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Ferris wheel

(Encyclopedia)Ferris wheel, amusement park ride. It consists of a power-operated wheel that is about 50 ft (15 m) in diameter. It has two rims that are parallel to and equidistant from the shaft about which the whe...

wheel

(Encyclopedia)wheel. Through the many millennia of the Paleolithic period and the Neolithic period no use of the wheel was known to humans. Its use was not known to the Native Americans until the Europeans introduc...

wheel bug

(Encyclopedia)wheel bug: see assassin bug.

wheel window

(Encyclopedia)wheel window: see rose window.

Ferris, Woodbridge Nathan

(Encyclopedia)Ferris, Woodbridge Nathan, 1853–1928, American educator and public official, b. Tioga co., N.Y. After study (1873–74) at the Univ. of Michigan, he taught in country schools, and became a successfu...

water wheel, device

(Encyclopedia)water wheel, device for utilizing the power of flowing or falling water. The Norse wheel is the oldest type known. Despite its name it probably originated in the Middle East, where the swift stream re...

wheel and axle

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Wheel and axle wheel and axle, simple machine consisting of a wheel mounted rigidly upon an axle or drum of smaller diameter, the wheel and the axle having the same axis. It is fundamentally a...

Atlantic City

(Encyclopedia)Atlantic City, city (2020 pop. 39,497), Atlantic co., SE N.J., an Atlantic resort and convention center; settled c.1790, inc. 1854. Situated on Absecon Island, a barrier island 10 mi (16.1...

Big Rapids

(Encyclopedia)Big Rapids, city (2020 pop. 7,727), seat of Mecosta co., W central Mich., at the falls of the Muskegon River; inc. 1869. Agriculture and light manufactu...

ratchet and pawl

(Encyclopedia)ratchet and pawl, mechanical device that permits motion in one direction only. The ratchet is usually a wheel with slanting teeth. The pawl is a lever tangential to the wheel with one end resting on t...