A mill is a mechanism in which various grains, such as wheat, are ground in order to obtain flour or fine animal feed.

Mills come in different shapes and sizes.

There are several types:
Manual
Water
windmills
Electrical

All types of mills have grinding mechanisms called millstones. They are driven by different forces.

hand mills operate on applied force. While a person is turning the handle, the mill is running; as soon as he is tired and decides to rest, the mill does not grind grains.

water mills use the power of water. Such mills are usually built near fast-flowing rivers. A water mill has special blades on the wheel, when water flows, it rests against these blades, thereby pushing them and setting the entire wheel in motion, and they, in turn, rotate the millstones.

Works in a similar way

Windmills work with the wind. They have blades with bevelled edges. When the wind blows, it slides on sloping surfaces and pushes them away. They start spinning.

Electric mills millstones are rotated with the help of special motors that run on electricity.

At present, mainly electric mills are used.

When a person wants to get flour, he goes to the mill, pours the wheat into a special container, from which the grains are fed in a small amount into the millstones. There they are ground into small pieces, which are cleaned and sieved. In the end, we get pure white flour, from which our mothers bake delicious buns and pies for us.

mini test

1. What is the mill for?
2. What types of mills are there?

Using the energy of the flow of water. Centuries ago, windmills were typically used to grind grain, drive a water pump, or both. Most modern windmills are shaped like wind turbines and are used to generate electricity; wind pumps are used to pump water, drain land, or pump groundwater.

Windmills in antiquity

The windmill of the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria, invented in the first century AD, is the earliest example of the use of wind energy to propel a mechanism. Another example of an ancient wind drive is a prayer wheel used in Tibet and China in the early 4th century. There is also evidence that in the Babylonian Empire, Hammurabi planned to use wind energy for his ambitious irrigation project.

Horizontal windmills

The first windmills put into operation had sails (blades) rotating in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis. According to Ahmad al-Hasan, windmills were invented in eastern Persia by the Persian geographer Estakhiri in the ninth century. The authenticity of the earlier invention of the windmill by the second Caliph Umar (during 634-644 AD) is questioned on the grounds that windmills only appear in documents dating from the tenth century.

The mills of that time had from six to twelve blades covered with reed or cloth material. These devices were used to grind grain or extract water, and were quite different from later European vertical windmills. Initially, windmills were widely used in the Middle East and Central Asia, and then gradually became popular in China and India.

A similar type of horizontal windmill with rectangular blades used for irrigation can also be found in thirteenth century China (during the Jin Dynasty in the north), discovered and brought to Turkestan by the traveler Yelü Chucai in 1219.

Horizontal windmills were present in small numbers throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The most famous of those that have survived to this day are Hooper's Mill in Kent and Fowler's Mill in Battersea near London. Most likely, the mills that existed in Europe at that time were an independent invention of European engineers during the industrial revolution; the design of European mills was not borrowed from Eastern countries.

Vertical windmills

Regarding the origin of vertical windmills, the debate of historians continues to this day. Due to the lack of reliable information, it is impossible to answer the question of whether vertical mills are an original invention of European masters or a design borrowed from Middle Eastern countries.

The existence of the first known mill in Europe (assumed to be of the upright type) dates from 1185; it was located in the former village of Weedley in Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Humber. In addition, there are a number of less reliable historical sources, according to which the first windmills in Europe appeared in the 12th century. The first purpose of windmills was to grind grain crops.

gantry mill

There is evidence that the earliest type of European windmill was called the post mill, so named because of the large vertical part that makes up the main structure of the mill mill.

When mounting the mill body in this way, it was able to rotate in the direction of the wind; this made it possible to work more productively in northwestern Europe, where wind direction changes at short intervals. The foundations of the first gantry mills were dug into the ground, which provided additional support when turning. Later, a wooden support was developed, called a flyover (or goats). It was usually closed, which gave additional storage space for crops and provided protection during adverse weather conditions.

This type of windmill was the most common in Europe until the nineteenth century, when powerful tower mills replaced them.

Hollow (empty) gantry mill

Mills of this design had a cavity inside which the drive shaft was placed. This made it possible to turn the structure in the direction of the wind with less effort than in traditional gantry mills, and there was also no need to lift bags of grain to high-placed millstones, since the use of a long drive shaft allowed the millstones to be placed at ground level. Such mills have been used in the Netherlands since the 14th century.

tower mill

Towards the end of the 13th century, a new type of mill design, the tower mill, came into use. Its main advantage was that only the upper part of the structure was set in motion, while the main part of the mill remained motionless.
The widespread use of tower mills came with the beginning of a period of strengthening of the economy, due to the need for reliable sources of energy. Farmers and millers were not embarrassed even by the higher cost of construction compared to other types of mills.
Unlike the gantry mill, in the tower mill, only the roof of the tower mill reacted to the presence of wind, this made it possible to make the main structure much higher, which, in turn, made it possible to manufacture larger blades, so that the rotation of the mill was possible even in light wind conditions.

