Volume XV
Number 2
May, 2009

The Laxey Wheel

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The Laxey Wheel

The Laxey Wheel is the world's largest operational waterwheel. It is located on the Isle of Man. It was designed by Robert Casement, and built in 1854. Its purpose was to pump out the water that seeped into the Great Laxey Mines. The wheel operated from 1854 until the mines closed in 1929. The wheel has been restored; it now turns, but is not used to pump water.

The Laxey Wheel is 72 feet in diameter, and has a circumference of 210 feet. It is six feet wide. The top of the wheel is lower than the nearby river, allowing water from the river to be diverted to the top of the wheel, where it is then allowed to flow into buckets on the wheel's circumference. The weight of the water causes the wheel to turn at three revolutions per minute, or about seven miles per hour. When the wheel worked as a pump, it could evacuate 250 gallons of water per minute from the mines, which were 600 feet horizontally from the wheel and 1,500 feet below ground.

The wheel was restored and is maintained by the Manx National Trust, the national heritage organization for the Isle of Man.

This image of the wheel is posted on Wikimedia Commons, a database containing more than four million media files that are either out of copyright or have been released to the public domain by their copyright owners. Wikimedia Commons selects a Picture of the Day, and maintains a mailing list that sends subscribers a link to each day's image. Click here to visit the sign-up page.