Editing Watermill

{{Short description|Structure that uses a water wheel or turbine}}
{{About|a type of structure|other locational uses|Milldam|details of the technologies|Water wheel|further details of the technologies|Mill machinery|other uses|Water Mill (disambiguation){{!}}Water Mill}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
[[File:Braine-le-Château JPG02.jpg|thumb|Watermill of [[Braine-le-Château]], Belgium (12th century)]]
[[File:WaterMill Interior MotionBlur.jpg|thumb|Interior of the [[Lyme Regis]] watermill, UK (14th century)]]
A '''watermill''' or '''water mill''' is a mill that uses [[hydropower]]. It is a structure that uses a [[water wheel]] or [[water turbine]] to drive a mechanical process such as [[mill (grinding)|milling (grinding)]], [[rolling]], or [[hammer]]ing. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including [[flour]], [[lumber]], [[paper]], [[textile]]s, and many [[metal]] products. These watermills may comprise [[gristmill]]s, [[sawmill]]s, [[paper mill]]s, [[textile mill]]s, [[hammermill]]s, [[trip hammer]]ing mills, [[rolling mill]]s, and [[wire drawing]] mills.

One major way to classify watermills is by wheel orientation (vertical or horizontal), one powered by a vertical waterwheel through a [[Gear train|gear]] mechanism, and the other equipped with a horizontal waterwheel without such a mechanism. The former type can be further subdivided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot and pitchback (backshot or reverse shot) waterwheel mills. Another way to classify water mills is by an essential trait about their location: [[tide mill]]s use the movement of the tide; [[ship mill]]s are water mills onboard (and constituting) a ship.

Watermills impact the river dynamics of the watercourses where they are installed. During the time watermills operate channels tend to [[sedimentation|sedimentate]], particularly [[Backwater (river)|backwater]].<ref name=MaasSchuttrumpf2019>{{cite journal |last1=Maaß |first1=Anna-Lisa |last2=Schüttrumpf |first2=Holger |title=Elevated floodplains and net channel incision as a result of the construction and removal of water mills |journal=[[Geografiska Annaler|Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography]]|volume=101|issue=2 |date=2019 |pages=157–176 |doi=10.1080/04353676.2019.1574209|bibcode=2019GeAnA.101..157M |s2cid=133795380 }}</ref> Also in the backwater area, [[flood|inundation events]] and sedimentation of adjacent [[floodplain]]s increase. Over time however these effects are cancelled by river banks becoming higher.<ref name=MaasSchuttrumpf2019/> Where mills have been removed, [[river incision]] increases and [[Channel (geography)|channels]] deepen.<ref name=MaasSchuttrumpf2019/>

== History ==
{{See also|Water wheel}}
There are two basic types of watermills, one powered by a vertical-waterwheel via a [[gear]] mechanism, and the other equipped with a horizontal-waterwheel without such a mechanism. The former type can be further divided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot and reverse shot waterwheel mills.

=== Western world ===
==== Classical antiquity ====
{{Further|List of ancient watermills}}
[[File:Roda de Vitruvi.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Model of a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] water-powered grain mill described by [[Vitruvius]]. The millstone (upper floor) is powered by an [[Water wheel#Types|undershot waterwheel]] by the way of a gear mechanism (lower floor)]]

The [[Hellenistic civilization|Greeks]] invented the two main components of watermills, the waterwheel and toothed gearing, and used, along with the [[Roman Empire|Romans]], undershot, overshot and breastshot waterwheel mills.<ref>{{harvnb|Oleson|1984|pp=325ff.}}; {{harvnb|Oleson|2000|pp=217–302}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|pp=10−15}}; {{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=371−400}}</ref>

The earliest evidence of a water-driven wheel appears in the technical treatises ''Pneumatica'' and ''Parasceuastica'' of the Greek engineer [[Philo of Byzantium]] (ca. 280−220 BC).<ref>{{harvnb|Oleson|2000|p=233}}</ref> The British historian of technology M.J.T. Lewis has shown that those portions of Philo of Byzantium's mechanical treatise which describe water wheels and which have been previously regarded as later [[Arabic language|Arabic]] interpolations, actually date back to the Greek [[3rd century BC]] original.<ref>M. J. T. Lewis, Millstone and Hammer: the origins of water power (University of Hull Press 1997)</ref> The [[sakia|sakia gear]] is, already fully developed, for the first time attested in a 2nd-century BC [[Hellenistic]] wall painting in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]].<ref>{{harvnb|Oleson|2000|pp=234, 270}}</ref>

Lewis assigns the date of the invention of the [[Water wheel#Types|horizontal-wheeled]] mill to the Greek colony of [[Byzantium]] in the first half of the 3rd century BC, and that of the [[Water wheel#Types|vertical-wheeled]] mill to [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] [[Alexandria]] around 240 BC.<ref name="invention">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=396f.}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Wilson|2002|pp=7f.}}</ref>

