TIMS News - Bulletin 60

The southeastern part of Land of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony - see map) in Germany is a typical post mill region. One can find substantially more post mills in this region than in any other parts of Niedersachsen. There are several reason for this. The smock mill became established rather late in this region, only after 1800. As far as we know, Dutch millwrights never penetrated this region to construct this new type of mill, as in so many other regions. Moreover, there were a large number of local millwrights who specialised in the construction of post mills. At an early date these millwrights started to improve the technological and structural characteristics of this old type of mill. Because of these circumstances it seems logical that in the middle of the nineteenth century the post mill was still the predominate type of windmill here.
Lastly, the introduction of the expertise for constructing smock mill brought in new technological developments, like the central shaft and the spur wheel in that region until than. Until halfway through the 19th century millwrighting manuals show the traditional layout in post mills: with one pair of stones, directly driven from the brake wheel. After the construction of smock mills became established in the southeastern part of Niedersachsen, there was a noticeable tendency to alter the traditional arrangement with one pair of stones into one with a central shaft and spur wheel and with two or three pairs of stones. Industrialisation started relatively early in this region. Therefore, the use of cast iron for the manufacture of mill wheels was introduced, as well as the appearance of new and more compact milling machinery. This fact strongly influenced the further technological development of the post mill.	(F17: show large picture 290kB)
(F18: show large picture 339kB) Over the years, interesting types of mill technology have developed in this region, which will be considered in this article	(F19: show large picture 288kB)

This excellent paper covers 37 pages and many pictures. All the drawings are made by Rüdiger Hagen. Front picture (on top of this page: The Liebenburg mill (Lkr.Goslar), cross section. This mill clearly shows the high technical development that post mills in this region reached. In 1889 it was moved from nearby Immenrode and drastically modernised.