The upper part of the mill could turn in the direction of the wind due to the presence of winches. In addition, it was possible to hold the roof of the mill and the blades towards the wind due to the presence of a small windmill mounted at right angles to the blades at the rear of the windmill. This type of construction has become widespread in the territory of the former British Empire, Denmark and Germany. In an area located a short distance from the Mediterranean, tower mills were built with fixed roofs, since the change in wind direction was very small most of the time.

Tent mill

The hip mill is an improved version of the tower mill, where the stone tower is replaced by a wooden frame, usually octagonal in shape (there are mills with more or less angles). The frame was covered with straw, slate, sheet metal or roofing paper. The lighter construction compared to tower mills made the windmill more practical, allowing the structure to be erected in areas of unstable soil. Initially, this type of mill was used as a drainage mill, but later the scope of use expanded significantly.

When erecting a mill in built-up areas, it was usually placed on a masonry base, allowing the structure to be raised above the surrounding buildings for better wind access.

Mechanical device of mills

Blades (sails)

Traditionally, a sail consists of a frame-lattice on which the canvas is located. The miller can independently adjust the amount of fabric depending on the strength of the wind and the required power. In the Middle Ages, the blades were a lattice on which the canvas was located, while in colder climates the fabric was replaced with wooden planks, which prevented freezing. Regardless of the design of the blades, it was necessary to completely stop the mill in order to adjust the sails.

The turning point was the invention in Great Britain at the end of the eighteenth century of a design that automatically adjusted to wind speed without the intervention of a miller. The most popular and functional sails were invented by William Cubitt in 1807. In these blades, the fabric has been replaced with a connected closure mechanism.

In France, Pierre-Théophile Berton invented a system consisting of longitudinal wooden slats connected by a mechanism that allowed the miller to open them while the mill was turning.

In the twentieth century, thanks to advances in aircraft construction, the level of knowledge in the field of aerodynamics increased significantly, which led to a further increase in the efficiency of mills by the German engineer Bilau and Dutch craftsmen.

Most windmills have four sails. Along with them, there are mills equipped with five, six or eight sails. They are most widespread in the UK (especially in the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), Germany, and less frequently in other countries. The first mill canvas factories were in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia.

A mill with an even number of sails has an advantage over other types of mills, because if one of the blades is damaged, it is possible to remove the blade opposite to it, thereby maintaining the balance of the entire structure.

In the Netherlands, while the blades of the mill are stationary, they are used to transmit signals. A slight tilt of the sails towards the main building symbolizes a joyful event; while the slope away from the main building symbolizes sorrow. Windmills across Holland have been placed in positions of mourning in memory of the Dutch victims of the 2014 Malaysian Boeing crash.

mill mechanism

The gears inside the mill transfer the energy from the rotational movement of the sails to the mechanical devices. The sails are fixed on horizontal shafts. Shafts can be made entirely of wood, wood with metal elements, or entirely of metal. The brake wheel is mounted on the shaft between the front and rear bearings.

Mills were used for many industrial processes, such as processing oilseeds, dressing wool, dyeing products, and making stone products.

Distribution of mills

The total number of windmills in Europe is estimated to have reached about 200,000 at the time of the greatest prevalence of this type of device, this figure is quite modest compared to about 500,000 that existed at the same time. Windmills proliferated in regions where there was too little water, where rivers froze in winter, and in flat regions where the flow of rivers was too slow to provide the required power to operate watermills.

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the importance of wind and water as major industrial energy sources declined; eventually a large number of windmills and water wheels were replaced by steam mills and mills powered by internal combustion engines. At the same time, windmills were still quite popular, they continued to be built until the end of the 19th century.

Today, windmills are often protected structures, as their historical value has been recognized. In some cases, ancient windmills exist as static exhibits (when the ancient machines are too fragile to move), in other cases, as fully working exhibits.

Of the 10,000 windmills in use in the Netherlands in the 1850s, about 1,000 are still in operation. Most of the windmills are now run by volunteers, although some millers still operate on a commercial basis. Many of the drainage mills exist as a backup mechanism for modern pumping stations. The Saan region in Holland was the first industrial region in the world with about 600 windmills in operation by the end of the 18th century. Economic fluctuations and the Industrial Revolution had a far greater impact on windmills than on other sources of energy, resulting in few of them being preserved to this day.

The construction of mills was common throughout the Cape Colony of South Africa in the 17th century. But the first tower mills did not survive the storms on the cape of the peninsula, so in 1717 it was decided to build a more durable mill. Craftsmen specially sent by the Dutch East India Company completed the construction by 1718. In the early 1860s, Cape Town boasted 11 windmills.

wind turbines

A wind turbine is essentially a windmill whose structure is specifically designed to generate electricity. It can be seen as the next step in the development of the windmill. The first wind turbines were built in the late nineteenth century by Professor James Blyth in Scotland (1887), Charles F. Brush in Cleveland, Ohio (1887-1888) and Paul la Cour in Denmark (1890s). Since 1896, Paul's la Cour's mill has served as an electric generator in the village of Askov. By 1908 there were 72 wind power generators in Denmark, with power ranging from 5 to 25 kW. By the 1930s, windmills were in widespread use on farms in the United States, where they were used to generate electricity, due to the fact that power transmission and distribution systems had not yet been installed.

