History Continued
travel.webshots.com
- The Romans started building vertical overshot wheels sometime around the 1st or 2nd century AD, and at some point later in China.
- The overshot was more expensive to build, since in addition to the mill a damn and water race had to be built to carry the water to the top of the water wheel.
- The breast and overshot wheels were a huge step forward in increasing the efficiency of the wheel. In addition to the velocity of the the current, there was the addition of the weight of the water hitting the wheel increasing the amount of Torque generated by the wheel.
- Over the next several centuries advancements helped to improve the efficiency and usefulness of the water wheel.
- Adaptations saw the use of the mill to saw wood, run bellows in forges, pump water out of mine shafts, etc.
- Around 1200 AD another major technology advancement was made with the connecting rod. As the world emerged out of medieval times, the water wheel helped fuel the industrial revolution.
pergelator.blogspot.com