The working of an old windmill explained

Adrian van Ammers

About a month ago I was allowed to shoot inside a windmill, but let's first have a look at the outside. BTW the name of this mill is "'t Roode Hert". It's located in Oudorp Alkmaar The Netherlands. It's still doing his daily job, producing flours. Sometimes driven by electricity when there is no wind. There is a little shop near the mill where people buy all stuff to prepare their daily bread.

Windmills need... wind, hehe. So we start with the wings, with or without sails depending how much wind available. The miller has to climb into the wings to put the sails up. When I was there the miller was on vacation : One of his assistants gave us the big tour.








The top of the mill can be turned "into the wind" by this wheel, which first gets attached to a certain point by a cable. Then the miller turns the wheel and the top with the wings starts to turn until the wings are "in the wind".







Let's go inside. We first go all the way to the the top.

Here is the master wheel vertical attached to the wings and one horizontal attached to the master axis.



The axis goes through the several floors. Where power is needed other wheels are attached. On the bottom of the mill are the stones, packed in wood.















And the grain falls between the stones. That's it. I think it's a miracle that they work so well and they were build about 400 years ago. These were smart people. They still are. Living from the wind :clap

ian408

That was a great tour! And you've got a couple of great shots to help
understand the inner workings.

Thanks for taking us along.

Ian

Higgmeister

Thanks for the tour Adrian, I enjoyed it. I learned a few things here and got to look at some cool shots in the process. What more could someone ask.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

Dee

That's really incredible
Thank you so much Adrian.

So many gears, lines, ropes, pulleys! And so many visitors, that's the really neat thing!

A working windmill and a children's playground, side by side! That is so nice.

I'm pleased you remembered my question and took the time to post the photos, hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I enjoyed the photos!

Dee

Adrian van Ammers

Hi Dee

Dee wrote:

Thank you so much Adrian.

So many gears, lines, ropes, pulleys! And so many visitors, that's the really neat thing!

A working windmill and a children's playground, side by side! That is so nice.

I'm pleased you remembered my question and took the time to post the photos, hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I enjoyed the photos!

Dee

I did not forget, but to be honest things went easy. The man with the child is Matthias, a good friend and a business relation. They are from Germany and are manufacturers of organic bread and small mills four housholding as well. http://shop.schnitzer-bio.de/catalog/index.php?cPath=21 : They were our guest for a few days and wanted to see an orginal flourmill. It was fun allright, but I have to go back there once when it's working. It must be a fantastic thing to see all this gear up and running.

Adrian van Ammers

Hello Ian

ian408 wrote:

That was a great tour! And you've got a couple of great shots to help
understand the inner workings.

Thanks for taking us along.

Ian

I'm happy you liked the tour. I'm always curious with this kind of information what the reactions are. Thanks so much for replying and kind words.

Andy

well done, adrian - fun tour, great shots. thanks for doing this.

MuskyDude

I really enjoy this type of thread Adrian, excellent shots to go with it too! Thanks for sharing!




AJ

Phil U.

Wow - really cool. I love "Historic" machinery so this series fascinated me. I've seen old mills before but never the real working insides of one of the Netherlands' native windmills.

This particular one is 400 years old? (Yes, I know it's been maintained and lumber has been replaced when it needed it). Do you know if it has been in continuous operation or is this a product of a restoration?

Anyway great shots (I'm glad the one has a little bit of someone's head in there - gives it scale). I enjoyed the tour!

Adrian van Ammers

Hi Chris

Higgmeister wrote:

Thanks for the tour Adrian, I enjoyed it. I learned a few things here and got to look at some cool shots in the process. What more could someone ask.

Thanks for sharing,
Chris

I'm glad you liked it and let me know by replying. There is always a thought "is this good enough to post?" :

Adrian van Ammers

Thanks Andy!

andy wrote:

well done, adrian - fun tour, great shots. thanks for doing this.

My pleasure, it was fun to do.:):

Adrian van Ammers

Hi AJ

MuskyDude wrote:

I really enjoy this type of thread Adrian, excellent shots to go with it too! Thanks for sharing!
AJ

Thanks so much. It was fun shooting. I hope to go back there and see it running.

Adrian van Ammers

Hi Phil, some answers

Phil U. wrote:

Wow - really cool. I love "Historic" machinery so this series fascinated me. I've seen old mills before but never the real working insides of one of the Netherlands' native windmills.

This particular one is 400 years old? (Yes, I know it's been maintained and lumber has been replaced when it needed it). Do you know if it has been in continuous operation or is this a product of a restoration?

Anyway great shots (I'm glad the one has a little bit of someone's head in there - gives it scale). I enjoyed the tour!

