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HOW THE WINDMILL WORKS
The mill works entirely from the power of the wind. For it to operate automatically the sails need to face directly into the wind. To facilitate this the fan stage was devised. The fan stage blades are at a fixed right angle to the windmill sails. When the wind turns the fan stage blades they drive a shaft that rotates the cap. Once the sails are facing into the wind then the fan stage blades no longer turn, as the they no longer face into the wind. When the wind shifts direction the fan tail blades then rotate again, thus providing the power for the cap to be turned once again into the wind so the main sails face into the wind. Pictures below show this.


In the left picture one can see the  drive shaft that engages with the curb cogs to rotate the cap to turn the main windmill sails to face into the wind. In this same picture you can see two wires which were in fact a ham radio antenna used during Windmills on the Air 2014 weekend.

Turning our attention now to the main sweep sails and how they function. In the Stone Cross windmill the sails feature slats that the angle of is adjustable. This angle of these slats are controlled to compensate for the strength of the wind, by the spider that is controlled from inside the mill itself.
 
INSIDE THE MILL STARTING AT THE TOP (5th FLOOR)
 
This is the curb that the cap sits on and turns round on the wheels driven by the fan tail stage drive shaft.
 
This is the wind shaft that brings the power generated by the sails to inside the mill.
 
This shaft is connected to a large toothed gear wheel to transfer the drive power vertically downwards.
 
Here you see the wooden teeth of the metal gearwheel. In the foreground you can see the only guard rail in the mill.
 
Underneath showing the wooden teeth in better detail. When worn or broken they can individualy be replaced.
 
This is the hoist spindle that is powered by the sails for hoisting sacks of grain up to the fourth floor.
 
MOVING DOWN TO THE 4th FLOOR
The floor contains the grain bins, where the sacks of grain are hauled up from the ground floor by a hoist using the power from the windmills sails. The grain is placed into these hoppers to feed the millstones that are located on the floor below.
     
        
     
     
     

How It Works Page Not Yet Finished.
Last Updated 16/04/2018