The Queen

On my way to the food-shop I pass the three mills that was used professionally for grinding flour, from high quality baking flour, to coarse animal fodder. I've blipped them earlier here. 

This time, the door to the middle one, The Queen, was open, so I went in to have a closer look. I know you can get a guided tour in the summer but right now it was only me here and it was quite exciting to see the inside of a large "modern" mill, in use until 1947, not so long ago. The queen is a "Dutch mill", meaning that only the top of the mill was turned into the wind. The others, and the most common ones on Öland, are "Stub mills" meaning they are centered around a tree-stub so that the whole building is turned into the wind by a lever. 

I took a few pictures in there, the main is from the top floor, right under the moveable top, looking out one of the windows eastwards. The second shows the vertical wheel, "The Crownwheel",  attached to the wings, and its cogwheel transferring power to the horisontal wheel, driving the main axel, that then could be attached to several smaller cogwheels that drives millstones, grinding different kinds of flour (extra nr.two). All cogwheel-parts are made of wood. Simple principle; make wind into power, but a very impressive construction.