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Rik asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 1 decade ago

Have there ever been waterwheels like this?

I know that waterwheels were used a lot in the early years of the industrial revolution to power mills and workshops etc but were they ever used as a direct lift for materials (such as limestone etc). What I'm thinking is a waterwheel with troughs to lower the water integrally connected to scoops to lift the stone etc. Obviously the lifting scoops would have to be much smaller than the water troughs due to the difference in density between the two materials and also inefficiencies in the mechanism. I reckon that this would be practically just about possible but was wondering if any such devices actually existed in real life?

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
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    You couldn't have a single wheel which would lift things as well unless you keep stopping the wheel to empty and fill the rising buckets. Winches powered by water are perfectly feasible but unlikely to be used in quarrying because the stream couldn't be just at the edge of the quarry and power transmission would be very low in efficiency.

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