Flume

Figure 1. An overshot waterwheel with a flume directing water onto it.[1]

A flume (also leat or mill-leat)[2] is a channel that is used to transport water from some source - such as a river - to the top of a waterwheel. This is used to direct water flow onto the blades of the wheel, allowing it to rotate.[3]

The phrase flume is only used to describe the water channel in an overshot waterwheel. For undershot or breastshot waterwheels where water is directed abreast or underneath the wheel, the channel feeding the wheel is called the mill race.

For Further Reading

References

  1. Wikimedia Commons. (August 27, 2015). Goyet Overshot Waterwheel [Online]. Available: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Goyet_Overshot_water_wheel.JPG
  2. Oxford English Dictionary entry: lade
  3. Whitemill. (August 27, 2015). Types of Water Wheels [Online]. Available: http://www.whitemill.org/z0028.htm