bull wheel

noun

Machinery.

1. any large driving gear among smaller gears.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bull wheel¹

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

Our empty chairs were whipped around by the huge bull wheel before starting the long flight downhill.

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It was operated by a bull wheel above the top of the tower, the turning ropes running down inside the mast to the foot block and thence horizontally to the operating motor.

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It will be noted that the guys are below the bull wheel so that the boom has a clear swing through a complete circle.

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If I had had a horse worth a cent—but no, the minute he saw that buffalo bull wheel on him and give a bellow, he raised straight up in the air and stood on his heels.

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Perhaps five hundred feet below, friction had checked its plunge, and meanwhile the velvet-running drum, spinning at its maximum velocity by reason of the whirling bull wheel, was unreeling its cable down upon the derrick platform.

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