The Greek geographer [[Strabo]] reports in his ''Geography'' a water-powered [[grain-mill]] to have existed near the palace of king [[Mithradates VI Eupator]] at [[Cabira]], [[Asia Minor]], before 71 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|p=160}}; {{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=396}}</ref>

The Roman engineer [[Vitruvius]] has the first technical description of a watermill, dated to 40/10 BC; the device is fitted with an [[Water wheel#Types|undershot wheel]] and power is transmitted via a [[sakia|gearing mechanism]].<ref name="Undershot wheel mill">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=373f.}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|p=12}}</ref> He also seems to indicate the existence of water-powered [[kneading]] machines.<ref name="Wikander 2000, 402">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=402}}</ref>

The Greek epigrammatist [[Antipater of Thessalonica]] tells of an advanced [[Water wheel#Types|overshot wheel]] mill around 20 BC/10 AD.<ref name="Overshot wheel mill">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=375}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|p=13}}</ref> He praised for its use in grinding grain and the reduction of human labour:<ref>Lewis, p. vii.</ref>

{{blockquote|Hold back your hand from the mill, you grinding girls; even if the cockcrow heralds the dawn, sleep on.  For [[Demeter]] has imposed the labours of your hands on the [[nymph]]s, who leaping down upon the topmost part of the wheel, rotate its axle; with encircling cogs,''<ref>The translation of this word is crucial to the interpretation of the passage.  Traditionally, it has been translated as 'spoke' (e.g. Reynolds, p. 17), but Lewis (p. 66) points out that, while its primary meaning is 'ray' (as a sunbeam), its only concrete meaning is 'cog'. Since a horizontal-wheeled corn mill does not need gearing (and hence has no cogs), the mill must have been vertical-wheeled.</ref>'' it turns the hollow weight of the [[Nisyros|Nisyrian]] [[millstone]]s.  If we learn to feast toil-free on the fruits of the earth, we taste again the [[golden age]].}}

The Roman encyclopedist [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] mentions in his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]'' of around 70 AD water-powered [[trip hammer]]s operating in the greater part of Italy.<ref name="Trip hammer">{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|p=158}}; {{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=403}}; {{harvnb|Wilson|2002|p=16}}</ref> There is evidence of a [[fulling mill]] in 73/74 AD in [[Antioch]], [[Roman Syria]].<ref name="Wikander 2000, 406">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=406}}</ref>

The 2nd century AD [[Barbegal aqueduct and mill|multiple mill complex of Barbegal]] in southern [[France]] has been described as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the [[ancient world]]".<ref>Kevin Greene, "Technological Innovation and Economic Progress in the Ancient World: M.I. Finley Re-Considered", ''The Economic History Review'', New Series, Vol. 53, No. 1. (Feb., 2000), pp. 29-59 (39)</ref> It featured 16 overshot waterwheels to power an equal number of [[flour]] mills. The capacity of the mills has been estimated at 4.5 tons of [[flour]] per day, sufficient to supply enough bread for the 12,500 inhabitants occupying the town of [[Arles|Arelate]] at that time.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.etab.ac-caen.fr/lescourtils/provence/barbegal.htm |title=La meunerie de Barbegal<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2008-04-11 |archive-date=2007-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070117123744/http://www.etab.ac-caen.fr/lescourtils/provence/barbegal.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> A similar mill complex existed on the [[Janiculum]] hill, whose supply of flour for [[Rome]]'s population was judged by emperor [[Aurelian]] important enough to be included in the [[Aurelian walls]] in the late 3rd century.

A [[Water wheel#Types|breastshot wheel]] mill dating to the late 2nd century AD was excavated at [[Les Martres-de-Veyre]], France.<ref name="Wikander 2000, 375">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=375}}</ref>

[[File:Römische Sägemühle.svg|thumb|left|Scheme of the Roman [[Hierapolis sawmill]], the earliest known machine to incorporate the mechanism of a [[crank (mechanism)|crank]] and [[connecting rod]]<ref name="Ritti, Grewe, Kessener 2007, 161"/>]]

The 3rd century AD [[Hierapolis water-powered stone sawmill]] is the earliest known machine to incorporate the mechanism of a [[crank (mechanism)|crank]] and [[connecting rod]].<ref name="Ritti, Grewe, Kessener 2007, 161">{{harvnb|Ritti|Grewe|Kessener|2007|p=161}}</ref> Further sawmills, also powered by crank and connecting rod mechanisms, are archaeologically attested for the 6th century AD water-powered stone sawmills at [[Gerasa]] and [[Ephesus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ritti|Grewe|Kessener|2007|pp=149–153}}</ref> Literary references to water-powered [[marble]] saws in what is now [[Germany]] can be found in [[Ausonius]] 4th century AD poem [[Mosella]]. They also seem to be indicated about the same time by the [[Christian saint]] [[Gregory of Nyssa]] from [[Anatolia]], demonstrating a diversified use of water-power in many parts of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2002|p=16}}</ref>

