Mills / Crushers

A mill grinds coarse input material into a fine-grained output product. Consequently mills do not feature just a grinding device, but also a device to separate by size.

History of the mill

The originally used mortar was replaced quite quickly by manual rotary mills. The Romans already used large mills which were driven by mules. Water power was another of their driving mechanisms. The Karlsmühle near Trier, Germany, was designed, e.g., by the Roman engineer Vitruvius to cut marble blocks. The oldest Germanic water mill is dated 696 A.D. and was discovered in 1993 by Paartal. A mill already applied in the Middle Ages used wind force as a driving mechanism.

Classification of mills

Basically, mills can be divided in view of their products, architecture and driving mechanism.

Classification by product

Typical examples of ground products are the coffee grinder, the grain mill, the spice mill and the sandy mill. However, the oil mill, the sugar mill and the mustard mill are typical examples of pressing and stamping. Hulling and iron mills put their emphasis on processing.

Classification by architecture

For typical examples of the classification by architecture, ball mills, rotor mills and vortex mills may be mentioned.

Classification by driving mechanism

In principle, mills can be driven by wind, muscle, water or engine power.

Literature

• http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M%C3%BChle&oldid=85682229 (Called: 31.03.11).