Gravity is the miller's partner. The grain that is carried upward through the works by water power will pass back through the works by gravity. The entire mill process is connected from beginning to end and so balanced that the miller by moving one of the stones by hand, causes all other parts to respond.
The miller dumps the grain into a receiving hopper on first floor.
Water flowing down millrace makes the waterwheel turn.
Wooden gears in basement engage to turn the main shaft.
Scoops on a continuous belt carry the grain to the attic where wire cylinders strain impurities and shakes grain into a chute.
A chute carries the grain to the bin on second floor that feeds grindstone.
The top runner stone on the first floor revolves one-sixteenth inch above the stationary bed stone to crack kernels.
The meal drops off edge of stone and passes into a chute.
An elevator carries flour to attic where the hopper boy stirs the hot freshly ground meal to cool and dry it.
A chute carries the meal to a bolter on second floor to shift and remove
bran and incompletely ground grain, then the separated parts drop into separate
bins on the first floor, where it is bagged.
Peirce Mill has three pairs of grindstones: two French buhr (quartz) for grain, and one granite pair for corn. The stones never touch but the grooves chiseled into the surfaces of the stones intersect to chop the kernels. The miller's hand, feeling the flour tells him when the stones are correctly adjusted.
http://www.nps.gov/rocr/piercemill/millworks.htm
Last Update: 1/13/01
