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1. History and
Development of
Water Wheel

2. Introduction
• Converts the energy of
free flowing or falling
water into useful forms of
power.
• Large wooden or metal
wheel, with number of
blades or buckets forming
driving surface.

3. History
• water-wheel technology continued unabated in the early medieval period
• earliest vertical-wheel in a tide mill is from 6th-century Killoteran
near Waterford, Ireland.
• the first known horizontal-wheel in such a type of mill is from the
Irish Little Island
• Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century, but they
are no longer in common use.

4. Water wheels are equipped in two basic designs
Vertical axle
 Contains horizontal wheel
rotating about vertical axle
Horizontal axle
 Contains vertical wheel
rotating about horizontal axle
They are also classified by the way in which water is supplied to it
Undershot Wheel Overshot Wheel Breastshot Wheel
Reversible Wheel, Backshot Wheel, Hydraulic Wheel, Suspension Wheel are other possible types of water
wheels

6. Functions
• Water lifting purposes
• As a power source
Uses
• Irrigation purposes
• To operate hammers
• Paper making
• Grinding grain