The modern wind energy industry began in 1979 with the start of serial production of wind turbines by Danish manufacturers Kuriant, Vestas, Nordtank and Bonus. The first turbines were small by today's standards, with a power of 20-30 kW each. Since then, commercially produced turbines have been greatly enlarged in size; The Enercon E-126 turbine is capable of supplying up to 7 MW of energy.

As the 21st century begins, there has been an increase in public concern about energy security, global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. All this eventually led to an increase in interest in all kinds of renewable energy sources and increased interest in wind turbines.

wind pumps

Windpumps have been used to pump water in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan since the 9th century. The use of wind pumps became widespread throughout the Muslim world, and then spread to the territory of modern China and India. Windpumps were used in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and the East Anglia areas of Great Britain, from the Middle Ages onward, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes.

The American wind pump, or wind turbine, was invented by Daniel Haladey in 1854 and was used primarily to draw water from wells. Larger versions of the windpump were also used for tasks such as sawing wood, chopping hay, peeling and grinding grain. In California and some other states, the windpump was part of a stand-alone domestic water system that also included a hand well and a wooden water tower. At the end of the 19th century, steel blades and towers replaced the outdated wooden structures. At its peak in 1930, experts estimated that around 600,000 windpumps were in use. American companies such as Pump Company, Feed Mill Company, Challenge Wind Mill, Appleton Manufacturing Company, Eclipse, Star, Aermotor and Fairbanks-Morse were engaged in the production of wind pumps, and over time they became the main suppliers of pumps in North and South America.

Wind pumps are widely used on farms and ranches in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia these days. They have a large number of blades, which allows them to spin at a higher speed in light winds and slow down to the required level in strong winds. Such mills raise water for the needs of feed mills, sawmills and agricultural machines.

In Australia, Griffiths Brothers has been manufacturing windmills under the name "Southern Cross Windmills" since 1903. Today, they have become an indispensable part of the Australian rural sector thanks to the use of water from the Great Artesian Basin.

Windmills in different countries

Windmills in Holland

In 1738-40, 19 stone windmills were built in the Dutch town of Kinderdijk to protect the lowlands from flooding. Windmills pumped water from below sea level to the Lek River, which flows into the North Sea. In addition to pumping water, windmills were used to generate electricity. Thanks to these mills, Kinderdijk became the first electrified city in the Netherlands in 1886.

Today, modern pumping stations pump water from below sea level at Kinderdijk, and the windmills were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.

The era of agriculture has sunk into the past many centuries ago, but this does not mean that all the developments of that time now mean nothing. For example, today we will talk about how to make a windmill with your own hands.

It’s worth starting with why this is generally necessary? It is unlikely that someone with her help will grind millet into flour. And the cultivation of millet is carried out by professional farmers, who have modern technology responsible for all production processes. Nevertheless, more and more summer residents are wondering how to make a windmill with their own hands?

Such a hype is explained quite simply - a windmill, which you can easily make with your own hands, is a magnificent element of landscape design that makes the site truly unique. It is much easier to sell a garden that has such a zest than a plot that is like two drops of water similar to the neighboring one.

In the modern world, uniqueness is valued above all else. That is why if you decide to make a windmill with your own hands, this will allow you to transform your garden. In addition, with due diligence and a little digression into physics, you can use this structure as a source of energy.

Attention ! The windmill can be used as an electric generator.

A windmill in your summer cottage can not only be an element of the landscape that you made with your own hands, but also a wind energy converter. This will significantly save the family budget.

Additional qualities of a windmill

Before choosing a place to install a windmill, you should consider that this structure, which you make with your own hands, can have several purposes:

1. A windmill can hide a number of unsightly places in your yard, like a manhole.
2. Some DIY windmills are made from lightweight materials. As a result, it is possible to minimize their dimensions. Therefore, these structures are often used as protective caps for pipe valves and other engineering facilities.
3. The building can be used as a house for children's games. To do this, you need to enlarge the structure a little, but there is nothing unrealistic here. The main thing is to make it stable and not forget about the entrance.
4. In a large structure, made under the mill with your own hands, you can store a variety of garden tools. In fact, it will be a utility room.
5. The stone mill can also be used as a brazier.
6. This structure, with a slight modification, can be used as a scarecrow for moles. It is enough to dig the legs 20 centimeters deep so that the vibrations from the structure that will occur during the rotation of the blades are transmitted to the ground.

As you can see, the windmill that you make with your own hands can find many uses as an element of landscape design.

The role of the windmill in landscape design

The modern world is so diverse that in order for the site to be the best, simple care and even beds are not enough - you need to stand out. At the same time, everything must be done wisely. After all, landscape design is a complex science that takes into account many nuances.

For example, factors such as:

• shadow,
• humidity,
• combination with other cultures
• necessary irrigation systems, etc.

One of the most trending elements of landscape design at the moment is the windmill. The most important advantage of such a structure is that the structure can be made by hand.