[[File:Roman mill at Chemtou.jpg|thumb|Roman [[turbine]] mill at [[Chemtou]], [[Tunisia]]. The tangential water inflow of the millrace made the horizontal wheel in the shaft turn like a true turbine, the earliest known.<ref name="Wilson 1995 507f">{{harvnb|Wilson|1995|pp=507f.}}; {{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=377}}; {{harvnb|Donners|Waelkens|Deckers|2002|p=13}}</ref>]]

The earliest [[Water turbine|turbine]] mill was found in [[Chemtou]] and [[Testour]], [[Roman North Africa]], dating to the late 3rd or early 4th century AD.<ref name="Wilson 1995 507f"/> A possible water-powered [[Blast furnace|furnace]] has been identified at [[Marseille]], France.<ref name="Wikander 2000, 407">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=407}}</ref>

Mills were commonly used for grinding grain into flour (attested by [[Pliny the Elder]]), but industrial uses as [[fulling]] and sawing [[marble]] were also applied.<ref>Lewis, ''passim''.</ref>

The Romans used both fixed and floating water wheels and introduced water power to other provinces of the [[Roman Empire]].  So-called 'Greek Mills' used water wheels with a horizontal wheel (and vertical shaft).  A "Roman Mill" features a vertical wheel (on a horizontal shaft).  Greek style mills are the older and simpler of the two designs, but only operate well with high water velocities and with small diameter millstones. Roman style mills are more complicated as they require gears to transmit the power from a shaft with a horizontal axis to one with a vertical axis.

Although to date only a few dozen Roman mills are archaeologically traced, the widespread use of aqueducts in the period suggests that many remain to be discovered. Recent excavations in Roman London, for example, have uncovered what appears to be a [[tide mill]] together with a possible sequence of mills worked by an aqueduct running along the side of the [[River Fleet]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/005.pdf |title=Rob Spain: A possible Roman Tide Mill |access-date=2008-03-08 |archive-date=2011-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517013738/http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/005.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 537 AD, [[ship mill]]s were ingeniously used by the [[East Rome|East Roman]] general [[Belisarius]], when the besieging [[Ostrogoths|Goths]] cut off the water supply for those mills.<ref name="Wikander 2000, 383">{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=383}}</ref> These floating mills had a wheel that was attached to a boat moored in a fast flowing river.

<gallery class="center">
File:Undershot water wheel schematic.svg|Undershot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 1st century BC<ref name="Undershot wheel mill"/>
Image:Overshot water wheel schematic.svg|Overshot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 1st century BC<ref name="Overshot wheel mill"/>
Image:Breastshot water wheel schematic.png|Breastshot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 3rd century AD<ref name="Wikander 2000, 375"/> 
</gallery>

==== Middle Ages ====
{{Further|List of early medieval watermills}}
[[Image:Medieval mill with undershot wheel.png|thumb|right|Medieval watermill]]
[[File:Shipmills, Martyrdom of St Ursula at Cologne (detail).jpg|thumb|250px|German [[ship mill]]s on the [[Rhine]], around 1411]]

The surviving evidence for watermills sharply increases with the emergence of documentary genres such as [[Monastery|monastic]] [[charter]]s, Christian [[hagiography]] and Germanic [[legal code]]s. These were more inclined to address watermilling, a mostly rural work process, than the [[Classical antiquity|ancient]] urban-centered literary class had been.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=372f.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2002|p=3}}</ref> By [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] times, references to watermills had become "innumerable" in Frankish records.<ref name="Wikander 1985, 170, 45">{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|p=170, fn. 45}}</ref> The [[Domesday Book]], compiled in 1086, records 5,624 watermills in [[Norman England|England]] alone.<ref>{{harvnb|Gimpel|1977|pp=11–12}}</ref> Later research estimates a less conservative number of 6,082 that should be considered a minimum as the northern reaches of England were never properly recorded.<ref>{{harvnb|Langdon|2004|pp=9–10}}</ref> In 1300, this number had risen to between 10,000 and 15,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Langdon|2004|pp=11}}</ref> By the early 7th century, watermills were also well established in [[Ireland]]. A century later they began to spread across the former Roman Rhine and Danube frontier into the other parts of [[Germany]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=400}}</ref> [[Ship mill]]s and [[tide mill]]s, both of which yet unattested for the ancient period,<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|pp=379 & 383f.}}</ref> were introduced in the 6th century.