I don't know about the old history. I do know that in 1997 the miller planned to close down the mill. But then he got a chance to work with Fermento which is an organic restaurant-bakery, where mentally disabled people do the bulk of the work. It's very nice there. Actually we went there the same afternoon. I just found out about this connection while you asked : BTW the products of the mill are all organic. Forgot to mention that.

Phil U.

Adrian van Ammers wrote:

I don't know about the old history. I do know that in 1997 the miller planned to close down the mill. But then he got a chance to work with Fermento which is an organic restaurant-bakery, where mentally disabled people do the bulk of the work. It's very nice there. Actually we went there the same afternoon. I just found out about this connection while you asked : BTW the products of the mill are all organic. Forgot to mention that.

Thanks Adrian.

Angelo

Very nice Adrian! Thanks for the tour.

Adrian van Ammers

Thanks Angelo

Angelo wrote:

Very nice Adrian! Thanks for the tour.

My pleasure! It was a fun shoot. Have to return there once.

chuckh

Adrian van Ammers wrote:

About a month ago I was allowed to shoot inside a windmill, but let's first have a look at the outside. BTW the name of this mill is "'t Roode Hert". It's located in Oudorp Alkmaar The Netherlands. It's still doing his daily job, producing flours. Sometimes driven by electricity when there is no wind. There is a little shop near the mill where people buy all stuff to prepare their daily bread.

Windmills need... wind, hehe. So we start with the wings, with or without sails depending how much wind available. The miller has to climb into the wings to put the sails up. When I was there the miller was on vacation : One of his assistants gave us the big tour.




Adrian: "in the wind".

#1 is excellent Adrian. Thank you so much for sharing.

Adrian van Ammers

Thanks Chuck!
#1 is excellent Adrian. Thank you so much for sharing.[/QUOTE]BTW do you know that your homepage link does not work anymore?

chuckh

Adrian van Ammers wrote:

#1 is excellent Adrian. Thank you so much for sharing.

BTW do you know that your homepage link does not work anymore?

Adrian, it's now updated. But, the homepage is way....... out of date- so sorry, it's on my to-do-list-now-though. :photo

Adrian van Ammers

wow you love biking!

chuckh wrote:

Adrian, it's now updated. But, the homepage is way....... out of date- so sorry, it's on my to-do-list-now-though. :photo

Neat bike! And I can see you love motorbiking : I was just curious. When somebody replies I visit the personal homepage to learn a bit about the person. You are in my book as the biker And photographer of course

chuckh

Adrian van Ammers wrote:

Neat bike! And I can see you love motorbiking : I was just curious. When somebody replies I visit the personal homepage to learn a bit about the person. You are in my book as the biker And photographer of course

Kewl.

This is picture that uses a similar perspective as you used with the windmill, but captured at the start of the trolley rides in San Francisco, CA.

Yuri Pautov

Spasibo for your great tour, Adrian!
Yuri

Adrian van Ammers

I've been there but...

chuckh wrote:

Kewl.

This is picture that uses a similar perspective as you used with the windmill, but captured at the start of the trolley rides in San Francisco, CA.

I don't remember this building. Great perspective as I may so so I visited SF about 20 years ago and saw the trolleys of course. Feels like a life time. I was there to visit the American Licorice Company. We started to import. A few months ago it ended cause ALC broke all exportlines. There is not any logic for a Dutchman in such a decision. We are an import-export country as you may know. Have a nice day

Adrian van Ammers

Hello Yuri

Yuri Pautov wrote:

Spasibo for your great tour, Adrian!
Yuri

I saw your post about Siberia. Today I read an article in the newspaper that a major disaster might happen when the Siberian ice fields will melt more and more and the methangas will flow into the air. Did you notice any melting? : I hope it won't go that fast. We might get our feet wet and maybe even more here in The Netherlands, which means translated lowlands as you may know. In that case our mills won't help us.

Thanks for your nice words!

Hikin' Mike

Those were great! Thanks for the tour!

Adrian van Ammers

Hi Mike

Hikin' Mike wrote:

Those were great! Thanks for the tour!

Thanks so much! :

snapapple

Thanks for the great tour, Adrian. I was in the Netherlands in May. It is a beautiful place. We visited Amsterdam while on a cruise. We only had one day there, but it was enough for me to realize that I would love to come back to see more. Your pictures are well done. I like the perspective of #1. The inside shots are very well done also. You managed to get good light on all those gears and shafts. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Adrian van Ammers

Yes, I remember your visit and...

snapapple wrote:

Thanks for the great tour, Adrian. I was in the Netherlands in May. It is a beautiful place. We visited Amsterdam while on a cruise. We only had one day there, but it was enough for me to realize that I would love to come back to see more. Your pictures are well done. I like the perspective of #1. The inside shots are very well done also. You managed to get good light on all those gears and shafts. Thanks for sharing it with us.

your picture of the windmill. Give me a honk when you come back. I will show you around and visit as much mills as you like Thanks for replying and kind words.