We make a windmill with our own hands

Choose a place and prepare it

Building a windmill is a much more responsible undertaking than it might seem at first glance. There are many factors to consider in order to get a truly worthwhile element of landscape design.

Open space is best suited for installation. Firstly, here the blades of the mill will almost always rotate, and secondly, it is much easier to assemble this structure in open space, since nothing will interfere with you.

After you select a suitable place for installation, you will need to remove the area. Remove all bushes and stumps that interfere with the construction. If the grass is too tall, cut it with a lawn mower.

The ground before installing the structure must be carefully leveled. Only after that you will be able to start laying the foundation, more precisely, the platform. To choose the right place, you must have a clear idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat your future structure will look like.

Create a plan

As an example, let's take an elementary structure that, with the right amount of effort, every person can build. It all starts with creating a plan:

1. Draw a sketch of the layout.
2. Using the drawing, calculate what dimensions should be for each part of the windmill that you want to make with your own hands.
3. Choose the optimal material from which the main structural elements will be made. Pine is the best choice. It has high performance. At the same time, its cost is at an acceptable level.

After everything is settled with the plan and drawing, you can proceed to the direct assembly process.

Selection of tools and materials necessary for work

To create a decent structure, you will need the following tools:

• Ruler for creating corners.
• Pens, felt-tip pens, pencils, compasses, markers.
• Construction roll.
• Drill with a set of different-sized nozzles.
• Screwdriver or screwdriver. You can also use a regular drill with a special nozzle for this purpose.
• Hammer, saw, jigsaw.
• Bolts, nails, washers, self-tapping screws, screws. The length of the elements directly depends on how thick the boards you will use.
• Sandpaper for grinding elements. You can also use a grinder.

With these tools, you can make an excellent windmill with your own hands, which will be a great addition to your country landscape concept. Also, to implement the idea, you will need the following materials:

• To make a windmill with your own hands, plywood or lining is most often used. Wide boards are great for the hull.
• To make walls with your own hands, use the bars.
• Any material is suitable for sheathing.
• To make the blades, use metal slats or pipes.
• corners.
• The roof can be made of plywood. Use rails as fasteners.
• In order to fix the paddle propeller with your own hands, you will need a capstan and a bearing.

After all the materials and tools are collected, you can make a windmill with your own hands.

Design layout

After all the drawings are made, and the necessary inventory is collected, you can proceed directly to the layout of the structure with your own hands:

After you make the layout of the windmill with your own hands, carefully cut out all the elements, sand them, treat them with special compounds, and only after that start the final assembly.

Treatment

For the impregnation of wood, it is best to use the following compositions: Pinotext, Aquatex, Belinka.

Important ! Impregnation should be done in 2-3 passes. This guarantees the stability of the protection. In this case, each layer should have time to dry.

Assembly

After you complete the processing of all parts of the windmill, you can begin to assemble it yourself. Just follow this guide and you can do it yourself:

1. Fasten the side parts with rails.
2. To make the base of the windmill with your own hands, use two squares that have holes in the middle.
3. Connect the base and body of the windmill with self-tapping screws.
4. Put together two triangles, the bases of which are 38 cm, and the sides are 35 and a half.
5. On both sides, screw plywood to the triangles.
6. The roof must be made of two parts. For each, five pre-prepared elements will go.
7. Make a windmill turntable with your own hands using wooden slats.
8. Fasten short rails to the ends of the blades and screw the circles in the center. Then drill a hole in the middle and install the studs. You need to do the same with the butt.
9. Fasten the spire. Fasten the entire structure with nuts.

At the end, put the lid on the body that you made with your own hands and secure everything with self-tapping screws.

You can see the detailed assembly process of the windmill device in the video below.

decoration

After you have made a windmill solely thanks to your hands, you need to give it the appropriate look. To do this, you can use varnish. It will give your building completeness.

Attention ! If the wood elements are not processed with sufficient quality, it is better to use paint.

To give the windmill an additional entourage, its elements can be painted in different colors. You can also add drawings like flowers, butterflies or insects. Each of them is easy to do with your own hands, if you use a little imagination.

Results

As you can see, everyone can make a windmill. The main thing is to draw the correct markup at the initial stages and find a good place. It is also necessary to decide in advance what unique qualities the structure will have.

At one time, the windmill was an important building that allowed for a large number of operations. With its help, it was possible to easily grind grain into flour or for livestock feed. Today, no one uses mills that would work from a stream of wind or water, but they are successfully used in landscape design. What is the principle of operation of the mill and can it be assembled independently? This will be discussed in the article.

Principle of operation

The principle of operation of a windmill can be described quite simply. As a driving force, air flows are used, which are constantly moving. The wind acts on three main knots:

• blades;
• transmission mechanism;
• the mechanism that does the work.

In the mills that were used in the past, the blades could reach a length of several meters each. This was done to increase the area of ​​wind capture. The dimensions were selected depending on what function the mill performed. If the power of the mill was required more, then the propeller was also larger. The largest blades were equipped with mills that grind flour. This is due to the heavy millstones that needed to be rotated. The shape of the windmill blades improved over time, and they were created in accordance with the laws of aerodynamics, which made it possible to increase their efficiency.