; Tide mills

In recent years, a number of new archaeological finds has consecutively pushed back the date of the earliest tide mills, all of which were discovered on the [[Ireland|Irish]] coast: A 6th century [[Water wheel#Types|vertical-wheeled]] tide mill was located at Killoteran near [[Waterford]].<ref name="Murphy 2005">{{harvnb|Murphy|2005}}</ref> A twin flume [[Water wheel#Types|horizontal-wheeled]] tide mill dating to c. 630 was excavated on [[Little Island, Cork|Little Island]].<ref name="Wikander 1985, 155–157">{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|pp=155–157}}</ref><ref name="Rynne 2000, 10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49">{{harnvb|Rynne|2000|pp=10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49}}</ref> Alongside it, another tide mill was found which was powered by a vertical undershot wheel.<ref name="Wikander 1985, 155–157"/><ref name="Rynne 2000, 10, fig. 1.2; 17; 49"/> The [[Nendrum Monastery mill]] from 787 was situated on an island in [[Strangford Lough]] in [[Northern Ireland]]. Its millstones are 830&nbsp;mm in diameter and the horizontal wheel is estimated to have developed {{convert|7/8|HP|W}} at its peak. Remains of an earlier mill dated at 619 were also found at the site.<ref>{{harvnb|McErlean|Crothers|2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nendrum.utvinternet.com/tmill/ |title=Recently discovered Tide Mill from 787 AD at Nendrum Monastic Site |access-date=2008-04-10 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927225336/http://www.nendrum.utvinternet.com/tmill/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

; Survey of industrial mills

In a 2005 survey the scholar Adam Lucas identified the following first appearances of various industrial mill types in Western Europe. Noticeable is the preeminent role of France in the introduction of new innovative uses of waterpower.  However, he has drawn attention to the dearth of studies of the subject in several other countries.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" cellpadding="2"
|- style="background: #ececec;"
!colspan="12" | '''First Appearance of Various Industrial Mills in Medieval Europe, AD 770-1443''' <ref>Adam Robert Lucas, 'Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe', ''Technology and Culture'', Vol. 46, (Jan. 2005), pp. 1-30 (17).</ref>
|-
!'''Type of mill'''
! '''Date'''
! '''Country'''
|-
|Malt mill
|770
|France
|-
|[[Fulling mill]]
|1080
|France
|-
|Tanning mill
|c. 1134
|France
|-
|Forge mill
|ca. 1200
|England, France
|-
|Tool-sharpening mill
|1203
|France
|-
|Hemp mill
|1209
|France
|-
|Bellows
|1269, 1283
|Slovakia, France
|-
|[[Paper mill]]<ref name="Burns 1996, 417f.">{{harvnb|Burns|1996|pp=417f.}}</ref>
|1282
|Spain
|-
|[[Sawmill]]
|c. 1300
|France
|-
|Ore-crushing mill
|1317
|Germany
|-
|[[Blast furnace]]
|1384
|France
|-
|Cutting and [[slitting mill]]
|1443
|France
|-
|}

===Ancient East Asia===
[[Image:Song Dynasty Hydraulic Mill for Grain.JPG|thumb|right|A [[Song dynasty|Northern Song era]] (960&ndash;1127) water-powered mill for dehusking grain with a horizontal wheel]]

The waterwheel was found in China from 30 AD onwards, when it was used to power [[trip hammer]]s,<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, pp.&nbsp;390&ndash;392</ref> the [[bellows]] in [[History of ferrous metallurgy|smelting iron]],<ref>{{harvnb|de Crespigny|2007|p=184}}</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 370.</ref> and in one case, to mechanically rotate an [[armillary sphere]] for [[Chinese astronomy|astronomical observation]] (see [[Zhang Heng]]).<ref>{{harvnb|de Crespigny|2007|p=1050}}</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 88&ndash;89.</ref> Although the British chemist and sinologist [[Joseph Needham]] speculates that the water-powered millstone could have existed in Han China by the 1st century AD, there is no sufficient literary evidence for it until the 5th century AD.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 396&ndash;400.</ref> In 488 AD, the mathematician and engineer [[Zu Chongzhi]] had a watermill erected which was inspected by [[Emperor Wu of Southern Qi]] (r. 482&ndash;493 AD).<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 400" >Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 400.</ref> The engineer Yang Su of the [[Sui dynasty]] (581&ndash;618 AD) was said to operate hundreds of them by the beginning of the 6th century.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 400" /> A source written in 612 AD mentions [[Bhikkhu|Buddhist monks]] arguing over the revenues gained from watermills.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 400&ndash;401.</ref> The [[Tang dynasty]] (618&ndash;907 AD) 'Ordinances of the Department of Waterways' written in 737 AD stated that watermills should not interrupt riverine transport and in some cases were restricted to use in certain seasons of the year.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 400"/> From other Tang-era sources of the 8th century, it is known that these ordinances were taken very seriously, as the government demolished many watermills owned by great families, merchants, and [[Chinese Buddhism|Buddhist abbeys]] that failed to acknowledge ordinances or meet government regulations.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 400"/> A [[Eunuch (court official)|eunuch]] serving [[Emperor Xuanzong of Tang]] (r. 712&ndash;756 AD) owned a watermill by 748 AD which employed five waterwheels that ground 300 [[bushel]]s of wheat a day.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 400" /> By 610 or 670 AD, the watermill was introduced to [[Japan]] via [[Korean Peninsula]].<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 401" >Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 401.</ref> It also became known in [[Tibet]] by at least 641 AD.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 4 part 2 401"/>

