Mills

I am reading a book about the history of mills that were powered by water wheels. Some of the mills I’ve read about were saw mills, fulling mills, and grist mills.

Saw mills contained two water wheels. The first wheel was called a flutter wheel and operated the up-and-down saw while driving the log into the blade. The second wheel was a tub wheel. It powered the machinery that withdrew the log once it had been cut. It, too, was turned by the force of the water against its blades.

Fulling mills pounded woven woolen cloth with wooden hammers to clean and thicken it. The hammers were powered by an undershot wheel. An undershot wheel was powered by water flowing under it.

The Grist mill ground corn and wheat for farmers. It was powered by a giant overshot wheel. Instead of having blades it had large troughs called buckets. The weight of the water in the buckets pulled the wheel down to spin it.