A-Z glossary

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Waggon Cap
See Wagon Cap.

Wagon Cap
A pent SHAPED CAP, having curved sections of roof to give a partially rounded appearance. A traditional Kentish/Sussex shape.

Waist
The inner portion of a millstone surrounding the eye.

Walk Mill
(1) see FULLING MILL. (2) see HORSE MILL.

Wall Box
A cast iron bearing box mounted in a wall.

Wall Mill
A WINDMILL set on the ramparts of a castle or fortified town.

Wall Plate
(1) Wooden fillet in the wall for fixing partitions. (2) A beam laid in or on a wall. (3) A cast-iron plate, usually circular used with a stay bolt to strengthen a building.

Wall Tie
See Tie Rod.

Waller
See Wallower.

Wallow
See Wallower.

Wallow Wheel
See Wallower.

Wallower
The horizontal BEVEL GEAR or LANTERN PINION driven by the BRAKE WHEEL or PIT WHEEL to turn the UPRIGHT SHAFT or LAYSHAFT, being the first DRIVEN gear wheel in a wind or watermill.

Wand
The STOCKS of a WINDMILL fitted with a cross instead of a POLL END (N.E.Eng.).

Warbler
See Alarm Bell.

Warning Bell
See Alarm Bell.

Washboard
Planks set on edge on top of a weir to allow adjustment to the height of the water.

Waste
See Bypass.

Waste Gate
BY-PASS SLUICE (used by Thames Conservancy 1908).

Water Axle (Shaft)
See Wheel Shaft.

Water Engine
In mining, a water pump engine.

Water Gate
See Penstock.

Water Meadow
A field which may flood naturally, or by controlled flooding in the winter, preventing the soil freezing, and thus obtaining an early crop of grass. As a result it is considered to be very fertile land. Beasts cannot be left there overwinter

Water Mill
A MILL at which the motive power is obtained from water acting on a waterwheel or turbine.

Water Rights
An ancient right of the miller to receive a constant supply of water, without hindrance.

Water Turbine
A C19 development using an enclosed impeller whose cups or blades are scientifically shaped, driven by IMPULSE and REACTION of water. The casing commonly contains vanes or water flow control devices whereby the output power can be controlled. A higher efficiency and increased speeds and power are obtained compared with a water-wheel. (1) ARMFIELD TURBINE A turbine manufactured at the Armfield works in Ringwood. They were millwrights and founders. Their two principle turbines were the "River Patent" and the "British Empire" which were produced from the late C19 onwards. Joseph J Armfield. The firm is no longer in existence. (2) GILKES TURBINE A turbine manufacturer, whose works are in Kendal, who still repair and manufacture turbines. They have bought up many other turbine manufacturers over the years and are now the principal turbine firm in this country. (3) FOURNEYRON TURBINE An outward flow reaction turbine. (4) FRANCIS TURBINE A mixed flow reaction turbine in which the water enters the runner radially inwards and leaves axially. Developed in the U.S.A. in the 1840s. (5) PONCELET WATER TURBINE An inwards, radial flow reaction water turbine developted in France in 1826.

Water Wall
The wall of a watermill which faces into the lade.

Water Walls
Walls in a DRAINAGE MILL, making a channel for the water.

Watergate
See Penstock.

Watermark
Contrived thickening or thinning in a sheet of paper which give darker or lighter areas in the paper as it is being made. These become visible when the sheet is held up to the light.

Waterwheel
A wheel which is able to extract mechanical energy from water as it passes from a high level to a lower level. There are various types of waterwheel, the selection of type being related to the conditions found at the site. See VERTICAL WATERWHEEL, HORIZONTAL TURBINE and WATER TURBINE.

Waulk Mill
See Walk Mill.

Weakness
See Strength.

Weather
See Angle Of Weather.

Weather Beam
See Breast Beam.

Weather Hatch
See Storm Hatch.

Weather Loop
See Loop.

Weather Shield
A plate or shield inserted in a barrel vault for a wheel shaft to pass into the mill, to prevent water ingress.

Weather Shutter
See Storm Hatch.

Weather Studs
See Neck Studs.

Weather To
See Winding.

Weather-Board
A board with a tapered cross section used for cladding. Their overlap may vary according to local tradition.

Weather-Boarding
The close-fitted boarding covering the structural timbers of a mill.

Weathered Sails
Sails with a varied pitch from inner to outer end to the other. see also PITCH.

Weaving Mill
A TEXTILE MILL in which looms for weaving cloth are operated by water power.

Web
A strengthening member in a casting.

Weed Crome
A long handled crook, used to pull weeds from the screen or other areas.

Weed Screen
See Debris Grille.

Weight Box
The box for carrying the weights of a STRIKING CHAIN.

