

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TEACHERS

students

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