Gearbox aids water mill restoration
Flender Power Transmission has donated a Motox gear unit to an 18th century water mill that has been restored to full working order, and which now sells the flour it grinds.
Flender Power Transmission has donated a Motox gear unit to an 18th century water mill that has been restored to full working order, and which now sells the flour it grinds.
Redbournbury Water Mill near St Albans is based on the site of a Doomsday mill, so flour has been ground there for a thousand years.
Once belonging to the Abbey of St Albans, and seized by Henry VIII when he dissolved the monasteries in 1539, it remained mostly in crown hands with tenant millers until 1987 when it was sold to the present owners.
Damaged by fire that year, it was fully restored with a grant from English Heritage and now contains many artefacts loaned or donated from local museums and other mills.
The Motox-N Z88 gear unit was given to the mill by Flender in response to a plea for help from the volunteers who have been carefully restoring the mill over a 10-year period.
Due to many years of overabstraction, the mill stream in the Ver Valley was no longer sufficient to run the water wheel on its own, especially in summer, and so a large 1935 Crossley oil engine was obtained and restored to run the mill whenever the river was low.
The Flender gear unit has been positioned with the motor inside the mill, while the engine outside the mill drives the generator.
The Crossley single cylinder engine has an 11in bore, 18in stroke and a 7ft 2in diameter flywheel weighing 2.5t.
It is rated 55bhp at 270rev/min and its total engine weight is 4.5t.
By contrast, the Flender Motox-N weighs just 203kg, and is a Z88-G160L4 helical geared foot mounted motor unit.
Its power is rated at 15kW, speed is 301rev/min and gear ratio is 4.87:1, with a service factor of 2.43.
Justin James is a member of the restoration team and part owner of the mill.
He commented on the donation: "The Flender unit has been one of a number of generous contributions, and is working brilliantly! Without it we would not be in the position we are today; making several tonnes of organic stoneground flour which we sell at a small profit, and more importantly enabling people to view a real mill in motion".
The Ver Valley Society is trying to encourage water savings in the area, but growing public consumption remains an ongoing challenge.
The Ver is one of the last chalk streams in the country and an important natural habitat to a variety of wildlife.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Articles by product category
- Consultancy and Services (903)
- Machine Building (4,517)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,179)
- Engineering Design Software (12)
- 2D CAD software (200)
- 3D CAD software (1,157)
- FEA and structural analysis software (369)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (334)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (914)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (196)
- Materials design and moulding design software (151)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (258)
- Electrical design software (164)
- Publishing and documentation software (229)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (317)
- Data, document management software (310)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (568)
- File conversion software, data capture (351)
- PLM and collaboration software (649)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,361)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (1)
- Precision Motors and Gears (411)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,276)
- Linear Drives and Motors (114)
- Industrial Motors (497)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,060)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (1,975)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,028)
- Plantwide control (1,324)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,174)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (387)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (184)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (201)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (562)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (294)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (806)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,459)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (494)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (472)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (630)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (703)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (440)
- Data loggers (422)
- Materials testing equipment (421)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (154)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (500)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,222)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,160)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (555)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (679)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (709)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (420)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (798)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (369)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (630)
-
Materials and Processing (2,963)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials and components (2,215)
- Rapid Prototyping (458)
- Materials processing and testing (285)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,093)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (562)
- Engineering Conferences (425)
- Engineering Seminars (400)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (633)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (349)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Training Courses (433)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (838)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (278)
- Health and Safety Legislation (402)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (113)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (175)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (277)
-
Powertrain Design (3,598)
- Powertrain Design (2)
- Bearings (939)
- Chains and belts (326)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,441)
- Hydraulic Components (471)
- Lubricants (418)
-
Capital Equipment (3,387)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (468)
- Production line blowers and fans (62)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (510)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,093)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (930)
-
Sensors (7,080)
- Sensors (8)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (427)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (699)
- Pressure sensors (621)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (618)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (527)
- Linear Position Sensors (399)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (546)
- Proximity Sensors (700)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (284)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (152)
- Temperature sensors (612)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,384)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,623)