===Ancient India===
According to Greek historical tradition, India received water-mills from the Roman Empire in the early 4th century AD when a certain Metrodoros introduced "water-mills and baths, unknown among them [the Brahmans] till then".<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|2000|p=400}}: {{blockquote|This is also the period when water-mills started to spread outside the former Empire. According to [[Cedrenus]] (Historiarum compendium), a certain Metrodoros who went to India in c. AD 325 "constructed water-mills and baths, unknown among them [the Brahmans] till then".}}</ref>

===Arabic world===
[[File:An Afghan Water Mill in Afghanistan WDL11490.png|thumb|An Afghan water mill photographed during the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]] (1878–1880). The rectangular water mill has a thatched roof and traditional design with a small horizontal mill-house built of stone or perhaps mud bricks.]]

Engineers under the [[Caliphates]] adopted watermill technology from former provinces of the [[Byzantine Empire]], having been applied for centuries in those provinces prior to the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], including modern-day [[Syria]], [[Jordan]], [[Israel]], [[Algeria]], [[Tunisia]], [[Morocco]], and [[Spain]] (see [[List of ancient watermills]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|1985|pp=158−162}}</ref>

The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled watermills were both in widespread use by the 9th century.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} A variety of industrial watermills were used in the Islamic world, including [[gristmill]]s, [[huller]]s, [[sawmill]]s, ship mills, [[stamp mill]]s, [[steel mill]]s, [[Sugar refinery|sugar mills]], and [[tide mill]]s. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial watermills in operation, from [[al-Andalus]] and [[North Africa]] to the [[Middle East]] and [[Central Asia]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Adam Robert | first1 = Lucas  | year = 2005 | title = Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe | journal = Technology and Culture | volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 1–30 [10] | doi=10.1353/tech.2005.0026| s2cid = 109564224 }}</ref> Muslim and Middle Eastern Christian engineers also used [[crankshaft]]s and [[water turbine]]s, [[gear]]s in watermills and water-raising [[machine]]s, and  [[dam]]s as a source of water, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines.<ref>[[Ahmad Y Hassan]], [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.htm Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering]</ref> Fulling mills, and steel mills may have spread from [[Al-Andalus]] to Christian Spain in the 12th century. Industrial watermills were also employed in large [[factory]] complexes built in al-Andalus between the 11th and 13th centuries.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Adam Robert | first1 = Lucas  | year = 2005 | title = Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe | journal = Technology and Culture | volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 1–30 [11] | doi=10.1353/tech.2005.0026| s2cid = 109564224 }}</ref>

The engineers of the Islamic world used several solutions to achieve the maximum output from a watermill. One solution was to mount them to [[pier]]s of [[bridge]]s to take advantage of the increased flow. Another solution was the ship mill, a type of watermill powered by water wheels mounted on the sides of [[ship]]s [[Mooring (watercraft)|moored]] in [[midstream]]. This technique was employed along the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers in 10th-century [[Iraq]], where large ship mills made of [[teak]] and [[iron]] could produce 10 [[ton]]s of [[Gristmill|flour from corn]] every day for the [[granary]] in [[Baghdad]].<ref name=Hill2 >Hill; see also [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=2007-12-25 }})</ref>

===Persia===
More than 300 watermills were at work in Iran till 1960.<ref name=Qanat>[http://www.aftabir.com/articles/view/science_education/technical/c3c1183387267p1.php/%D9%82%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%87%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86 Conference of Qanat in Iran - water clock in Persia 1383], in Persian</ref> Now only a few are still working. One of the famous ones is the water mill of Askzar and the water mill of the [[Yazd]] city, still producing flour.

==Operation==
[[File:Tapolca (5).jpg|thumb|A watermill in [[Tapolca]], [[Veszprem County]], [[Hungary]]]]
[[Image:roblinsmill.jpg|thumb|upright|Roblin's Mill, a watermill, at [[Black Creek Pioneer Village]] in [[Toronto, Ontario]], [[Canada]]]]
[[Image:Watermills Pliva Jajce Bosnia.JPG|thumb|Watermills on the [[Pliva (river)|Pliva]] in [[Jajce]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]]]
[[Image:WatermillWealdandDownland.JPG|thumb|The interior of a functional watermill at [[Weald and Downland Open Air Museum]]]]
Typically, water is diverted from a [[river]] or [[dam|impoundment]] or mill pond to a turbine or water wheel, along a channel or pipe (variously known as a [[flume]], head race, [[mill race]], [[leat]], leet,<ref>''Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged'' (1952) states: '''''leet''', n. A leat; a flume. [Obs.]''.</ref> lade (Scots) or [[penstock]]).  The force of the water's movement drives the blades of a wheel or turbine, which in turn rotates an axle that drives the mill's other machinery.  Water leaving the wheel or turbine is drained through a tail race, but this channel may also be the head race of yet another wheel, turbine or mill.  The passage of water is controlled by [[sluice]] gates that allow maintenance and some measure of [[flood]] control; large mill complexes may have dozens of sluices controlling complicated interconnected races that feed multiple buildings and industrial processes.

