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The Power of Waterwheels

Author: Stuart Mousdale

Does anyone know of any books, articles, etc which deal with estimating power output from water wheels or could comment on this subject?

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I work as a volunteer at Dunham Massey sawmill in Cheshire. Recently there has been some discussion amongst the mill stewards regarding the power output from the water wheel (overshot, 15′ x 3′ 6″). Cyril Boucher’s handbook for the mill, now sadly out of print, gives a figure of 10hp, which to me seems reasonable. 

The simplistic image of an overshot wheel is from the Bodley Foundry drawings in the Mills Archive catalogue (item #3728)

Can anyone help to throw light on how to do the power calculations?

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