What does a watermill do?

A water mill is a water wheel or turbine that is connected to a device that drives a mechanical process. Water mills can be used for such purposes as grinding flour or agricultural produce, cutting up materials such as pulp or timber, or metal shaping.

What county is Watermill NY in?

Suffolk CountyWater Mill / CountySuffolk County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. Wikipedia

What does water mill mean?

Definition of water mill : a mill whose machinery is moved by water.

Who invented the Watermill?

The Greeks
The Greeks invented the two main components of watermills, the waterwheel and toothed gearing, and used, along with the Romans, undershot, overshot and breastshot waterwheel mills.

Do watermills create electricity?

Water mills harness kinetic energy from moving bodies of water (usually rivers or streams) in order to drive machinery and generate electricity. The movement of the water drives the water wheel, which in turn powers a mechanical process within the mill itself.

Are water wheels still used today?

Water wheels were still in commercial use well into the 20th century but they are no longer in common use. Uses included milling flour in gristmills, grinding wood into pulp for papermaking, hammering wrought iron, machining, ore crushing and pounding fibre for use in the manufacture of cloth.

Can a water mill produce electricity?

In theory, if attached to a generator, water wheels can be used to produce electricity. However, they are not seen as the most efficient way to do so. The reason water wheels are not a great source of power is that they are large and cumbersome and so do not rotate rapidly enough to generate much energy.

What were water mills used for in medieval times?

Medieval watermills also primarily ground corn, but from around the 12th century they were also used for industrial purposes, mainly fulling cloth, iron-working and bark-crushing. The range of industrial activities expanded in the post-medieval and industrial periods.

Why was the water wheel important?

The waterwheel was perhaps the earliest source of mechanical energy to replace that of humans and animals, and it was first exploited for such tasks as raising water, fulling cloth, and grinding grain.

Can a watermill power a house?

The reason water wheels are not a great source of power is that they are large and cumbersome and so do not rotate rapidly enough to generate much energy. If done correctly however, a well-placed and built water wheel could generate enough electricity to power a house or small farm.