News Archive - Gears with Wooden Teeth |
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Many visitors to the Mill are surprised
to learn that some of the gears transferring the power from the waterwheel
to the millstones are fitted with wooden teeth. Millers found that
using wooden and metal toothed gears together produced less noise
when the mill operated, and reduced the wear on the metal toothed
gears. It also acted as an additional safety factor, as the wooden
teeth would break if excessive force was applied. The wooden teeth, or 'cogs', were usually made from apple, cherry or hornbeam wood, cut to shape before being inserted into the cast iron gear wheel. If a tooth became worn or broken, it could be removed and replaced by a new one. The top picture shows the 'stonenut', the last gear driving the millstones, fitted with wooden teeth, and below, a rough cut blank tooth, a shaped but unused tooth, and a well-worn tooth removed from a gear wheel. |
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