Millstone (plural - millstone ) - a pair of circles, in most cases stone, one of the main elements of the mill . Mills in which millstones are used are either manual, or using their animals as a motive force during grinding, any animals, or any mechanical engines that operate on various kinds of fuel. Also, mills can use as their motive force any forces of nature such as wind, water, etc., as well as, sometimes, using various kinds of hybrid engines as their motive power. The millstone is used to grind wheat and other grains into flour , as well as to grind sometimes any edible substances of plant and animal origin, or to grind various mineral substances that are used as food for humans and animals, or are used as components in the manufacture of medicines, or are used as components for the manufacture of various kinds of building materials, and paints. Millstone has been used and is used by man since ancient times. For him, people used (and sometimes still use) the driving force of the wind and water along with manpower.
The stone most suitable for the manufacture of millstones is usually a fine-grained, siliceous, porous, but strong, sandstone , or silicified, containing fossils, limestone [1] . Millstones are also made of stone, wood, using metal-containing cutting elements, or from other similar materials.
Content
History
Neolithic man used millstones to grind grains, nuts and other plant products for consumption. Primitive millstones were used in hand mills. Millstones for making flour are mentioned in the Old Testament ( Isa. 42: 2 ). In them, pigment paints and metals were also ground before mastering the smelting.
There is an opinion according to which the millstone may be a more ancient invention than the wheel, that it was the invention of the millstone that subsequently contributed to the invention of the wheel and that the millstone design is a prototype of the wheel invented in the future by man .
Abandoned Millstone in a Scottish Village
Flour Making (India)
Trimming a relief pattern
Types of Millstones Used in the UK
Traditional British millstones are divided into two types:
- Derbyshire monolithic gray sandstone millstones used for grinding barley . Such millstones can be seen on the decorative signs along the edges of the Peak District National Park. Derbyshire millstones are quickly erased and are usually used only for grinding feed intended for farm animals, since they leave stone particles in the flour.
- French millstones for finer and cleaner grinding. They are usually not cut from a single monolith, but are fastened with gypsum from quartz sections and reinforced with iron hoops. These stones are produced in the north of France , in the Marne Valley.
Friction surfaces
The surface of the millstone is divided by deep grooves , called grooves , into separate flat areas called grinding surfaces . From the furrows, expanding, depart smaller grooves, called plumage . Furrows and flat surfaces are distributed in a repeating pattern called an accordion . A typical millstone has six, eight, or ten such harmonica. The system of grooves and grooves, firstly, forms a cutting edge, and secondly, provides a gradual pouring of the finished flour from the millstones. With constant use of millstones, timely grinding is required, that is, trimming the edges of all the grooves to maintain the sharpness of the cutting edge.
Millstones are used in pairs. The lower millstone is installed stationary. The upper millstone, he is also a runner, is mobile, and it is he who performs 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, rotating under the action of the main mechanism of the mill (using wind or water energy). The relief pattern is repeated on each of the two millstones, thus providing the effect of “scissors” when grinding the grains.
Millstones should be equally balanced. The proper relative positioning of the stones is critical to ensure the grinding of high quality flour.
The best material for millstones is a special rock - viscous, hard and unable to polish sandstone, called millstone. Since stone rocks, in which all these properties are developed sufficiently and evenly, are rare, good millstones are very expensive.
On the rubbing surfaces of the millstones, a notch is made, that is, a series of deepened grooves is punched, and the gaps between these grooves are brought into a rough-rough state. The grain enters 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 a way along which the milled grain moves from the point to the circle and comes off the millstone. Since the millstones, even from the best material, are erased, the notch must be renewed from time to time.
In Culture
- "The millstones of the Lord grind slowly, but inexorably " - a proverb that has existed since antiquity
Old Russian millstone sayings
- Hit the grain under the forged millstone
- Pleased with a grain between two millstones
Russian millstone puzzles
- The horses were flooded in the Kirilovsky field, a dog barked on Muromsky, a bear roared on Ivanovsky (Romanovsky) (horses - mill pestles; a dog - a marshmallow; a bear - a millstone).
- The Stone Sea revolves around, the white hare lies beside it, it suits the whole world (millstones and flour).
- The monk lies in the steep mountains; comes out, feeds the faithful and infidels (millstone).
- One says - run, the other says - lie down, the third says - rocking (water, millstone, wheel).
- The bull growls, the old man knocks; the bull will run, the foam will tumble (millstone) [2] .
See also
- Kruporushka
- Mortar
Notes
- ↑ Bucksch, Herbert. Dictionary Geotechnical Engineering, Vol. 1. - Springer-Verlag, 1997 .-- P. 80.
- ↑ Riddles // Proverbs of the Russian people : A collection of proverbs, sayings, sayings, sayings, clean-words, jokes, riddles, beliefs, etc. / auth. V.I. Dahl . - 2nd ed. - M. , 1879.
Literature
- Bezhkovich A.S., Zhegalova S.K. and others. Zhernova // Economy and life of Russian peasants: Monuments of material culture. - M .: Soviet Russia , 1959. - S. 193-194 (ill. 171). - 257 p.
- Zhernov // Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language : in 4 volumes / auth. V.I. Dahl . - 2nd ed. - SPb. : Printing house of M.O. Wolf , 1880-1882.
- Shangina I.I. Millstone // Russian Traditional Life: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - SPb. : ABC classic , 2003 .-- S. 175-177. - 688 p.
- Millstone // Big Soviet Encyclopedia . - 2nd ed. - 1952. - T. 16. - S. 78.
- Millstone , Millstone , Millstone sandstone // Big Soviet Encyclopedia. - 1st ed. - 1932. - T. 25. - St. 300-303. - 800 stb.
- Millstone // Historical Dictionary