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A-Z glossary

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T-Bolt
A bolt with a head in the form of a letter "T", used to fasten sail bars to UPLONGS (Kent).

Tack
A lease (Scot.).

Tackle
A combination of two pulley BLOCKS suspended by ropes or chains, one of which is attached to a load to be lifted.

Tag
See Paddle.

Tail
The end away from the sails and the wind. The rear of the post mill body away from the sails and the wind.( as opposed to the BREAST or HEAD). Also describes the rear of a CAP.

Tail (Of A Mill)
See Tail.

Tail Balk
See Tail Beam.

Tail Beam
(1) A beam supporting the tail BEARING of the WINDSHAFT. (2) see TAIL POLE.

Tail Bearing
The bearing at the rear of the WINDSHAFT, normally incorporating a THRUST BEARING to withstand the wind pressure.

Tail Bearing Beam
See Tail Beam.

Tail Block
A block used when the tail beam is dispensed with in the cap of a windmill.

Tail Box
A compartment under the rear of the CAP of some TOWER/SMOCK mills which houses the WINDING GEAR for the CAP.

Tail End Tie Beam
Transverse timber of cap frame, replacing TAIL BEAM, into which guide timbers carrying TAIL BLOCK are tenoned. Wedges driven between this and TAIL BLOCK are used to adjust windshaft axially.

Tail Fin
Large timber boards, usually in pairs on twin tail booms, designed to turn the mill into the wind. Commonly used on drainage mills in place of a fan tail

Tail Helve
A TILT HAMMER driven by cams acting on the tail of a SHAFT(2).

Tail Helve Hammer
The cams force the tail of the helve downwards.

Tail Ladder
See Steps.

Tail Pole
A massive spar projecting from the rear of a POST MILL, for WINDING a MILL by hand. Sometimes attached to the CAP of a TOWER or SMOCK MILL. Also used to support the STEPS off the ground to allow the MILL to be turned. See also TALTHUR. See YOKE.

Tail Post
See Tail Pole.

Tail Race
That section of the mill race downstream of the WHEEL. Also refers to the water leaving a watermill.

Tail Sheet
Coarser sieve at far end of dresser to scalp stock coarser than the material sieved through the rest of the dresser.

Tail Sick
A post mill which has become unbalanced, due to a defect, so that it leans backward. Opposite to HEADSICK.

Tail Stones
MILLSTONES in the rear of a POST MILL.

Tail Tree
TAIL POLE. Also the rear tie beam between the rear ends of the upper SIDE GIRTS of a POST MILL

Tail Water
Water leaving the waterwheel. See BACKWATER.

Tail Wheel
A GEAR WHEEL mounted near the TAIL of the WINDSHAFT in a POST MILL, to drive additional pairs of stones.

Tail Wind
A wind that catches the sails from the rear.

Tail Winded
A windmill caught with the wind blowing towards the rear side of its sails, with risk of reversal of rotation and consequential damage. Also carries a risk of the CAP blowing off a TOWER or SMOCK mill if the wind is strong.

Tail-Goit
See Tail Race.

Tail-Winding
When the wind catches the sail from the rear.

Tailbound
See Backwater.

Tailings
The material that leaves a BOLTER at its far end because it is too coarse to pass through the sieve.

Take Off
Ancillary driving GEAR assembly.

Tallow
The product of melting down the harder varieties of animal fats.

Talthur
The lever pivoted on the side of the TAIL POLE used to raise the LADDER of a POST MILL clear of the ground prior to WINDING the mill. Also known as a TILLER.

Tan Bark Mill
Grinding oak or other bark for use in the leather-tanning industry.

Tapestry Mill
A Mill in which looms for making tapestry are operated.

Tappet Arms
Projections or CAMS on the wheel shaft which raise the mallets used for beating cloth in fulling.

Teagle
A HOIST for raising material to an upper floor. See SACK HOIST.

Tearing Wire
A thick wire fixed to a hand MOULD to permit the sheet of paper produced on it to be torn along the position of the wire. It can be applied to a CYLINDER MOULD as well.

Teeth
The integral projecting parts of a GEAR WHEEL which engage with similar projections on another gear wheel to enable power to be transferred from one to the other. In millwork, it is normal for. the teeth to be carefully shaped to comply as nearly as practical with the principles of CYCLOIDAL GEARING. See COGS. TEETH may also be of iron which are integral with the CAST-IRON wheel, or may be cast in sections.

Teme
See Temse.

Tempenhead
The PINTLE at the top of a mill post (Essex).

Tempering
See Conditioning.

Template
(1) Wooden plates under the ends of the CROSSTREES to spread the weight over the tops of the PIERS. (2) A paper, card, wooden or metal pattern used for marking out components.

