Lady Isabella is the world’s largest working water wheel.

Water mills are one of the most important inventions in the history of mankind. However, to find them in modern life is not easy, more often "mini-mills" are used for decorative purposes than for their intended purpose. However, today we will tell you about the world’s largest working water wheel, which is located in the village of Lakesy on one of the tiny islands in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. The dimensions of the design are impressive: 22 m in diameter and 1.83 m in width.

Robert Casement created this masterpiece of engineering in 1854. The mill was given a romantic name – “Lady Isabella” in honor of the wife of the then Governor-General Charles Hope. The wheel immediately became one of the most famous local attractions and is popular with tourists for a century and a half.



In the early 19th century, deposits of lead, zinc and other metals were discovered in the village of Laixie, but mining was hampered by groundwater. To pump water, pumps with steam engines were required. Since there was no coal on the island, but water was abundant, the idea of creating a hydraulic structure was born.



Self-taught engineer Robert Casement was tasked with solving this difficult task. He built a system of canals through which water from local mountain streams was collected and fed across the bridge to the wheel. The pumping station came into motion under the action of energy generated by the water mill. The wheel worked at a rate of three revolutions per minute, which was enough to raise groundwater from a depth of 1500 m to the surface, every minute the production volume was approximately 250 gallons.



Today, groundwater is no longer pumped out using the wheel, but it is still being launched to entertain travelers who want to see this spectacular sight.

Source: energy-fresh.ru

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