volute wheel (voluthwel)

wheel with a volute-shaped casing about it to guide the water to its vanes and buckets.-2. A volute-shaped shell, that in revolving presents its open mouth to the air, which is thus gathered into the tube and discharged through the hollow axis. It is a common and effective form of blower. E. H. Knight. Volutidæ (võ-lūʼti-dē), n. pl. [NL., Voluta or Amoria undulata, of Austra lia, one of the Voluti dæ, crawling with ex tended foot and ten volution (vō-lū'shon), n. [ volutus , roll: see volute .] 1. A rolling or winding; a twist; especially, a spiral turn; a convolution. The foaming base an angry whirlwind sweeps Where curling billows rouse the fearful deeps.... The swift volution and the enormous train Let sages versed in nature's lore explain. Falconer, Shipwreck, ii. 43. 2. In conch.: ( a ) A whorl; one turn of a spiral shell. ( b ) A set of whorls; the spire of a shell; the spiral turning or twisting of a shell. See cuts under spire2, n., and univalve.-3. In an at., a convolution or gyration; a gyrus: as, the volutions of the brain.