Temse
Medieval term for a SIEVE used in bolting meal by hand.

Tenon
Tongue of wood fitting into a MORTISE to join timbers together.

Tenter Jack
See Lighter Screw.

Tenterhooks
Hooks needed to keep cloth at its full width during weaving or after FULLING.

Tentering
Adjusting the gap between the MILLSTONES thus regulating the fineness of the MEAL. Also known as LIGHTERING

Tentering Frame (Cloth)
A wooden rack on which cloth was spread on hooks to stretch and reshape while it is drying, after FULLING.

Tentering Gear
The mechanism for making fine adjustments to the gap between the MILLSTONES.

Tentering Screw
See Lighter Screw.

Tentering Staff
A lever for TENTERING the stones, operating via the BRAYER and BRIDGE TREE.

Textile Mill
A watermill in which fibrous materials, e.g. wool or cotton, are prepared and processed into cloth or similar products, or part of that processing, using water power.

Thermo-Mechanical Pulp
Made by heating the chips of wood under pressure as they are passed through the first stage of the refining process.

Thimble Bar
A bar into which THIMBLES may be set. The bar being attached to the sail, and any gap between it and the WHIP being filled with a shaped wood filler board.

Thimbles
Small iron or brass sockets in which the sail SHUTTERS pivots swing. See also FLATS.

Thirds
also known as FINE MIDDLINGS. A low grade product of flour dressing.

Thirlage
The system whereby certain persons (suckeners) cultivating specific land were obliged to take their grain for grinding to certain mills and to pay a multure at that mill (Scot.).

Thone
A term applied to wet STONES or GRAIN.

Three Arm Arch
A cast-iron arch with an additional arch on one side. Used to support the THRUST / FOOTSTEP BEARING of an UPRIGHT SHAFT in a WATERMILL.

Three Beat Damsel
See Damsel.

Three Cone Pulley
A stepped belt PULLEY, having three different diameters adjacent each other. The belt is set on to the appropriate diameter to obtain the desired speed. Usually operated in pairs

Three Quarter Dress
A style of HARP DRESSING where there are three furrows going to the perimeter.

Three-Dimensional Watermarks
Formed on a woven wire cover which has been pressed into lower or higher areas to form a pattern. The lower areas form a darker and the higher areas lighter parts of the WATERMARK and the contours give grades in between. Portraits and pictures can be made with this technique which is often used in security papers.

Threshing Mill
A farm mill equipped to drive a stationary threshing machine to beat the grain out of the stalks, and separate it from the straw and husk.

Threshold
The SILL or cross member which passes below the entrance door of a MILL.

Thrift
The turned wooden handle, usually of ash, in which the MILL BILL, FUSILS or PICKS were held & wedged. Also known as the HEFT.

Throat Wedges
See Folding Wedges.

Through Arms
See Compass Arm Wheel.

Through-Shot Arms
Wooden compass arms of a wheel (Essex).

Throughs
(1) Good grain which passes through a sieve. (2) A product that has passed through a sieve.

Thrust Bearing
Any bearing taking the end thrust of a shaft, as at the TAIL end of a WINDSHAFT. The PINTLE and POT bearing at the bottom of a vertical SHAFT is a combined thrust and JOURNAL bearing.

Thrust Block
A block that carries the THRUST BEARING of the windmill WINDSHAFT.

Thrust Brass
See Thrust Bearing.

Thrust Ring
A THRUST BEARING which takes the form of a ring, as at the TAIL end of a WINDSHAFT, through the centre of which must pass the STRIKING ROD.

Thumb of gold
See Miller's Thumb.

Tidal Flaps
Horizontally hinged hatches which open to permit the tidal water to enter the MILL POND and close on the ebb to trap the water.

Tide Gates
Vertically hinged gates which are operated by the tide, opening on the flood and closing on the ebb, thus holding water in the tide pond.

Tide Mill
A WATERMILL using the rise & fall of the tide to provide the power, and normally provided with a TIDE POND or reservoir, often sited in a stream or river estuary.

Tide Pond
A MILL POND which is filled by the rising tide, but may also have a supplementary feed of fresh water.

Tie Beam
A stout framing member which secures two parallel members together to prevent independent movement or ties together the feet of the rafters in a roof couple.

Tie Rod
Long rods or bolts holding a mill together, often added to a building (long) after construction, to compensate for structural weakness. STAY BOLT

Tiggle
See Sack Hoist.

Tiller
See Talthur.

Tilt Hammer
A forge hammer operated by a trip-wheel or cam-shaft turned by a WATERWHEEL. See also FULLING STOCKS.

