Our current Science unit has us studying simple machines.
I wanted the children to see how simple machines
work together to make more complex machines.
While looking for a field trip opportunity,
I discovered Colvin Run Mill.
A 200 year old running mill only 25 minutes from our home.
When we arrived, no one else was visiting the Park area.
We surprised the women working on inventory at the General Store.
They were open, but Saturdays aren't their busiest times,
since many of their visitors come with public school trips.
We were able to arrange a personal tour.
We passed their restored Black Smith shop,
and walked to the Miller's House.
An addition was added around 1883,
when the last Miller moved in.
It was necessary, to accommodate his wife and 20 children.
The Mill's site was ideal,
because of its closeness to water, hardwood trees,
and the main road used for transport at the time.
It is built from a mix of original and replacement brick,
and almost all wooden workings.
We saw the "run" which would've been just a ditch
when the mill was originally built.
The run leads to the Flume.
The Miller can control the speed of his grinding,
by setting the speed of the waterwheel.
He does this by adjusting the flow allowed to pass through the channel
which then pours into the buckets of the wheel.
There were used mill stones set into retaining walls
and as decorations near the buildings.
This allowed the kids to touch them, and see how the millstones
were made almost like a puzzle of smaller stones,
banded together with a metal strip.
When we entered the mill, we saw our first simple machines.
This grain scale weighed what farmers brought to the mill.
Levers and inclined planes made this scale and hopper.
Once weighed, the grain would drops down into a bin,
to be stored until it is ground.
There was a small grain fan that we got to see in motion.
This was just a small representation of how the miller
separates the grain from dirt, chaff, sticks and stones.
Here we saw wheel and axles, levers, and inclined planes.
Caleb is showing what they are after, in this case, wheat berries.
Grain elevators are used to carry grain from the bins
up to the more elaborate and much larger fanning system the mill uses.
This is an amazing pulley system.
The grain then travels through wooden channels,
using Archimedes' screws to move horizontally,
and inclined planes to move downward.
Finally the grain drops down to the grindstone.
A huge screw is used on this wooden crane,
to lift the runner stone, which weighs over 1000 lbs.
This simple machine makes it possible for only 2 men
to lift and move the stone into place.
The bed stone is set in the floor, with a spindle
in its center ready to receive the runner stone.
This wheel and axle set up allows for the top stone
to move and grind the grain.
***Interesting Story***
The guide told us that the stones cannot touch during the grinding process.
If they do, it results in a foul smell that can ruin the finished product.
That is why millers have to "keep their noses to the grindstone".
Once ground, flour or meal is collected into the small opening
next to the stone, and sent by inclined plane down to a bin for storage.
The bins have rotating rakes that cool the flour and keep it from clumping.
We went back outside, to see the waterwheel.
It was so much larger in person than it looked in pictures.
We learned how the water stays absolutely clean,
and is able to flow right back into local water supplies.
Then we went down into the gear pit.
This massive assembly is made almost entirely of wood.
Designed by a man named Oliver Evans,
Wheel and axles, levers, pulleys and screws
are the hidden workings of the mill.
Here is the main lever used to engage the large face gear,
which is turned by the waterwheel.
Once engaged, the miller can run 1, 2, or 3 lesser face gears.
These turn smaller birdcage gears,
which each spin their own runner stone on the floor above.
It really is, as the tour guide put it, a symphony of simple machines.
While they were not grinding the day of our visit,
we can go back for free when they are in production.
We couldn't have been more pleased with our time here.
Our tour guide answered every question we had, and taught us so much more.
They had videos the show the children each part in use all along the tour.
We decided to stop back by the general store,
to purchase some fresh cornmeal
which they made during their last milling session.
It cooked up beautifully into sweet cornbread for our dinner.
I'm so grateful we found this historical gem -
it made our Science unit really come to life!
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