The next module of the windmill that follows the blades is the gearbox or transmission mechanism. Sometimes only the shaft on which the blades were mounted served as such a module. At the other end of the shaft was a tool that did the work. But such a windmill mechanism is not very safe and reliable. It is simply impossible to stop the mill if necessary. In addition, the shaft could easily break if something jammed it. The reducer is a more efficient and elegant solution. It is suitable for converting the rotation of the blades into useful work of various nature. In addition, by disconnecting the components of the gearbox, you can easily stop the interaction.

The equipment that could be used and is used with the mill is the most diverse. In addition to millstones, these can be various blade-based choppers, thanks to which you can prepare livestock feed in a short time. The mills could be equipped with carpentry equipment, which was powered by wind power.

Where can you use the grinder

Mills are experiencing a rebirth, but this is not due to a return to the production methods that were used before. More and more people are wondering about the principle of operation of such a design. Those who saw with one eye a small windmill that was installed in someone's garden, wanted to have a mill in their area. The mill can become exactly the highlight that was missing for the territory of the garden with trees. The mill gives individuality to any site. It is difficult to find two identical windmills that would be made by hand. Each master contributes his own achievements.

The windmill can be modified and used as a generator of electrical energy. This will allow you to illuminate the territory of the yard using LED bulbs and not pay for electricity. This will require some knowledge of physics and ingenuity. Similarly, you can use the mill if a small stream flows on the site.

The approach to landscape design should be moderate. Without much difficulty, you can plant a variety of flowers and other plants, but it will look tasteless. Each project should have its own zest. An evenly cut lawn rarely surprises anyone. The mill on the site will provide an opportunity to stand out. Near it, you can equip a small corner for relaxing after a hard day, it can be a hiding place for little things dear to your heart. Other possibilities of using such a mill are described below.

Additional Uses

A windmill can be not only a generator and a simple element that will decorate the site. It may also have other practical applications. That is why it is worth considering carefully where exactly it can be installed. For example, if an automatic irrigation system is installed in a garden plot, then most likely there may be a manhole in which all water supply units are located. Such a hatch cannot be hidden under the lawn grass, but if this is not done, then it will stand out and spoil the view. Just in this case, the mill will come to the rescue. It can be mounted directly on the manhole cover, which will hide it. At the same time, visitors will not have suspicions that something is wrong.

Sewerage elements are not always hidden in manholes. In addition, there may be other elements on the lawn that need to be hidden. Due to the fact that the material for the mill is light, it cannot damage the elements. Also, the body is made in the form of a cap, so it can be installed from above. If you build a mill of large dimensions, then children will be endlessly happy about it. They will be able to use the windmill to play with their friends. If the design is to be used in this way, then it must be well strengthened so that it does not injure the children. In addition, you will need an entrance, which must be done from the back.

Many tools are used to care for the garden and lawn. It is more convenient if it is located directly on the site and you do not have to return to the pantry near the house for it. A grinder can help with this too. Inside the mill, you can equip an excellent storage room for inventory. To keep it as compact as possible, you can build various garden organizers. The mill can be built from natural stone or refractory bricks. In this case, you can think of everything so that it serves as a barbecue. To do this, you can also build a small table.

Note! A problem for many are moles, which constantly rummage through the territory of the garden. You can partially solve this issue with the help of a mill. It is capable of transmitting vibrations from rotation. This is done due to the fact that the legs are dug into the ground by at least 20 cm. Additionally, vibration motors can be mounted in the design of the windmill, which will scare away animals.

DIY manufacturing

Mill manufacturing is not to be taken lightly. Although the design of the windmill may seem quite simple, everything must be calculated correctly. Only in this case, you can get a really worthwhile product that can decorate the site. The first step is to select the area in which the windmill design will be installed. If you place the product between the trees, then it will get lost there and will not please the eye, in addition, the wind force between the trees is less, so the rotation of the blades may be practically absent, which will be bad if there is a generator inside.

Note! It is easier to deliver the required materials to an open area, and it is also easier to assemble the blade structure of a windmill.

After choosing a site for a windmill, it is cleaned and prepared. The first step is cleaning from various elements that may interfere. This applies to old branches, shrubs or large weeds. If a tree used to grow on the site, then you will need to uproot the stump. After harvesting, the grass is removed and a small area of ​​soil is removed in the place where the mill will be located. Next, the foundation is prepared on which the windmill will be mounted.

Drawing

There are no strict rules for assembling your own version of the windmill. The main task will be to draw a good schematic drawing. All the details of the mill should be visible on it. Depending on the selected site and the goals that are assigned to the mill, sizes are selected. They must be indicated directly on the sketch. An example is seen in the photo above. The next step is the selection of material for the mill. Wood is suitable as it, but it must be treated with an antiseptic and varnished so that it does not swell from moisture and is not eaten away by pests.

Note! An excellent solution for the construction of a windmill would be pine. It is impregnated with resins, so it perfectly repels moisture. The cost of such wood is relatively low, so it is great for the plan.

