Ship mill
Encyclopedia
The ship-mill grinder today is a rare type of watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

. Its first recorded use dates back to mid-6th century AD Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

Technology

The mill technologies of the drive (waterwheel) in this mill-type are built on a floating platform.
Between house-boat and Wellboot, is the waterwheel, which is touched by flowing water and will be driven. There are also references to ship mills, in which a narrow waterwheel rests between two sides, similar to an old paddle steamer. The floating platform is anchored in the most intense part of the current, to the bridge piers because of easier access to the mill, or also to the shore.
The flotation allows the ship-mill to float with changing water levels, so the mill has the same water power available. The efficiency of a ship's mill is in the best case a water mill. Ship mills had the advantage that their energy, in contrast to watermills and windmill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

s, was always available, so that they provided a machine-base (i.e., not particularly strong, but running 24 hours).
Ship-mills could, if necessary (due to other ship traffic, rafting, ice), pull to safe shore. The ship-mills were, like the water and windmills, in the possession of the landlords or monasteries. This was also the legal situation accordingly (Mill Law). Historic ship-mills in Central Europe have not remained; after the advent of riverboat traffic, they became a hindrance.

History

There is historical evidence that the development of this type of mill dates back to the ingenious invention of Vitruvius
Vitruvius
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He is best known as the author of the multi-volume work De Architectura ....

, a Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 engineer of the 1st Century BC. Vitruvius described a ship odometer
Odometer
An odometer or odograph is an instrument that indicates distance traveled by a vehicle, such as a bicycle or automobile. The device may be electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two. The word derives from the Greek words hodós and métron...

 working with a waterwheel attached to the ship hull.

In the 537 siege of Rome, supplies were interrupted by the Goths from providing the population with vital flour from the surrounding water mills. Also, the aqueducts that supplied Rome with water and some cities which had water-driven mills could no longer work. The solution devised by the Eastern Roman general Belisarius
Belisarius
Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....

 was the "reverse principle of a water mill" - the ship mills, which were anchored on the Tiber
Tiber
The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

 river around Rome. It was a type of watermill powered by water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...

s mounted on the sides of ships moored in midstream, preferably close to bridges where the current is stronger. From then on, the shipmill spread throughout medieval Europa, reaching Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 (556) Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 (563) and Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

 (c. 575) in quick succession. They remained a common sight in much of Europe until the 19th century, with a few of them surviving up to our time.
By the 10th century, the medieval ship-mill had spread east to the Islamic world. It was employed along the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...

 at Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

 in 10th-century Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, where large shipmills made of wood and iron could produce 10 tons of flour from corn every day for the granary in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

. In 1184, Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr
Ibn Jubayr was a geographer, traveler and poet from al-Andalus.-Early life:Born in Valencia in Spain, then the seat of an independent emirate. Ibn Jubayr was descendant of a tribe of Andalusian origins, Jubayr was the son of a civil servant...

 described shipmills in the same region on the Khabur River
Khabur River
The Khabur River , , , ) is the largest perennial tributary to the Euphrates in Syrian territory. Although the Khabur originates in Turkey, the karstic springs around Ra's al-'Ayn are the river's main source of water. Several important wadis join the Khabur north of Al-Hasakah, together creating...

. From the lack of records, it appears that they did not spread further to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

.

The German terms "Schiffsmühle" and "Schiffmühle" are not clearly defined and in the literature are typically used twice. Both names are equivalent to coexist, but in the south-German and Alps areas, the first spelling ("Schiffs-") for "ship mill" is used.

Geographical spread of ship mills

At almost all rivers in Europe, ship mills have been operated.
  • Elbe
    Elbe
    The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

     - until 1911
  • Rhine: Strasbourg
    Strasbourg
    Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

     and Mainz
    Mainz
    Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

     - 9-12 Century
  • Danube
    Danube
    The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

    : Regensburg
    Regensburg
    Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

     - 1493 mentioned; Vienna at Kaisermühlen (Old Danube), or Orth an der Donau
    Orth an der Donau
    Orth an der Donau is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is located on the bank of the Danube River, about fifteen miles east of Vienna.In the 1880s its population was about 3,000....

