brake wheel

noun

1. (in a windmill) a bevel gearwheel rotating with the wind shaft.

Word History and Origins

Origin of brake wheel¹

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

"That seems like a short period of time to secure the train," Colorado-based railroad consultant Robert Stout said, adding that to activate a brake, a worker must walk between the railcars, climb up a ladder and turn the brake wheel, sometimes up to forty times.

From Reuters

Brake′man, the man whose business it is to manage the brake of a railway-train; Brake′-van, the carriage wherein the brake is worked; Brake′-wheel, the wheel to which a brake is applied.

From Project Gutenberg

Along the roof of the property car they came, a chattering, jabbering, swaying string of them—and on the brake wheel two sat upright, lurching and clinging for dear life, the short hair blown straight back from their foreheads with the sweep of the wind, while they peered with earnest, strained faces into the cab.

From Project Gutenberg

Time passed, and he sat there motionless, save for the jolting of the train that bumped him this way and that against the brake wheel.

From Project Gutenberg

Well, sir, Clarence wound his head 'round one brake wheel and his tail around the other, and held that train together to the bottom of the grade.

From Project Gutenberg