Foundation preparation

When everything is clear with the dimensions, you can proceed to the manufacture of the foundation for the windmill. This is an optional procedure, but it is required if the windmill is of considerable size and used as a service room. A small hole is dug to a depth of 50 cm. With a layer of 15 cm, crushed stone is added, sand of medium grain size is laid in the same layer. It must be well tamped and leveled so that the windmill stands level. Next, the formwork is set to the height to which the foundation for the windmill will rise. In most cases, it is not required.

A reinforcing mesh is laid inside the pit under the foundation of the windmill. It is made of reinforcement, which is intertwined with knitting wire. Concrete is poured from above. It must be well tamped so that there are no voids, due to which cracks could occur in the foundation of the windmill. Installation of the windmill on the foundation can be done after a few weeks.

Assembly

The first thing you need for the mill is a frame. It can be made from a wooden beam with dimensions of 5 × 5 cm. It must be attached not to a concrete base, but to a small grillage. It can be made from a bar with a size of 10 × 10 cm. A square or rectangle is made from a bar. Everything will depend on the chosen design. The elements are firmly connected to each other. It is necessary to check whether each goal corresponds to 90°. After that, a layer of roofing felt waterproofing is laid on the foundation under the mill. It is necessary so that the moisture from the concrete does not damage the wood. The wooden structure of the windmill base is laid on the roofing material and screwed to the base with anchors.

The next step is to install a frame of logs. Racks for the mill are attached to the four corners. Most often, the walls of the mill have a trapezoidal shape, so the bars are not attached at a right angle, but with a slight slope. To do this, they must first be cut. Fixation to the base is made with metal corners. When the four mill stands are in place, the top trim is made. Additionally, transverse struts are attached, which will increase the strength of the entire structure of the mill. This is just the moment when it is necessary to strengthen the places where the window and doors will be located.

The next step is the construction of the roof of the mill. A small gable roof looks great in windmills. Triangular trusses are built from the bars, which are mounted on top of the mill. After that, all the walls of the windmill are sheathed, except for the front. The casing of the windmill can be done with a wooden clapboard or block house. Closer to the roof, on the front side of the windmill, a mechanism is fixed on which the blades will be installed. It can be a pipe into which several bearings are pressed. You can fix it on the horizontal crossbars of the windmill frame using clamps. A metal shaft from the blades is inserted into the bearings. It can be made from a piece of reinforcement.

One of the most complex elements of the windmill is the propeller. Above is an example of a windmill blade design. The dimensions can be proportionally increased depending on the dimensions of the specific design of the windmill. After that, the propeller is installed on the previously prepared shaft. Now you can sew up the front wall of the windmill. Next, a window and doors are mounted in the windmill, and the organization of the internal space is also carried out. As a roofing deck for a windmill, corrugated board or metal tiles are suitable. A video on assembling a decorative windmill is below.

Note! It is important to provide a mechanism that will lock the windmill shaft. This will be needed during strong winds so that the windmill blades are not damaged.

Summary

As you can see, a windmill or windmill can be a pretty useful addition to a garden. Due to its unique appearance, the windmill will definitely attract the attention of passers-by and guests. In addition, the windmill will greatly simplify the task of maintaining the garden. Pumping equipment and main control units can be placed inside the mill, which will protect them from adverse weather conditions.

The most ancient devices for grinding grain into flour and peeling it into grits were preserved as family mills until the beginning of the 20th century. and were hand millstones made of two round stones made of hard quartz sandstone with a diameter of 40-60 cm. The oldest type of mills are considered to be structures where millstones rotated with the help of domestic animals. The last mill of this type ceased to exist in Russia in the middle of the 19th century.

The Russians learned to use the energy of water falling on a wheel with blades at the beginning of the second millennium. Watermills have always been surrounded by an aura of mystery, covered with poetic legends, tales and superstitions. Wheel mills with a whirlpool and a whirlpool are in themselves unsafe structures, which is reflected in the Russian proverb: “They will take water from any new mill.”

Written and graphic sources testify to the wide distribution of windmills in the middle lane and in the North. Quite often, large villages were surrounded by a ring of 20-30 mills, which stood on high places open to the winds. Windmills grinded on millstones from 100 to 400 pounds of grain per day. They also had stupas (croupers) for obtaining cereals. In order for the mills to work, their wings had to be turned to the changing direction of the wind - this led to the combination of fixed and moving parts in each mill.

Russian carpenters created many different and ingenious versions of mills. Already in our time, more than twenty varieties of their constructive solutions have been recorded. Of these, two fundamental types of mills can be distinguished: “pillars”

Post mills:
a - on poles; b - on the stand; in - on the frame.

And "tents". The first were common in the North, the second - in the middle lane and the Volga region. Both names also reflect the principle of their device.
In the first type, the mill barn rotated on a post dug into the ground. The support was either additional pillars, or a pyramidal log crate, chopped “in cut”, or a frame.
The principle of mills-tentacles was different

Tent Mills:
a - on a truncated octagon; b - on a straight eight; c - octagon on the barn.

