Gristmill

The Greek geographer Strabo reported in his Geography that a water-powered grain-mill existed near the palace of king Mithradates VI Eupator at Cabira, Asia Minor, before 71 BC.[2] This simple arrangement required no gears, but had the disadvantage that the speed of rotation of the stone was dependent on the volume and flow of water available and was, therefore, only suitable for use in mountainous regions with fast-flowing streams.[9] Geared gristmills were built in the medieval Near East and North Africa, which were used for grinding grain and other seeds to produce meals.[14] Early mills in England were almost always built by the local lord of the manor and had the exclusive right (the right of mulcture) to a proportion on all grain processed in the community.This might include driving a mechanical sieve to refine the flour, or turning a wooden drum to wind up a chain used to hoist sacks of grain to the top of the mill house.The flow of grain is regulated by shaking it in a gently sloping trough (the "slipper") from which it falls into a hole in the center of the runner stone.In order to prevent vibrations from the millstones shaking the building apart, the stones were usually placed on a separate timber foundation, known as a husk, which was not attached to the mill walls.That isolated the building from vibrations coming from the stones and the main gearing, and also allowed for easy re-leveling of the foundation to keep the millstones perfectly horizontal.His inventions included the Elevator, wood or tin buckets on a vertical endless leather belt, used to move grain and flour vertically upward; the Conveyor, a wooden auger to move material horizontally; the Hopper Boy, a device for stirring and cooling the newly ground flour; the Drill, a horizontal elevator with flaps instead of buckets (similar to the use of a conveyor but easier to build); and the Descender, an endless strap (leather or flannel) in a trough that is angled downward, the strap helps to move the ground flour in the trough.Modern mills typically use electricity or fossil fuels to spin heavy steel, or cast iron, serrated and flat rollers to separate the bran and germ from the endosperm.
Allied Mills flour mill on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in North West England , 2010
Senenu Grinding Grain, c. 1352–1336 BC. The royal scribe Senenu appears here bent over a large grinding stone. This unusual sculpture seems to be an elaborate version of a shabti , a funerary figurine placed in the tomb to work in place of the deceased. Brooklyn Museum .
The basic anatomy of a millstone. The diagram depicts a runner stone.
Grinding mechanism in an old Swedish flour mill, 2005
The old water mill at Decew Falls in St. Catharines in Southern Ontario , 2009
Wayside Inn Grist Mill in Massachusetts , 2014
Stretton Watermill , a 17th-century operational mill in Cheshire , England, 2008
A grist mill, c. 1880
Interior in Tartu Mill , the largest grain milling company in the Baltic states
Pilgrim's Pride feed mill in Pittsburg, Texas , August 2015
Cornmill (disambiguation)Flour Mill (disambiguation)Manchester Ship CanalNorth West EnglandcerealmiddlingsgrindingWatermillList of ancient watermillsList of early medieval watermillsshabtiBrooklyn MuseumSwedishSt. CatharinesSouthern OntarioStraboMithradates VI EupatorCabiraAsia MinorNorse wheelmillstoneVertical wheelsRoman EmpireVitruviusApuleiusThe Golden AssBarbegal aqueduct and millwater wheelsWestern Han dynastyByzantine EmpireSassanid PersiafactoryIslamic worldNear EastNorth Africawind-poweredBilbaysDomesday survey of 1086High Middle AgesEbro RiverReal Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de RuedaCistercian monksWayside InnMassachusettsStretton WatermillCheshirelord of the manorwater-poweredsluicewater wheelturbinesdriveshaftrunnercorn mealOliver EvansTartu MillBaltic statesPilgrim's PridePittsburg, Texasfossil fuelsbran and germendospermgraham flouroxidizethreshingMediterranean flour mothSkyline DriveThomas MillChester CountyShediac Cape, New BrunswickMinneapolisMill raceMississippi RiverSt. Anthony FallsOld Sturbridge VillageGeorge Washington's GristmillThorp, WashingtonSudbury, MassachusettsGrain millbevel gearsmuseumDordrechtJarrell PlantationList of watermillsHammermillTide millUnifine MillShip millChondrometerJohns Hopkins University PressOleson, John PeterHill, DonaldRoutledgeHill, Donald RoutledgeEncyclopedia of the History of Arabic ScienceBrill PublishersThe Religious Tract SocietyHarrison, Samuel BealeySweet & MaxwellDavid and CharlesWikander, Örjan