DE ZWIEPSE MOLEN

THE ZWIEPSE MILL

The Zwiep Mill was built in 1851 near the Deep Well on the Zwiepse Berg near Barchem. The mill was moved several times due to poor wind catch, the last time in 1880. Since 1992, the mill has been managed by the Zwiepse Molen Preservation Foundation. The mill has one grinding torque with 16der (140 cm diameter) artificial stones and an electrically driven grinding chair. There used to be also a peeling torque which can still be seen on the beams in the stone attic.

The inside windvane has breeding sails according to the system developed by P.L. Fauël; the outside windvane has old Dutch railing. The moment of opening of the brake valve, before starting to turn, is adjusted by hand by setting a spring to a certain tension. For this purpose there is an iron strip with holes on the fencing. The 22.50 m long, welded rods date from 1994 and were made by Groot Wesseldijk. The outer rudder has number 50.

The mill is caught (braked) with a Flemish catch consisting of four catches and operated with a rocker. The upper axle, dating probably from 1896, is from the iron foundry De Prins van Oranje in 's Hage and has the number 1466. The cap is cranked with a crawler wheel and the wheelwork consists of an English wheelwork with wooden roller carriages. The lazy work consists of a mill-driven trailing lazy work and an electrically driven lazy work.

Generator

A generator from a Danish manufacturer is installed in the place of a grinding torque, which is directly driven by the track wheel. The Zwiep mill is the first mill in the Netherlands to be equipped with such a generator. Meanwhile, the generator has been decommissioned and three rods have been removed.

(source: nl.wikipedia.org)