Watermills can be divided into two kinds, one with a horizontal water wheel on a vertical axle, and the other with a vertical wheel on a horizontal axle.  The oldest of these were horizontal mills in which the force of the water, striking a simple paddle wheel set horizontally in line with the flow turned a [[runner stone]] balanced on the [[Millrind|rynd]] which is atop a shaft leading directly up from the wheel. The bedstone does not turn. The problem with this type of mill arose from the lack of gearing; the speed of the water directly set the maximum speed of the runner stone which, in turn, set the rate of milling.

Most watermills in Britain and the United States of America had a vertical waterwheel, one of four kinds: undershot, breast-shot, overshot and pitchback wheels. This vertical produced rotary motion around a horizontal axis, which could be used (with cams) to lift hammers in a [[finery forge|forge]], fulling stocks in a [[fulling mill]] and so on.

<gallery class="center">
File:Undershot water wheel schematic.svg|Undershot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 1st century BC<ref name="Undershot wheel mill"/>
Image:Overshot water wheel schematic.svg|Overshot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 1st century BC<ref name="Overshot wheel mill"/>
File:Pitchback water wheel schematic (2).svg|Pitchback water wheel, often used to increase the power generated by a breastshot wheel<ref name="Yorke">{{cite book|last=Yorke|first=Stan|title=The Industrial Revolution explained|publisher=Countryside Books|location=Newbury, Berks|year=2005|pages=20–31|isbn=978-1-85306-935-2}}</ref>
Image:Breastshot water wheel schematic.png|Breastshot water wheel, applied for watermilling since the 3rd century AD<ref name="Wikander 2000, 375"/>
</gallery>

===Milling corn===
[[File:Molino Meraviglia Ingresso - Sapore D'antico.jpg|thumb|''Mulino Meraviglia'' in [[San Vittore Olona]], [[Italy]], along [[Olona]] river]]

However, in corn mills rotation about a vertical axis was required to drive its stones. The horizontal rotation was converted into the vertical rotation by means of gearing, which also enabled the runner stones to turn faster than the waterwheel. The usual arrangement in British and American [[corn mill]]s has been for the waterwheel to turn a horizontal shaft on which is also mounted a large [[pit wheel]]. This meshes with the [[wallower]], mounted on a vertical shaft, which turns the (larger) great spur wheel (mounted on the same shaft). This large [[face wheel]], set with pegs, in turn, turned a smaller wheel (such as a [[Gear#Cage gear|lantern gear]]) known as a stone nut, which was attached to the shaft that drove the runner stone.  The number of runner stones that could be turned depended directly upon the supply of water available. As waterwheel technology improved mills became more efficient, and by the 19th century, it was common for the great spur wheel to drive several stone nuts, so that a single water wheel could drive as many as four stones.<ref name="Gauldie" >Gauldie.</ref> Each step in the process increased the gear ratio which increased the maximum speed of the runner stone. Adjusting the [[sluice gate]] and thus the flow of the water past the main wheel allowed the miller to compensate for seasonal variations in the water supply. Finer speed adjustment was made during the milling process by ''tentering'', that is, adjusting the gap between the stones according to the water flow, the type of grain being milled, and the grade of flour required.

In many mills (including the earliest) the great spur wheel turned only one stone, but there might be several mills under one roof.  The earliest illustration of a single waterwheel driving more than one set of stones was drawn by [[Henry Beighton]] in 1723 and published in 1744 by [[John Theophilus Desaguliers|J. T. Desaguliers]].<ref>''A Course of Experimental Philosophy'' II (1744; 1763 edition), 449-53.</ref>
[[Image:DalgarvenMillBuildings.jpg|right|thumb|[[Dalgarven Mill]], [[Ayrshire]], [[United Kingdom]]]]
[[Image:Plavajoci mlin na Muri.jpg|thumb|left|Shipmill on the [[Mur (river)|Mura]], [[Slovenia]]|186x186px]]

