A windmill is basically such a sophisticated construction that all attempts to present it should be abandoned. On the other side, it seems to be so interesting that it is hard not to say something about it. Windmills contain in one unit both a fixed part as well as a rotating one. The methods of rotating towards a wind are the main criteria of the windmills' classification. We can identify 3 types: a post mill (koĽlak) - the whole buck of the mill mounted on a single fixed vertical post revolves; a tower mill (koĽle, wieżowiec also holender) - only the timber cap mounted on a fixed cylindrical tower revolves and a paltrok mill - the whole building rotates on circular rails.
Our windmill is a post mill (koĽlak) and its history dates back to 1603. This date can be seen on a beam on which the construction moves around. Thanks to that date we are able to confirm that it is one of the oldest working mills in Poland. Over the course of the years, and consequently wear and tear, other elements have been replaced. Beams from the trestle's support comes from 1733 and the wallower is dated for 1744. In 1857 the upright shaft was strengthened and in 1902 the windmill was moved from Sława ¦l±ska to Wroniawy, where it was equipped with new millstones from a famous stonemason's workshop in Nowa Sól. Two years later it was handed over to the Przybecki family, which owned it until 1979. Subsequently it was bought by the Regional Museum in Wolsztyn and in 1998, already on the open-air ethnographic museum's premises, it regained its previous efficiency with the help of the last owner and professionalism of carpenters from Nowy Targ.
The work of a miller was hard but due to ingenious solutions a windmill needed only one person to be operated. First of all a mill had to be brought round into the direction of the blowing wind. It was done by means of a sticking out shaft that was pulled down by a chain with the help of a gin, called "baba". The gin was supported by poles that marked a storage mill area. Sails drove a windshift and a wallower mounted on it transmitted acquired energy to the mill's machinery. |
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Chains pulled up sacks with grain, which got from grain hoppers to millstones where it was ground. Subsequently it slid down through a chute to a flour bin where flour was sifted. When stones were looser, what was called a grain mill, feedstuff in form of pellets for animal was produced. The windmill contained also a grain elevator that transported the end product and a small chaff-cutter. Windmills used to be erected in such places that sails could easily catch the wind. Strong gusts that were able to increase the speed of milestones' work and in consequence "burn" the grain were equalized by means of two balls. Centrifugal force lifted them up and they, thanked to the gears, opened shutters, which changed sails' surface and aided in utilizing the wind. Due to it, millstones worked with constant velocity.
The development of wind milling industry ended about 1870, when electrical and steam mills not susceptible to periodicity of winds became common. Last windmills stopped cutting the air at the end of 60. of previous century, taking the bread out of their carers' mouth.
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