This article covers the various different major pieces of mill machinery to be found in windmills, watermills and horse mills. A windmill is a machine that is powered by the energy of the wind This article is about a type of structure For other locational uses see Milldam. A horse-mill is a mill that uses a Horse as the power source Any milling process can be powered in this way but the most frequent use of animal power in horse-mills was for It does not cover machinery found in modern factories. [1] [2]
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Watermill machinery
- Axle
The axle carries the waterwheel. It can also carry the Pit Wheel at its opposite end.
- Bedstone
The Bedstone is the bottom of a pair of millstones. Millstones or mill stones are used in Windmills and Watermills including Tide mills for grinding Wheat or other grains It does not move. The upper stone is called the Runner Stone.
- Crown Wheel
The Crown Wheel is a driving wheel located at the top of the Upright Shaft
- Great Spur Wheel
The Great Spur Wheel is a large gear attached to the Upright Shaft. It drives one or more Stone Nuts in a corn mill. A gristmill or grist mill is a building where Grain is ground into Flour, or the grinding mechanism itself If mounted on a Layshaft it is called a Spur Wheel and only drives one Stone Nut
- Layshaft
A Layshaft in a watermill is a horizontal shaft, carrying a Wallower and one or more Spur Wheels. The term can also refer to a minor shaft driving machinery by pulleys and belts.
- Overdrift
Millstones driven from above are known as Overdrift stones.
- Pit Wheel
The Pit Wheel is mounted on the opposite end of the axle to the waterwheel. It drives the Wallower on the Upright Shaft or Layshaft.
- Rim Drive
Some waterwheels have a rack attached to the circumference, which drives the mill via a pinion mounted on a separate axle, which has a Pit Wheel at its opposite end. This is known as Rim Drive.
- Runner Stone
The Runner Stone is the topmost of a pair of millstones. Millstones or mill stones are used in Windmills and Watermills including Tide mills for grinding Wheat or other grains It is driven by the Stone Nut. The lower stone is called a Bedstone.
- Stone Nut
A Stone Nut is a small gear driven by the Great Spur Wheel or Spur Wheel. It drives the Runner Stone. In most watermills, the stones are driven from below. These are called Underdrift stones. A few watermills drove the stones from above, known as Overdrift stones.
- Underdrift
Millstones driven from beneath are known as Underdrift stones.
- Upright Shaft
The Upright Shaft in the main driven shaft in a watermill. It carries the wallower, Great Spur Wheel and sometimes a Crown Wheel.
- Wallower
The Wallower is a small gear at the base of the upright shaft in a watermill, it is driven by the Pit Wheel.
- Waterwheel
A waterwheel is the source of power for a watermill. A water wheel is a means of extracting power from the flow (or fall of water otherwise known as Hydropower. It is mounted on the axle and drives the mill by a Pit Wheel or Rim Drive.
Windmill machinery
- Bedstone
The Bedstone is the bottom of a pair of millstones. Millstones or mill stones are used in Windmills and Watermills including Tide mills for grinding Wheat or other grains It does not move. The upper stone is called the Runner Stone.
- Brake Wheel
The Brake Wheel is the main driving wheel in a Smock or Tower mill, and in some post mills. The smock mill is a type of Windmill that consists of a sloping horizontally weatherboarded tower usually with six or eight sides on top of which is a roof or cap which Heckington Windmill 01JPG|thumb|right|180px| Heckington Windmill ]]Schiedam molen De Noord post mill is the earliest type of European Windmill. The defining feature is that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on a single vertical post around It is carried on the Windshaft and drives the Wallower on the Upright Shaft
- Buck
The Buck is an East-Anglian term for the body of a post-mill.
- Crown Tree
The Crown Tree is the central, single baulk of timber, usually oak, that rests on top of the post in a post mill. Attached to it are the side-girts and the rest of the frame of the buck.
- Fantail
A fantail is a small windmill which is used to keep a windmill facing into the wind automatically. A Fantail is a little windmill mounted at Right angles to the sails at the rear of the Windmill, and which turns the cap automatically to bring it into the wind
- Great Spur Wheel
The Great Spur Wheel is carried on the Upright Shaft It drives the Stone Nuts. Millstones driven by the Great Spur Wheel can be either Overdrift or Underdrift.
