The Mill at Anselma

A National Historic Landmark

 
The Millstone Furniture

The millstone furniture consists of a hopper, horse and shoe assembly, and a wooden hoop (also called a case or a vat or a tun) surrounding the millstones upon which this assembly sits.  

The hopper is a large square wooden “funnel” that collects the grain from a chute above and guides the grain onto the shoe.  The hopper sits on the horse which is a wooden frame which supports it and the shoe

  

         Hopper

 

        Horse

 

 

 

The front of the shoe is raised up or down by a crook line attached to the crook peg.  When the crook line is tightened, the angle of the shoe is decreased and less grain flows into the eye of the stone. 

The shoe is vibrated by means of the damsel which rotates with the runner stone and raps against the side of the shoe as it rotates.  A wooden spring on the horse applies pressure to the shoe against the damsel as the stone rotates.  The damsel strikes the rap on the shoe as it rotates. 

       

        Horse

        Shoe

        Damsel

        Wooden Spring  

        Crook Line

 

 

The case is a large cylindrical wooden container which collects the grist which emerges at the periphery between the stones.

 

 
      
© 2004 The Mill at Anselma Preservation and  Educational Trust  
1730 Conestoga Road - P.O. Box 42 -Chester Springs, PA 19425  
Tel: 610-827-1906 - Fax: 610-827-7345 - Email: info@anselmamill.org