===Overshot and pitchback mills===
The overshot wheel was a later innovation in waterwheels and was around two and a half times more efficient than the undershot.<ref name="Gauldie"/> The undershot wheel, in which the main water wheel is simply set into the flow of the mill race, suffers from an inherent inefficiency stemming from the fact that the wheel itself, entering the water behind the main thrust of the flow driving the wheel, followed by the lift of the wheel out of the water ahead of the main thrust, actually impedes its own operation. The overshot wheel solves this problem by bringing the water flow to the top of the wheel. The water fills buckets built into the wheel, rather than the simple paddle wheel design of undershot wheels. As the buckets fill, the weight of the water starts to turn the wheel. The water spills out of the bucket on the down side into a spillway leading back to river. Since the wheel itself is set above the spillway, the water never impedes the speed of the wheel. The impulse of the water on the wheel is also harnessed in addition to the weight of the water once in the buckets. Overshot wheels require the construction of a dam on the river above the mill and a more elaborate millpond, sluice gate, mill race and spillway or tailrace.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tailrace  Dictionary definition of "tailrace"].</ref>

An inherent problem in the overshot mill is that it reverses the rotation of the wheel. If a miller wishes to convert a breastshot mill to  an overshot wheel all the machinery in the mill has to be rebuilt to take account of the change in rotation. An alternative solution was the pitchback or backshot wheel. A '''launder''' was placed at the end of the flume on the headrace, this turned the direction of the water without much loss of energy, and the direction of rotation was maintained. [[Daniels Mill, Shropshire|Daniels Mill]] near [[Bewdley]], [[Worcestershire]] is an example of a flour mill that originally used a breastshot wheel, but was converted to use a pitchback wheel. Today it operates as a breastshot mill.<ref name=Yorke />
[[Image:DalgarvenMillWheel.jpg|left|thumb|upright|A breastshot waterwheel at [[Dalgarven Mill]], [[United Kingdom]]]]

Larger water wheels (usually [[overshot]] [[steel]] wheels) transmit the power from a [[ring gear|toothed annular ring]] that is mounted near the outer edge of the wheel. This drives the machinery using a [[gear|spur gear]] mounted on a shaft rather than taking power from the central [[axle]]. However, the basic mode of operation remains the same; [[gravity]] drives [[machinery]] through the motion of flowing [[water]].

Toward the end of the 19th century, the invention of the [[Pelton wheel]] encouraged some mill owners to replace over- and undershot wheels with Pelton wheel [[turbine]]s driven through [[penstock]]s.

=== Tide mills ===

A different type of watermill is the [[tide mill]]. This mill might be of any kind, undershot, overshot or horizontal but it does not employ a river for its power source. Instead a mole or causeway is built across the mouth of a small bay. At low tide, gates in the mole are opened allowing the bay to fill with the incoming tide. At high tide the gates are closed, trapping the water inside. At a certain point a sluice gate in the mole can be opened allowing the draining water to drive a mill wheel or wheels. This is particularly effective in places where the tidal differential is very great, such as the [[Bay of Fundy]] in Canada where the tides can rise fifty feet, or the now derelict village of [[Tide Mills, East Sussex]].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} The last two examples in the United Kingdom which are restored to working conditions can be visited at [[Eling Tide Mill|Eling]], [[Hampshire]] and at [[Woodbridge Tide Mill|Woodbridge]], [[Suffolk]].

''Run of the river'' schemes do not divert water at all and usually involve [[undershot]] wheels the mills are mostly on the banks of sizeable rivers or fast flowing streams. Other watermills were set beneath large bridges where the flow of water between the stanchions was faster. At one point London bridge had so many water wheels beneath it that bargemen complained that passage through the bridge was impaired. {{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

==Current status==
[[File:Mill in the woods (31546576571).jpg|thumb|left|200px|Watermill in [[Kuusamo]] (Finland)]]
[[File:Jahodna vizimalom.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Watermill in [[Jahodná]] (Slovakia)]]
In 1870 watermills still produced 2/3 of the power available for British grain milling.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Otter |first1=Chris |title=Diet for a large planet |date=2020 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-226-69710-9 |page=22 }}</ref>  By the early 20th century, availability of cheap electrical energy made the watermill obsolete in developed countries although some smaller rural mills continued to operate commercially later throughout the century.

A few historic mills such as the [[Water Mill (Water Mill, New York)|Water Mill]], [[Newlin Mill Complex|Newlin Mill]] and  [[Yates Mill]] in the US and [[Darley, North Yorkshire|The Darley Mill Centre]] in the UK still operate for demonstration purposes. Small-scale commercial production is carried out in the UK at [[Daniels Mill, Shropshire|Daniels Mill]], [[Little Salkeld|Little Salkeld Mill]] and [[Redbournbury Mill]]. This was boosted to overcome flour shortages during the Covid pandemic.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|first=Joanna|last=Partridge|date=7 June 2020|title=Back to the grind: historic mills boosted by flour shortage during Covid-19 lockdown|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/07/back-to-the-grind-ancient-mills-boosted-by-flour-shortage-during-covid-19-lockdown|accessdate=7 August 2021}}</ref>

Some old mills are being upgraded with modern [[hydropower]] technology, such as those worked on by the [[South Somerset Hydropower Group]] in the UK.