     (in Lower Austria
    Lower Austria
    Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

    )
  • Mur River: Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

    , Slovenia
    Slovenia
    Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

    , Croatia
    Croatia
    Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

     and Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

  • Weser: Minden
    Minden
    Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...

     - 1326 first mentioned
  • Tiber
    Tiber
    The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

    : Rome

Tourism

There are some replicas of ship mills:
  • the functional ship mill in Minden
    Minden
    Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...

     (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) at the Weser river; the seeds can be crushed;
  • the ship's mill in Höfgen (Saxony, Germany) in the hollow, since 1992 all year on the river, the water is pumped;
  • the ship's mill in Mureck in Styria (Austria);
  • and (also working) in Orth an der Donau
    Orth an der Donau
    Orth an der Donau is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is located on the bank of the Danube River, about fifteen miles east of Vienna.In the 1880s its population was about 3,000....

     (Austria);
  • the ship mill on the Mur River near Sveti Martin na Muri
    Sveti Martin na Muri
    Sveti Martin na Muri is a municipality in Međimurje County, Croatia. There are 2,509 inhabitants, most of whom are Croats .-History:...

     in northern Croatia
    Croatia
    Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

    .


There are also ship-mills on land, as monuments:
  • In Magdeburg
    Magdeburg
    Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

     (Germany), on the banks of the Elbe
    Elbe
    The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

    . There were once up to 23 pieces.
  • In Bad Düben
    Bad Düben
    Bad Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the national park Dübener Heide , between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city center.-History:...

     (Germany) in the castle grounds, there is the mountain ship-mill, formerly with the grain as crushed.

Gallery


Ship-mill in Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

, Germany.

Mountain ship-mill in Bad Düben
Bad Düben
Bad Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the national park Dübener Heide , between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city center.-History:...

, Germany.

Ship-mill in Höfgen at Grimma
Grimma
Grimma is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in c. 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district.- Location :...

, Germany.

Ship-mill on the Mur River at Mureck
Mureck
Mureck is a municipality in the district of Radkersburg in Styria, Austria.-References:...

,
Styria, Austria (later re-salvaged).

Ship-mill on the Mur River near Verzej
Veržej
Veržej is a settlement and a small municipality in northeastern Slovenia. It lies on the right bank of the river Mura. Traditionally the area was part of the Lower Styria region. The municipality is now included in the Mura statistical region...

, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

.

Ship-mill replica on the Mur River at Mursko Središće
Mursko Središce
Mursko Središće is the northernmost city in Croatia, located at and one of the oldest localities in Međimurje county.Mursko Središće is a city with a total population of 6,334 , and an area of...

, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

.

External links


Photo galleries



German webpages

  • www.schiffmuehle.de Die Schiffmühle in Minden
    Minden
    Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...

    .
  • www.schiffsmuehle.at Die Murecker Schiffsmühle auf der Mur
    Mur
    Mur may refer to:* Mur River , a river in Central Europe* Mur, Switzerland, a commune in Vaud and Avenches* Mur, a large village south of Novi Pazar, Serbia* Mur, part of the village of Murzasichle, Poland...

    .
  • www.schiffmuehle.at Die Schiffmühle in Orth.
  • www.duebener-heide.de/heimatverein/schiffm.html Bergschiffmühle in Bad Düben
    Bad Düben
    Bad Düben is a town in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated at the southern end of the national park Dübener Heide , between the rivers Elbe and Mulde, which runs through the city center.-History:...

    .
  • www.deutsche-muehlen.de DGM.
  • www.fan-nds.de Archäologische Funde.
  • Schiffmühle in Slowakia Die Schiffsmühle in Kolarovo
    Kolárovo
    Kolárovo is a town in the south of Slovakia near the town of Komárno. It is an agricultural center with 11,000 inhabitants.- Basic information :...

    .
  • www.earthlights.de-minden Image gallery of ship-mill in Minden.


The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK