Sagebien wheel

Traditional breastshot waterwheels consist of a series of flat blades fixed to the rim of a wheel.

[1] In a conventional breastshot design, the water would flow off the edge of the headrace, and fall onto the blades of the wheel.

The water flowed back out again after a short time, the wheel turning perhaps 30 to 45 degrees, into the lower altitude tailrace.

[2] Sagebien built his first wheel around 1850, and made the first full-sized version, at 6 to 7 horsepower, at a flour mill in Ronquerolles in 1851.

This attracted little notice at the time, in the era of the steam engine, but by 1857 he had 17 in operation and people started to take note.