Vertical-wheel geared watermill (Vitruvian mill)
Molino de rueda vertical con engranaje (vitruviano)
- Date
- c. 25 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rome, Italy
- Credited to
- Described by Vitruvius (De architectura X)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A vertical water wheel with paddles or buckets whose horizontal axle is coupled by a right-angle gear to the horizontal millstone, multiplying speed. The standard mill design until the 19th century.
What it led to
- Industrial complexes such as Barbegal (16 wheels, 4.5 tonnes of flour daily)
- Supply of flour to cities and armies without slaves
- Gear-based power transmission as a general engineering technique
- Tide mills and canal mills in the late Roman and medieval periods