English edit

Noun edit

wheel-house (plural wheel-houses)

  1. Alternative form of wheelhouse
    • 1835, “Explosion of the Steam-boat New-England, at Essex, Connecticut River, October 9th, 1833”, in The Mariners’ Chronicle: Containing Narratives of the Most Remarkable Disasters at Sea, [], New Haven, Conn.: Published by George W. Gorton, →OCLC, page 471:
      Captain Waterman was on the wheel-house at the time of the explosion, attending to the landing of passengers from the small boat. He noticed a movement over the boilers, and immediately jumped or was thrown upon the forward deck. He was somewhat bruised, but not seriously injured.
    • 1840, P[aul] R[apsey] Hodge, “Part VI. Description of Plates.”, in The Steam Engine, Its Origin and Gradual Improvement, from the Time of Hero to the Present Day; as Adapted to Manufactures, Locomotion and Navigation. [], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Co., [], →OCLC, page 225:
      PLATE XXVII.—Details of the Paddle Wheel of the Steamboat "North America." Fig. 1, shows the outside framing of the paddle-box, or as it is frequently termed, the wheel-house; also an elevation of the paddle-wheel, shewing the arrangement of the buckets, arms, centre-plate, &c.
    • 1843 April, James K[irke] Paulding, “The Mississippi”, in George R[ex] Graham, Rufus W[ilmot] Griswold, editors, Graham’s Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXII, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham, [], →OCLC, page 218, column 1:
      These little rooms have each a half glass door, which opens on a gallery running all round the boat, with only the interruption of the wheel-houses, outside of which is a door of Venetian blinds, which being thrown open, you can sit in your room and see every object on one side of the river.
    • 1855, Jacob Abbott, “Parallax”, in Rollo’s Philosophy. [Sky.] (The Rollo Series), new revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Co., →OCLC, page 164:
      The wheel-house is a small room or closet, with windows in front, built on the deck, in the forward part of the boat, where the helmsman stands to steer. The windows in the front of the wheel-house are for him to look out, and see where he is going. [...] There is a large wheel in this place, which is the reason why they call it the wheel-house. The wheel has handles to it, all around, for the man to take hold of, to turn the wheel one way or the other.
    • 1877, David Craik, “Grist-mills”, in The Practical American Millwright and Miller: Comprising the Elementary Principles of Mechanics Mechanism, and Motive Power, [], Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry Carey Baird & Co., []; London: Sampson Low, Son & Marston, →OCLC, page 265:
      The mill was driven by an overshot wheel twenty-seven and a half feet in diameter, placed in a separate wheel-house, built of stone, between the mill and a bank thirty feet high, upon which the water was brought by a canal.
    • 1878 June 13, Edwin R. Wheeler, Improvement in Vehicle-spring Braces, US Patent 205,594 (PDF version), column 1:
      This invention relates to an improved device for hanging the body of carriages having a so-called "cut-under" or wheel-house, such as a common rockaway, extension-top phaeton, coupé-rockaway, &c., [...]
      Applied to a horse-drawn carriage.