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The paddle wheel was the first form of mechanical propulsion for a boat, but has now been almost entirely superseded by the . .]] PADDLE WHEELS from a paddle steamer on the lake of Lucerne. Right: detail of a steamer]] The paddle wheel is a large wheel, generally built of a Steel Frame work, upon the outer edge of which are fitted numerous paddle blades (called ''floats'' or ''bunkets''). In the water, the bottom quarter or so of the wheel is underwater. Rotation of the paddle wheel produces Thrust , forward or backward as required. More advanced paddle wheel designs have featured ''feathering'' methods that keep each paddle blade oriented closer to vertical while it is in the water; this increases efficiency. TYPES OF PADDLE STEAMER '' on the Cumberland River in Nashville is a stern-wheeler Showboat .]]There are two basic ways to mount paddle wheels on a ship; a single wheel on the rear, known as a ''stern-wheeler'', and a paddle wheel on each side, known as a ''side-wheeler''. Stern-wheelers have generally been used as Riverboat s, especially in the United States , where they still operate for tourist use on the Mississippi River . On a river, the narrowness of a stern-wheeler is preferable. Side-wheelers, meanwhile, have also been used as riverboats, but also commonly as coastal craft. While wider than a stern-wheeler, due to the extra width of the paddle wheels and their enclosing ''pontoons'', a side-wheeler has extra maneuverability since the power may be directed to one wheel at a time. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS The use of a paddle wheel in navigation appears for the first time in the mechanical treatise of the Roman engineer Vitruvius (''De architectura'', X 9.5-7), where he describes multi-geared paddle wheels working as a ship Odometer . The first mention of paddle wheels as a means of propulsion comes from the late 4th century military treatise '' De Rebus Bellicis '' (chapter XVII), where the anonymous Roman author describes an ox-driven paddle wheel warship: Encyclopedia published in 1726.]] Paddleboats were built in 's ''Science and Civilisation in China''. and according to the '' Water Margin '' were used in the 12th century. A successful paddle wheel warship design was made by Prince Li Gao in 784 AD, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 31. The Chinese Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) issued the construction of many paddle-wheel ships for its standing Navy , and according to historian Joseph Needham :
In 1543 the Basque engineer Blasco De Garay in Barcelona made an experimental vessel propelled by a paddle-wheel on each side, worked by forty men. In the same year he showed Carlos I of Spain (also known as Charles V , the Holy Roman Emperor , a new idea - a ship propelled by a giant wheel powered by steam, but Carlos was not interested in it.Kurlansky, Mark. 1999. ''The Basque History of the World''. Walker & Company, New York. ISBN 0-8027-1349-1, p. 56 In 1787 Patrick Miller Of Dalswinton invented a double-hulled boat, which was propelled on the Firth Of Forth by men working a capstan which |
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