Timber Feed
The framework carrying the timber baulk being fed to the SAW BLADES in a SAW MILL.

Tin Eye
See Eye Tin.

Tip Bogie
Small or large bogie capable of being tipped. Ran on gangways and on clean floors, but not in rails (Ardeer).

Tirl
An Orkney/Shetland term for the waterwheel, impeller or rotor of a HORIZONTAL MILL.

Tithe
A tax of one tenth part of the annual proceeds from land or personal industry. Used for the support of the Church. Originally payable in kind.

Tiver
Paint composed of red oxide of iron, tallow or fat & water, or soot & water (applied to the PAINT STAFF to detect & mark raised areas on grinding surface of stones prior to dressing. Also known as RADDLE.

Tjasker
A simple Dutch drainage mill, consisting of an Archimedean screw driven directly by sails, without gearing.

Toe Bearing
See Footbrass.

Toebrass
Part of the toe bearing in which a shaft bearing revolves. See FOOTBRASS.

Toll
Payment in kind, taken by a miller in a MULTURE BOWL for grinding corn or dressing meal.

Toll Cupboard
Store for products taken as TOLL.

Toll Dish
See Multure Bowl.

Tomkin Head
A SAMSON-HEAD.

Tonkin
Water channel to mill.

Tooth
See Teeth.

Top
A patent flour, containing as little as 20% of the total weight of the wheat employed.

Top Plates (Girts)
See Top Side Rails.

Top Side Rails
The uppermost side rails in a POST MILL.

Top Stone
See Runner Stone.

Toppings
A secondary product of milling, usually fed to pigs.

Tower Mill
A windmill with a fixed tower of masonry or brickwork, fitted with a revolving CAP.

Trace Pole
A DERRICK POLE. Also refers to a pole erected in the centre of a windmill tower while the tower is being built. The radius & circularity being determined by the use of a TRAMMEL STICK which measures from the pole.

Tracer
See Jackstaff.

Tracer Bar
See Jackstaff.

Track
A metal track which may have a toothed RACK mounted on the CURB for turning the CAP.

Track Plates
Annular plates of wrought or cast iron bolted or spiked to a wooden curb to take the wear.

Trail
See Jackstaff.

Trail Stick
(1) A lever operating a bell alarm or a SHOE (operated by being vibrated by the rough surface of the runner stone). (2) see JACKSTAFF.

Trailing Side (Of Sails)
See Driving Side.

Tram Frame
Frame carrying the TRAM WHEELS on the STEPS or TAILPOLE of a FANTAIL POST MILL.

Tram Pot
See Bridging Box.

Tram Stick
See Jackstaff.

Tram Wheel
The wheels usually two, driven by a POST MILL FANTAIL which run on a TRAMWAY around the mill to WIND it.

Tram-Staff
See Jackstaff.

Trammel
See Jackstaff.

Trammel Stick
A wooden or iron arm pivoted about a centre point for describing a circle as when building a mill tower or constructing a burr stone.

Trammeling
See Brigging The Spindle.

Tramming
See Brigging The Spindle.

Tramp Iron
Metal scrap (binder wire etc.) hidden in the grain.

Tramway
The track on which the tram wheels of a POST MILL FANTAIL travel.

Transom
Horizontal timber in the wall of a smock mill, which acts as a tie and also as a support for STUDDING.

Trap Door
A door in the floor or a roof.

Trash Grid
See Debris Grille.

Trash Grille
See Debris Grille.

Trash Screen
See Debris Grille.

Travellers
An Essex/Suffolk term for the carriage wheels at the base of a post mill ladder (Suffolk).

Trays
Wooden frames with canvas bottoms, used to expose powder or pellets of warm air during stoving (q.v.).

Treadmill
A wide large wheel which is rotated by a man or men treading it round to provide power to some devise.

Treenail
Wooden dowel pin.

Trenail
See Treenail.

Trendel
A driver that clutched the rhynd ( medieval term ). Stone spindle.

Trestle
The whole of the substructure of a post mill (the POST, QUARTERBARS, CROSSTREES and COLLAR) below the body of the mill. Often enclosed in a ROUND HOUSE.

Trestle Grindstone
A BELT-driven grinding stone for sharpening MILL BILLS etc. Usually half cased and standing on trestle legs.

Triangle Iron
See Triangles.

Triangles
Iron cranks operating the front STRIKING GEAR of PATENT SAILS.

Trier
See Trieur.

Trieur
A machine for separating the grain from impurities, foreign matter and other seeds. Sorts by size and shape. Two versions, one lifts the wanted product, the other the unwanted. A similar method is found in the SIMON DISC SEPARATOR. Also called a TRIER. Same as a COCKLE CYLINDER.