- their lower part in the form of a truncated octagonal frame was motionless, and the smaller upper part rotated in the wind. And this type in different areas had many options, including mill-towers - quadruple, six and eight.

All types and variants of mills amaze with precise design calculations and the logic of cuttings, which withstood strong winds. Folk architects also paid attention to the external appearance of these only vertical economic structures, the silhouette of which played a significant role in the ensemble of villages. This was expressed both in the perfection of proportions, and in the elegance of carpentry, and in the carvings on pillars and balconies.

water mills

Windmill diagram

Donkey-drawn mill

Mill station

The most essential part of the flour mill - the mill set or tackle - consists of two millstones: the upper, or runner, BUT and - lower, or lower, AT . Millstones are stone circles of considerable thickness, having a through hole in the middle, called a point, and on the grinding surface, the so-called. notch (see below). The lower millstone lies motionless; his asshole is tightly closed with a wooden sleeve, a circle g , through the hole in the center of which the spindle passes With ; on top of the latter a runner is planted by means of an iron rod CC , strengthened by the ends in a horizontal position in the runner's point and called the paraplice, or fluff. In the middle of the paraplice (and, consequently, in the center of the millstone), on its lower side, a pyramidal or conical recess was made, into which the correspondingly pointed upper end of the spindle enters. With . With this connection of the runner with the spindle, the first rotates when the latter rotates and, if necessary, can be easily removed from the spindle. The lower end of the spindle is inserted with a spike into a bearing mounted on a beam D . The latter can be raised and lowered and thus increase and decrease the distance between the millstones. Spindle With rotates with the help of the so-called. pinion gear E ; these are two disks put on a spindle at a small distance from each other and fastened together, around the circumference, with vertical sticks. The pinion gear is rotated by the wind wheel F , which has teeth on the right side of its rim that grab the pinion gear by the sticks and thus rotate it together with the spindle. per axle Z a wing is put on, which is set in motion by the wind; or, in a water mill, a water wheel driven by water. Grain is introduced through the bucket a and a runner's point in the gap between the millstones. The bucket consists of a funnel a and trough b, suspended under the runner's point. Grinding of grain occurs in the gap between the upper surface of the bottom and the bottom of the runner. Both millstones are dressed with a casing N , which prevents the scattering of grains. As the grinding proceeds, the grains are moved by the action of centrifugal force and the pressure of newly arriving grains) from the center of the bottom to the circumference, fall from the bottom and go, along an inclined chute, into the pecking sleeve R - for screening. Sleeve E is made of woolen or silk chintz and placed in a closed box. Q The from which its underlying end is exposed. First, fine flour is sifted and falls at the back of the box; coarser is sown at the end of the sleeve; bran lingers on the sieve S , and the coarsest flour is collected in a box T .

Millstone

The surface of the millstone is divided by deep grooves called furrows, into separate flat areas called grinding surfaces. From the furrows, expanding, smaller grooves depart, called plumage. Furrows and flat surfaces are distributed in a repeating pattern called accordion. A typical millstone has six, eight or ten of these harmonicas. The system of grooves and grooves, firstly, forms a cutting edge, and secondly, provides a gradual pouring of the finished flour from under the millstones. With constant use, millstones require timely undercutting i.e. trimming the edges of all flutes to maintain a sharp cutting edge.

Millstones are used in pairs. The lower millstone is installed permanently. The upper millstone, also known as the runner, is movable, and it is he who produces the direct grinding. The mobile millstone is driven by a cross-shaped metal "pin" mounted on the head of the main rod or drive shaft, which rotates under the influence of the main mechanism of the mill (using wind or water power). The relief pattern is repeated on each of the two millstones, thus providing the effect of "scissors" when grinding the grains.

The millstones must be equally balanced. Proper positioning of the stones is critical to ensure high quality flour grinding.

The best material for millstones is a special rock - viscous, hard and incapable of polishing sandstone, called millstone. Since stones in which all these properties are sufficiently and evenly developed are rare, good millstones are very expensive.

On the rubbing surfaces of the millstones, a notch is made, i.e., a series of deep grooves are pierced, and the gaps between these grooves are brought to a roughly rough state. The grain falls during grinding between the grooves of the upper and lower millstones and is torn and cut by the sharp cutting edges of the notch grooves into more or less large particles, which are finally ground after leaving the grooves.

The grooves of the notch also serve as the paths along which the ground grain moves from the point to the circle and leaves the millstone. Since millstones, even those of the best material, wear out, the cut must be renewed from time to time.

Description of constructions and principle of operation of mills

The mills are called pillars because their barn rests on a pillar dug into the ground and lined with a log frame. It contains beams that hold the column from vertical displacement. Of course, the barn rests not only on a pillar, but on a log frame (from the word cut, logs cut not tightly, but with gaps). On top of such a row, an even round ring is made of plates or boards. The lower frame of the mill itself rests on it.

Rows at the posts can be of different shapes and heights, but not higher than 4 meters. They can rise from the ground immediately in the form of a tetrahedral pyramid, or at first vertically, and from a certain height pass into a truncated pyramid. There were, though very rarely, mills on a low frame.