Weight Chain
See Striking Chain.

Weight Wheel
See Striking Wheel.

Weir
(1) A restriction or dam across a water course to permit the backing up of the water (may be used to divert water to a mill). (2) A feature in a dam permitting the excess water to pass over the top. (3) An enclosure of stakes etc., to catch fish.

Well Frame
Is suspended from the CAP FRAME and used to centre the CAP (NW Eng.) see also CENTRING FRAME

Wet End
General term for the portion of the paper machine on which the PULP becomes the sheet of paper

Wheat
Triticum Sp. (Gramineae). Most widely cultivated cereal in temperate zones; high yield & disease resistant; American wheats tend to be 'hard' & English 'soft'.

Wheat Berry
American term for a grain of wheat.

Wheat Feed
Low grade flour containing mainly germ and fine bran.

Wheat Meal
Ground wheat as it comes from the stones, undressed. see WHOLEMEAL.

Wheat Screen
(1) A cleaning machine. (2) A heavy wire screen placed in a spout with an outlet for rubbish. see BALANCE DISH.

Wheat Staff
See Paint Staff.

Wheat Stones
See Millstones.

Wheatmeal
A disused term for wholemeal flour.

Wheel
A circular component capable of rotating, used for many purposes and having many forms of construction. see WATERWHEEL, BELT PULLEY, GEAR WHEEL, BRAKE WHEEL, MITRE WHEEL, FRICTION DRIVE, TRUCK WHEELS, CAP-CENTRING WHEELS, WORM, WORM WHEEL, PIT WHEEL, COMBINATION PULLEY, COG WHEEL, SPURWHEEL, COMPASS ARM WHEEL, CLASP ARM WHEEL etc.

Wheel & Chain Gear
Endless chain for hand WINDING a mill CAP, or for a hand-operated hoist.

Wheel Axle
See Wheel Shaft.

Wheel House
The enclosure, especially on the side of the mill, to house the waterwheel etc.

Wheel of pots
See Noria Wheel.

Wheel Pit
(1) Structural recess to accommodate a waterwheel, usually beside or between working buildings. (2) The pit in which a waterwheel turns. see also RUNWAY

Wheel Ring
See Rim Gearing.

Wheel Sail
See Annular Sail.

Wheel Shaft
The wooden or iron shaft on which the WATERWHEEL is mounted. see also AXLE.

Whetting
(1) see DRESSING. (2) N.England term used for sharpening an edge tool.-.hence "whetstone".

Whip
The main longitudinal timber of an individual windmill SAIL, strapped & bolted to the face of the STOCK. Also known as an arm. See also SAIL BACK.

White Flour
Wheatmeal which has been DRESSED to remove BRAN and other non-white constituents. There have been many types of flour depending on the degree to which unwanted materials have been dressed out and also on the initial quality of the grain. See MIDDLINGS, POLLARDS. BRAN.

Whitesmith
A smith who works with metals other than iron.

Whiting Mill
Wind or watermill in which chalk or calcined limestone is ground with a pair of HORIZONTAL MILLSTONES, or by EDGE RUNNERS (in a water-filled grinding pan), for whitewash or fertiliser.

Whizzing
Whirling grain in a centrifugal machine to rid it of surplus water added during washing. Usually associated with power/roller mills.

Whole Stuff
See Stuff.

Wholemeal
See Meal.

Wholemeal Bread
Bread made from WHOLEMEAL.

Wholemeal Flour
Consists of the undressed milled wheat grain.

Widderkins
WIDDERSHINS.

Widdershins
Describes a rotary motion in an opposite direction to the motion of the sun: e.g. applicable to the anti-clockwise motion of certain millstones.

Willey
( from Willow ) A preparatory process before the spinning of cotton or woollen yarns.

Willow
A wooden spring for tensioning the SHOE against the DAMSEL or QUANT, usually made of ash or hazel. See DEVIL.

Winch
A hand-operated machine with or without GEARS which can produce a powerful pull on a rope or chain useful for lifting or pulling operations, such as WINDING a mill with a winch fitted on its TAILPOLE. Also known as a WINDLASS.

Winch Barrel
See Bollard.

Winch Posts
CHAIN POSTS used with a TAILPOLE mill. See TAILPOLE.

Wind Beam
The WEATHER BEAM.

Wind Engine
An ANNULAR SAILED WIND MILL on a skeletal wooden or iron tower, normally used for pumping or generating electricity. (Also known as AMERICAN WINDMILL.)

Wind Pump
A pump powered by wind, usually driven by annular sails on a 'pylon type' metal tower. See WIND ENGINE.

Wind To
See Winding.

Wind Wheel
Annular sail controlled by patent type gear.

