This section is from the book "The Home Cyclopedia Of General Information", by Charles Morris. Also available from Amazon: Home Cyclopedia of Necessary Knowledge.
A wheel turned by flowing or falling water and setting machinery in motion. There are three kinds, over-shot, undershot, and breast wheels, named from the level at which the water strikes their float boards. A turbine is a horizontal wheel with a vertical axis, driven by the weight and impulse of the water as it falls on the vanes around the axis.
 
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