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Frequently used in mines and probably elsewhere (such as agricultural drainage), the reverse overshot water wheel was a Roman innovation to help remove water from the lowest levels of underground workings. It is described by Vitruvius in his work De architectura published circa 25 BC. The remains of such systems found in Roman mines by later ...
Vitruvius designed and supervised the construction of this basilica in Fano (reconstruction). However, many of the other things he did would not now be considered the realm of architecture [clarification needed] Vitruvius is the first Roman architect to have written surviving records of his field. He himself cites older but less complete works.
A water wheel is a machine for converting the kinetic energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a large wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with numerous blades or buckets attached to the outer rim forming the drive mechanism. Water wheels were still in commercial ...
Water wheel technology was developed to a high level during the Roman period, a fact attested both by Vitruvius (in De architectura) and by Pliny the Elder (in Naturalis Historia). The largest complex of water wheels existed at Barbegal near Arles , where the site was fed by a channel from the main aqueduct feeding the town.
These include all three variants of the vertical water wheel as well as the horizontal water wheel. [6] Apart from its main use in grinding flour, water-power was also applied to pounding grain, [7] crushing ore, [8] sawing stones [9] and possibly fulling and bellows for iron furnaces. [10]
It is thought that the wheels were overshot water wheels with the outflows driving successive wheels to the base of the hill. The Roman aqueducts that fed the mills were also built to supply water to the town of Arles (then called Arelate). The two aqueducts joined just north of the mill complex and a sluice controlled the water supply to the ...
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The undershot water wheel and overshot water wheel, both animal- and water-driven, and with either a compartmented body (Latin tympanum) or a compartmented rim, were used by Hellenistic engineers between the 3rd and 2nd century BC. [11] In 1st century BC, Roman architect Vitruvius described the function of the noria. [12]