- Head Wheel
The Head Wheel is carried on the Windshaft in a Post Mill and has a brake around its circumference. It drives a Stone Nut, Millstones driven by the Head Wheel are always Overdrift stones.
- Overdrift
Millstones driven from above are known as Overdrift stones.
- Pintle
The pivot centering a post mill on top of the main post.
- Runner Stone
The Runner Stone is the topmost of a pair of millstones. Millstones or mill stones are used in Windmills and Watermills including Tide mills for grinding Wheat or other grains It is driven by the Stone Nut. The lower stone is called a Bedstone.
- Sails
The Sails are the source of power in a windmill. Windmills are powered by their sails. These sails are found in different designs from the primitive Common Sails to the advanced Patent sails. A windmill is a machine that is powered by the energy of the wind They are carried on the Windshaft. Most windmills had four sails, although some had five (Boston), six (Waltham, Lincs) or eight sails Heckington, Lincs and there is one recorded twelve sailed windmill (Cottenham, Cambs). Maud Foster Windmill is a seven-storeyed and five-patentsailed windmill located on the Maud Foster Drain (16 Willoughby Rd Waltham Windmill is a six-sailed Windmill located in the village of Waltham, five miles from Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. Heckington is one of the largest villages in Lincolnshire. There are 1491 households in Heckington and It is located about midway between Sleaford and Boston Cottenham is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is close to The Fens.
Common Sails have a lattice framework over which a sailcloth is spread. These were the earliest type of sails in northern European windmills.
Spring Sails, invented in 1772 by Andrew Meikle, have shutters adjusted by a spring. Andrew Meikle (1719 &ndash 27 November 1811) was an early Mechanical engineer credited with in about 1786 inventing (though some say he only improved Each sail is adjusted individually and, as with Common Sails the mill has to be stopped to enable an adjustment to be made.
Roller Reefing Sails, invented in 1789 by Stephen Hooper, use a canvas strip wound around a roller in the place of shutters. The mill does not have to be stopped in order to adjust the sails.
Patent Sails, invented in 1819 by William Cubitt, combine the shutters of the Spring Sail with the automatic adjustment of the Roller Reefing Sail. } Sir William Cubitt (1785-1861 was an eminent English Civil engineer and Millwright. Single Patents have shutters on the trailing side of the sail, Double Patents have shutters on both sides of the sail for its whole length.
- Samson Head
An iron collar and plate bearing that fits over the pintle of a post-mill's post, that supports the weight of the crown tree, around which the buck of the mill is constructed. An example is visible at High Salvington windmill. Durrington or High Salvington Windmill is a Grade II listed Post mill in High Salvington, Sussex that has been restored and is in
- Stone Nut
The Stone Nut is a small gear driven by the Great Spur Wheel, Head Wheel, or Tail Wheel. It drives the Runner Stone either from above (Overdrift) or below (Underdrift).
- Tail Wheel
The Tail Wheel is carried on the Windshaft in a Post Mill and drives a Stone Nut. Millstones driven by the Tail Wheel are always Overdrift stones.
- Trestle
The Trestle is the substructure of a Post Mill, usually enclosed in a protective structure called a roundhouse, which also serves as a storage facility. Trestle of a Post mill is the arrangement of the Main post, crosstrees and quarterbars that form the substructure of this type of Windmill Post mills without a roundhouse are called Open Trestle Post Mills.
- Underdrift
Millstones driven from beneath are known as Underdrift stones.
- Upright Shaft
The Upright Shaft is the main vertical shaft found in Smock and Tower mills. It is also found in some Post mills. It carries the Wallower at its top end, and a Great Spur Wheel at the bottom end. The Great Spur Wheel drves two or more Stone nuts.
- Wallower
The Wallower is a driven gear at the top of the Upright Shaft in Smock, Tower and some Post mills. It is driven by the Brake Wheel
- Windshaft
The Windshaft carries the Sails and also the Brake Wheel (Smock and Tower mills, and in some Post mills) or the Head Wheel and Tail Wheel in a Post Mill. Windshafts can be wholly made of wood, or wood with a cast iron Poll End (where the Sails are mounted} or entirely of cast iron.
References
See also
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