Trimmers
Joists at right-angles to the main run of joists, which form the ends of an opening such as a stairwell or SACK TRAP.

Trindle
See Lantern Pinion.

Trinells (Trubdells)
Early type of gears using wooden pegs instead of teeth. (Scot.)

Tringle
See Lantern Pinion.

Trinle
See Lantern Pinion.

Trinle Boards
The discs of a LANTERN PINION.

Trinle Rings
See Trinle Boards.

Trip Hammer
See Tilt Hammer.

Trod
See Clinker.

Trolley Steps
See Steps.

Trolley Wheels
Wheels that support the CAP of a windmill on the CURB, allowing the cap to be rotated. (Compare TRUCK WHEELS which centre the cap within the curb.)

Trough
The vessel which collects the meal from the stones (Scot.). see PENTROUGH.

Trow
See Meal Bin.

Trow, Trowse
See Pentrough.

Truck Wheels
(1) Wheels that run against the inside face of the CURB on a windmill, to centre the CAP. Sometimes known as centring wheels or cap centring wheels. (2) Wheels used to support the steps of post mills. (3) Sometimes used to refer to small wheels which carry the weight of the CAP FRAME on the CURB (more commonly referred to as trolley wheels).

Truckle
An synonym for TRUCK WHEEL.

Truing
See Brigging.

Trundle
See Trundle Wheel.

Trundle Gear
See Trundle Wheel.

Trundle Wheel
A primitive gear wheel having wooden pegs projecting from the face instead of cogs; may engage with a FACE WHEEL or LANTERN WHEEL. Also known as COW-POP GEAR.

Trundle-Head
LANTERN PINION WALLOWER. See LANTERN WHEEL,

Trunnel
See Treenail.

Trunnion
A bearing fitted in the ends of horizontal block or at the end of a shaft.

Tub Mill
A HORIZONTAL WATERMILL fitted with a TUB WHEEL.

Tub Wheel
Horizontal WATERWHEEL revolving in a circular casing made of wood or other material. The Tub Wheel is less affected by backwatering than is the conventional horizontal wheel.

Tub-Size
SIZING applied after the sheet of paper has been dried, by soaking the paper in a solution of hot GELATINE and ALUM.

Tucking Mill
See Fulling Mill.

Tumbler Shaft
The horizontal drive from a HORSE WHEEL (Scotland/N.E. England).

Tumbling Bay
See Spillway.

Tumbling In
A sloping surface of brickwork used to effect a transition from one shape to another.

Tump
A term which can be applied to windmill mounds.

Tun
Tun, a removable circular or octagonal wooden or metal casing enclosing theMILLSTONES. Tun is also known locally as a vat, case, casing, hurstle, box, crib, crub, krub, crubble, ringing, or hoop.

Tunnel Bin
A bin in the roof of a post mill incorporating a "tunnel" for the windshaft to pass through.

Turbine
See Water Turbine.

Turbine Pump
A centrifugal water pump of the type invented by Appold in the 1850's. The later drainage mills were fitted with these, and some earlier mills were converted to drive them (Norfolk).

Turkshead
OGEE-SHAPED CAP.

Turnbuckle
Double-ended screw embodying right and left-handed threads for drawing two rods together, also known as a BOTTLE SCREW.

Turret Mill
A composite mill with round brick base carrying a curb on which the buck rests. See COMPOSITE MILL (in times past it has been used for POST MILLS or PEG MILLS).

Tusk Tenon
Tenon extended through a MORTISE & pegged at the tail end, as in the COLLAR(2) of a POST MILL.

Twibill
Ancient tool for hacking out mortises.

Twin Wire
Name applied to duplex paper made on a pair of Fourdrinier machines but joined while still wet in such a way that the two wire sides come together so that the surfaces on both sides are the same.

Twist Peg
Adjustable winding peg or other mechanism to adjust the tension on the CROOK STRING and thus control the feed rate to the stones.

Two-(Three) Part Shaft
A SHAFT comprising two or three sections of iron or wood which are coupled together longitudinally.

Two-Quarter (Furrow) Dress
A style of HARP DRESSING in which there are two furrows per harp leading to the rim.

Two-Step Gearing
A system of gearing designed to allow two or more pairs of MILLSTONES to be driven by wind or water. (1) A SPUR GEAR drive, employing an UPRIGHT SHAFT so that two or more STONE NUTS may be engaged with the GREAT SPUR WHEEL - applicable to both wind and water mills. (2) A LAYSHAFT drive, where usually the PIT WHEEL drives a LAYSHAFT on which two or more BEVEL GEARS each take the drive to a pair of STONE SPINDLES. (3) Variants of such drives exist.