Open Trestle Post Mill (wooden construction set)
| Exhibit |
|---|
Open Trestle Post Mill (wooden construction set) |
 |
| location: |
A really quite detailed wooden model (in terms of engineering rather then "look") of an Open Trestle Post Mill, assembled from a dedicated wooden construction set produced some time between the 1880s and 1945, probably in Germany.
Identification
Although the pieces don't have a conventional maker's mark, the main rear wall piece is marked "D.R.G.M. 291777". "DRGM" was a design rights registration service operating in Germany between the 1880s and 1945, so in theory one shoudl be able to look up the manufacturer (or at least the design rightsholder) from the number. Unfortunately many of the DRGM records were lost at the end of World War Two.
Post Mills
While later windmills tended to have a substantial fixed tower with a top that swivelled to allow it to be pointed into the wind, earlier windmills were smaller and more lightweight, and built around a central post so that the entire building could be rotated.
The central post was mounted on a trestle, which on the earliest and smallest post mills tended to be deliberately sunk into the ground for additional stability. As post mills evolved and got larger and weightier, it was found that they were stable for the trestle not to need to be buried, and to remain above ground.
