Maastricht water mill
A MILL? HOW IT WORKS?
To operate a mill, water is needed ... and a system to transform the strength of the water into energy capable of rotating the grinding wheels that will crush the grains.
A mill must therefore be built on or near a river.
Valves open and close, regulating the force of the water falling on a wheel and thus triggering the mechanism that allows the wheels to rotate.
The wheel is one of the essential organs of the mill because it is the one that makes it possible to transform the strength of water into energy
A series of gears (some of them entirely made of wood) transmits the vertical movement of the wheel to the grinding wheels, which have a horizontal movement
The transmission shaft drives 2 stone grindstones: this is the action of the upper grinding wheel known as "rotating" on the fixed wheel (called "dormant or lying") which will allow the wheat grains to be crushed between the stones And thereby releasing the flour contained within the grain.
The adjustment of the space between the two grinding wheels by means of a muffle makes it possible to adjust the crushing of the grain and thus the fineness of the grinding.
The grain is placed in a funnel-shaped reserve (the hopper) and is gradually discharged between the two wheels; Driven by the centrifugal force, it emerges at the bottom of the grinding wheels in the form of flour
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