Windboard
Board on the leading edge of a sail to 'gather in' the wind.

Winded
A WINDMILL turned to face the wind.

Winding
The process of turning the MILL so that the SAILS face square to the wind (pronounced as in 'win'). See WINDING GEAR.

Winding Gear
TAILPOLE or FANTAIL for turning the windmill to face the wind (into THE EYE OF THE WIND). May also be turned by the use of inside winders such as the Dutch use or at Chesterton and Tysoe mills, as well as Wheel & Chain as at e.g. Bursledon and Llynon. Also known as LUFFING.

Winding Wheel
See Winding Gear.

Winding Worm
A wooden or iron WORM which meshes with the RACK to turn a CAP to face the wind. See WINDING GEAR.

Windlass
(1) see SACK BOLLARD. (2) see WINCH.

Windle
A measure of corn. (term used in 1556 document).

Windmill
See POST, SMOCK & TOWER

Windmill Mound
An artificial mound on or in which early POST MILLS often stood, either to give them greater height for a stronger wind or to cover the bottom of the TRESTLE to stabilise the mill against high winds.

Window Posts
See Intermediate Uprights.

Windshaft
Main SHAFT of a WINDMILL axle of iron or wood, usually entering the cap or body of a windmill at a small angle to the horizontal, and which carries the sails and the BRAKE WHEEL. see also MORTISED WINDSHAFT.

Wing Gudgeon
A journal of cast-iron with four "wings" in the form of a cross, set into the end of a wooden shaft to run on a bearing. Same as CROSS-TAILED GUDGEON.

Winnower
(1) A machine in which a FAN(2) blows air to remove CHAFF and other light material from the grain as it falls across the airstream, before it is ground. It may incorporate sieves. (2) A flat basket held or shaken in the wind to blow chaff and other light refuse from the threshed grain.

Winnowing Fan
Fan which blows chaff and other light refuse material from uncleaned grain as it passes through a box and sieve.

Winter Mill
A watermill on a small stream that is only strong enough to work it during the winter. A class of WATERMILL mentioned in the Domesday Survey, and still functioning in Denmark. See NAILBOURNE.

Winter-Lakes
Water-meadows (Old term.)

Winterbourne
A stream which only flows in the winter (Bourne, Piddle, Lavant etc).

Wipmill
A Dutch type of HOLLOW POST MILL driving a SCOOP WHEEL. See HOLLOW POST MILL.

Wire
Short for machine wire and is that moving part of the FOURDRINIER machine on which the sheet of paper is actually formed.

Wire Dresser
See Wire Machine.

Wire Machine
Device used to separate FLOUR from SHARPS & BRAN, and grade it into several qualities. A type of cleaning, or dressing, machine using a fixed cylindrical frame covered with a wire mesh containing rotary brushes. See DRESSER.

Wire Mark
Diamond-shaped pattern of the paper-machine wire, seen on the wire side or in the look-through of a sheet of paper.

Wire Mill
A watermill in which rods of metal were pulled through a succession of holes of reducing size, to produce wire.

Wire Profile
Pattern made from bent wires which form the WATERMARK. They are sewn onto the surface of the cover of a hand mould and protrude into the PULP, causing thinner areas which show as lighter lines in the sheet of paper.

Wire Rigging
Stay wires for easing the strain on the SAILS.

With The Sun
Clockwise. See also AGAINST THE SUN.

Wood
Traditional material for building mills; Oak for wheels and main mill construction; elm for FLOATS; apple, beech or hornbeam for COGS.

Wood Proof
See Paint Staff.

Wood Rigger
An old term for a BELT PULLEY.

Wood Wears
Wooden blocks round the main post in a post mill floor. See COLLAR(1).

Woollen Mill
Cleans, cards, weaves and fulls woollen cloth.

Working Dry
When the stones are running without grain present.

Working Uplongs
Long, slender wooden bars linking the levers of SHUTTERS together. Same as SHUTTER BARS.

Worm
(1) Cylindrical GEARWHEEL bearing a helical TOOTH or START; frequently used in conjunction with a rack in windmill winding gear. It could be regarded as a single-toothed GEAR WHEEL. Sometimes provided with more than one tooth or 'start'. In Westmorland it was used as part of the MILLSTONE lifting hoists. (2) see AUGER.

Worm Ring
See Rack.

Worm Wheel
A SPUR GEAR having its cogs set at an angle to mesh with a WORM.

Worsted Mill
See Woollen Mill.

Wove
( adj.) of paper from a woven wire, with (usually) no obvious patterning when held to the light. Compare LAID.

Wove Mould
Cover of a mould made from wire woven like a piece of cloth.

Wrapping Connector
See Belt.

Wrought Charge
See Ripe Charge.