Nov 25, 2022
In keeping with my All-Action blog title here is some windmill action.
Stoneferry by John Ward (1798–1849). Stoneferry is near Hull and the mills depicted, which both had five sails, were possibly a seed oil mill and a whiting mill (to crush chalk).
Four sail windmills were the most common types although there were examples with five, six and even eight sails. Civil engineer John Smeaton found the five sails were more powerful than those with four but harder to manufacture and repair. If a sail on a four sail mill was damaged the sail and the one opposite were removed and the mill continued to run with two. If one of the five sails was damaged then the windmill couldn't operate until it was repaired.