Apaddle wheel is a form ofwaterwheel orimpeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
The paddle wheel is an ancient invention but is still used today in a wide range of industrial and agriculture applications.
Paddle wheels would enable ships to travel without needing wind or oars. They were made obsolete bypropellers, which had greater propulsion with lower weight and fuel usage. This was demonstrated by an 1845tug-of-war competition betweenHMS Rattler andHMS Alecto with the screw-drivenRattler pulling the paddle steamerAlecto backward at 2.5 knots (4.6 km/h).[2]
The paddle wheel is a device for converting betweenrotary motion of a shaft andlinear motion of a fluid. In the linear-to-rotary direction, it is placed in a fluid stream to convert the linear motion of the fluid into rotation of the wheel. Such a rotation can be used as a source of power, or as an indication of the speed of flow. In the rotary-to-linear direction, it is driven by aprime mover such as anelectric motor orsteam engine and used to pump a fluid or propel a vehicle such as apaddle-wheel steamer or asteamship.