The base of smocks can also be different in shape and design. For example, a pyramid may start from ground level, and the structure may not be a log frame, but a frame one. The pyramid can be based on a log quadruple, and utility rooms, a vestibule, a miller's room, etc. can be attached to it.

The main thing in mills is their mechanisms. In smocks, the interior space is divided by ceilings into several tiers. Communication with them goes along steep attic-type stairs through hatches left in the ceilings. Parts of the mechanism can be located on all tiers. And they can be from four to five. The core of the shatrovka is a mighty vertical shaft penetrating the mill through to the "cap". It rests through a metal thrust bearing fixed in a beam that rests on a paving frame. The beam can be moved in different directions with the help of wedges. This allows you to give the shaft a strictly vertical position. The same can be done with the help of the upper beam, where the shaft pin is embedded in a metal loop.

In the lower tier, a large gear is put on the shaft with cams-teeth fixed along the outer contour of the round base of the gear. During operation, the movement of a large gear, multiplied several times, is transmitted to a small gear or pinion of another vertical, usually metal shaft. This shaft pierces the fixed lower millstone and abuts against a metal bar, on which the upper movable (rotating) millstone is suspended through the shaft. Both millstones are dressed with a wooden casing from the sides and from above. Millstones are installed on the second tier of the mill. The beam in the first tier, on which a small vertical shaft with a small gear rests, is suspended on a metal threaded pin and, with the help of a threaded washer with handles, can be slightly raised or lowered. With it, the upper millstone rises or falls. This regulates the fineness of grinding grain.

From the casing of the millstones, a deaf wooden chute was obliquely passed down with a board with a valve at the end and two metal hooks on which a bag filled with flour was hung.

Next to the block of millstones, a jib crane with metal arches-grabs is installed. With it, the millstones can be removed from their places for forging.

Above the casing of the millstones, from the third tier, a grain supply hopper rigidly fixed to the ceiling descends. It has a valve with which you can shut off the grain supply. It has the shape of an inverted truncated pyramid. From below, a swinging tray is suspended from it. For springiness, it has a juniper bar and a pin lowered into the hole of the upper millstone. A metal ring is installed eccentrically in the hole. The ring can be with two or three oblique feathers. Then it is installed symmetrically. A pin with a ring is called a shell. Running along the inner surface of the ring, the pin changes position all the time and swings the obliquely suspended tray. This movement throws the grain into the millstone. From there, it enters the gap between the stones, grinds into flour, which enters the casing, from it into a closed tray and bag.

The grain is poured into a bunker cut into the floor of the third tier. Bags of grain are fed here with the help of a gate and a rope with a hook. The gate can be connected and disconnected from a pulley mounted on a vertical shaft. This is done from below with a rope and a lever. , passing through the hatch, open the shutters, which then arbitrarily slam shut.The miller turns off the gate, and the bag is on the hatch covers.The operation is repeated.

In the last tier, located in the "cap", another small gear with beveled cams-teeth is installed and fixed on a vertical shaft. It makes the vertical shaft rotate and starts the whole mechanism. But it is forced to work by a large gear on a "horizontal" shaft. The word is enclosed in quotation marks because, in fact, the shaft lies with a certain slope of the inner end down. The pin of this end is enclosed in a metal shoe of a wooden frame, the base of the cap. The raised end of the shaft, which goes out, rests calmly on a "bearing" stone, slightly rounded at the top. Metal plates are embedded on the shaft in this place, protecting the shaft from rapid abrasion.

Two mutually perpendicular beams-brackets are cut into the outer head of the shaft, to which other beams are attached with clamps and bolts - the basis of the lattice wings. The wings can receive the wind and rotate the shaft only when the canvas is spread on them, usually rolled up into bundles at rest, not working hours. The surface of the wings will depend on the strength and speed of the wind.

The gear of the "horizontal" shaft is equipped with teeth cut into the side of the circle. From above it is hugged by a wooden brake block, which can be released or strongly tightened with a lever. Sudden braking in strong and gusty winds will cause high temperatures as wood rubs against wood, and even smoldering. This is best avoided.

Before operation, the wings of the mill should be turned towards the wind. For this there is a lever with struts - "carrier".

Around the mill, small columns of at least 8 pieces were dug in. They were "driven" and fastened with a chain or a thick rope. With the strength of 4-5 people, even if the upper ring of the tent and parts of the frame are well lubricated with grease or something similar (previously lubricated with lard), it is very difficult, almost impossible, to turn the "cap" of the mill. "Horsepower" does not work here either. Therefore, they used a small portable gate, which was alternately put on the posts with its trapezoidal frame, which served as the basis of the entire structure.

A block of millstones with a casing with all the parts and details located above and below it was called in one word - setting. Usually, small and medium-sized windmills were made "about one set." Large windmills could be built with two stands. There were also windmills with "crushes" where linseed or hemp seeds were pressed to obtain the appropriate oil. Waste - cake - was also used in the household. "Saw" windmills did not seem to meet.