2025

TL4138 : Great Chishill Mill - tentering mechanism

taken 1 year ago, near to Great Chishill, Cambridgeshire, England

Great Chishill Mill - tentering mechanism
Great Chishill Mill - tentering mechanism
An open trestle post mill that could date from 1712 and was possibly rebuilt in 1819. The current patent sails were installed c1912-16. It is winded by a fantail and there are two sets of French burr stones in the buck. It is listed Grade II*.
This is part of the tentering mechanism under the tail stones. The governor is out of sight to the left but its drive belt and steelyard (8) are visible. The steelyard picks up one end of the tentering beam (9) and there is also manual adjustment by a wheel (10). The diagonal piece of wood is the meal spout from the stones above.
Tentering - molinological application

In a mill context, tentering is changing the distance (gap) between the runner stone and the bed stone. Decreasing the distance results in a finer grain. As the stones go faster there is a natural tendency for the runner to rise and the tentering mechanism can be adjusted to counter this. In many windmills this is done by a governor that automatically compensates for the tendency of the runner to rise. In watermills it is done by hand with mechanisms of varying elegance. In this case, the second order lever at the bottom raises or lowers the footstep bearing that the spindle carrying the stone nut is supported by. The adjustment is by a vertical lead screw on the other side of the frame and in easy reach of the miller.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Place: Cambridgeshire Primary Subject: Windmill other tags: Great Chishill Windmill Post Mill Grade II(star) Listed Building Milling Machinery Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Current Patent Sails were Installed C1912-16 [12] · Tentering Mechanism [3] Title Clusters: · Great Chishill Mill - tentering mechanism [3] ·
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TL4138, 50 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Chris Allen   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 22 June, 2025   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 24 June, 2025
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4131 3884 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:1.7985N 0:3.5044E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 4131 3884
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
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Image Type (about): inside 
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