In some developing countries, watermills are still widely used for processing grain. For example, there are thought to be 25,000 operating in Nepal, and 200,000 in India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.media.mit.edu/~nathan/nepal/ghatta/SEI.html|title=Water Mill Battery Charger (Nepal Ghatta Project)|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050307073307/http://web.media.mit.edu/~nathan/nepal/ghatta/SEI.html|archivedate=7 March 2005}}</ref> Many of these are still of the traditional style, but some have been upgraded by replacing wooden parts with better-designed metal ones to improve the efficiency. For example, the Centre for Rural Technology in Nepal upgraded 2,400 mills between 2003 and 2007.<ref>[http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/crt Ashden Awards case study on upgrading of watermills by CRT/Nepal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430235746/http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/crt |date=2008-04-30 }}</ref>

==Applications==
[[File:Monjolo.JPG|right|thumb|Watermill in [[Caldas Novas]], [[Brazil]]]]
[[File:Kohila vesiveski2.jpg|thumb|Former watermill in [[Kohila]], [[Estonia]]]]
* [[Bark mill]]s ground [[tanbark|bark]], from oak or chestnut [[tree]]s to produce a coarse powder for use in [[Tanning (leather)|tanneries]].
* [[Blade mill]]s were used for sharpening newly made blades.
* [[Blast furnace]]s, [[finery forge]]s, and [[tinplate|tinplate works]] were, until the introduction of the steam engine, almost invariably water powered.  Furnaces and Forges were sometimes called iron mills.
* [[Bobbin mill]]s made wooden bobbins for the [[cotton]] and other textile industries.
* Carpet mills for making [[carpet]]s and rugs were sometimes water-powered.
* [[Cotton mill]]s  were driven by water. The power was used to [[carding|card]] the raw cotton, and then to drive the [[mule spinning|spinning mule]]s and [[Water frame|ring frames]]. [[Stationary steam engine|Steam engine]]s were initially used to increase the water flow to the wheel, then as the [[Industrial Revolution]] progressed, to directly drive the shafts.
* [[Fulling mill|Fulling]] or ''walk'' mills were used for a finishing process on woollen cloth.
* [[Gristmill]]s, or ''corn mills'', grind [[grain]]s into [[flour]]. 
* Lead was usually smelted in [[smeltmill]]s prior to the introduction of the cupola (a [[reverberatory furnace]]).
* [[Needle mill]]s for scouring needles during manufacture were mostly water-powered (such as [[Forge Mill Needle Museum]])
* [[Oil mill]]s for crushing [[oil seeds]] might be wind or water-powered
* [[Paper mill]]s used water not only for motive power, but also required it in large quantities in the manufacturing process.
* [[Powder mill]]s for making [[gunpowder]] - [[black powder]] or [[smokeless powder]] were usually water-powered.
* [[Rolling mill]]s shaped metal by passing it between rollers.
* [[Sawmill]]s cut [[timber]] into [[lumber]].
* [[Slitting mill]]s were used for slitting bars of iron into rods, which were then made into [[Nail (fastener)|nail]]s.
* [[Spokemill|Spoke mills]] turned [[lumber]] into [[spokes]] for [[carriage]] [[wheel]]s.
* [[Stamp mill]]s for crushing [[ore]], usually from non-ferrous mines
* [[Textile mill]]s for spinning yarn or weaving [[cloth]] were sometimes water-powered.
<!-- This list needs references, checking for accuracy and a ceb-->

==See also==
* [[Horse mill]]
* [[List of watermills]]
* [[Mill (heraldry)]]
* [[Molinology]]
* [[Scoop wheel]]
* [[Sutter's Mill]]
* [[Windmill]]
* [[List of tide mills on Long Island]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

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*Pacey, Arnold, ''Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-year History'', The MIT Press; Reprint edition (July 1, 1991). {{ISBN|0-262-66072-5}}.
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==External links==
{{commons|Watermill|Watermill}}<!-- LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL MILL WEBSITES SHOULD NOT APPEAR HERE: link them on "List of Watermills in the United Kingdom" or "Gristmill" (if in other countries) or in some other appropriate list.   -->
*[http://www.molens.eu Mill database with over 10000 European mills]
*[http://www.timsmills.info The International Molinological Society (TIMS)]
*[http://www.spoom.org/ The Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM)]
*[http://www.millpictures.com U.S. mill pictures and information]
*[http://www.norfolkmills.co.uk/watermills.html Watermills in Norfolk, England]
*[http://www.hampshiremills.org/ Mills in Hampshire, England]
*[http://sites.google.com/site/millnewsuk/Home/uk-windmills Windmills and watermills of the East Grinstead area] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227202453/http://sites.google.com/site/millnewsuk/Home/uk-windmills |date=2016-12-27 }}

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