Editing Water wheel (section)

=== Hybrid ===
==== Overshot and backshot ====
[[File:Finch Foundary Water Wheel, Devon, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|left|One of Finch Foundry's water wheels.]]

Some wheels are overshot at the top and backshot at the bottom thereby potentially combining the best features of both types. The photograph shows an example at [[Finch Foundry]] in Devon, UK. The head race is the overhead timber structure and a branch to the left supplies water to the wheel. The water exits from under the wheel back into the stream.

==== Reversible ====
[[File:AndersonMill.jpg|thumb|The '''Anderson Mill''' of [[Anderson Mill, Texas|Texas]] is undershot, backshot, and overshot using two sources of water. This allows the direction of the wheel to be reversed.]]

A special type of overshot/backshot wheel is the reversible water wheel. This has two sets of blades or buckets running in opposite directions so that it can turn in either direction depending on which side the water is directed. Reversible wheels were used in the [[mining]] industry in order to power various means of ore conveyance. By changing the direction of the wheel, barrels or baskets of ore could be lifted up or lowered down a shaft or inclined plane. There was usually a cable drum or a chain basket on the axle of the wheel. It is essential that the wheel have braking equipment to be able to stop the wheel (known as a braking wheel). The oldest known drawing of a reversible water wheel was by [[Georgius Agricola]] and dates to 1556.