Mylos Konisti's
The Mylos Konisti's belongs to the category of watermills with a horizontal water wheel, also known as the Greek type. It was the property of the Holy Monastery Gregoriou of Mount Athos. The monastery maintained in the area of Metochi, called Balabani or Parthenon where in 1924 the refugees from the island of Marmara in Propontida settled after their temporary two-years stay in Limni Evia's and thus created the community of Neos Marmaras.
In 1930 the I.M. Grigoriou grants to the Refugee Rehabilitation Committee and to the Community of N. Marmara the right to manage the watermill.
In 1939 the President of the Community proposes "the sale of the Community Watermill by auction, if it can not be rented", nor is it in the interest of the community to hire a "miller" and if "it does not bring any profit" it decides to sell the watermill auction with the following terms:
The watermill consists of a house in which the watermill has been placed, from a warehouse of 5x7 sq.m. and from a room used as a residence for the "miller". Around the mill there is an area, which belongs to the Watermill, with some olive trees and mulberry trees.
The property is owned by the Community based on the decision 78/1933 of the Expropriation Committee of Halkidiki.
On November 26, in 1939, in the recurring auction, Konistis Georgios emerged as the highest bidder with Panagiotis Davoultzis as the guarantor, offering the amount of 21,000 drachmas. Thus it became known as the "Mylos Konisti's" and operated until about 1960, at the same time that the threshing floors of the area ceased to operate.
The Mylos Konisti's belongs to the category of horizontal watermills, also known as the Greek type.
_______________________________________________
Information based on minutes of New Marmaras Community
Horizontal Watermill
General Information
The invention and spread of the watermill is considered by almost all historians of technology and economics as one of the most important events from the 4th AD. century, when its use has expanded to the industrial revolution that contributed crucially to the development of Europe.
There are two main types of watermills. The watermill with a horizontal watermill, also known as the Greek type, or norse mill (Scandinavian mill) and the watermill with a vertical watermill, also known as the Roman type or Vitruvian mill.
Horizontal Watermill
This is the simplest form of watermill. The horizontal water wheel is an impulse turbine, which uses the kinetic energy of water when the dynamic energy (due to position) of the water in the water tank is converted into kinetic energy when water falls into the water wheel. The parts of the horizontal watermill are the following:
The dam: It is constructed usually at a short distance from the laboratory and at the narrowest point of the water supply (river, stream or torrent). In this way the constant water supply to the laboratory is transferred and controlled.
The supply channel: Transports water from the dam to the laboratory. It is usually 500-1000 m long and is dug into the ground. Rarely constructed with sponsored mudstone construction.
The water tank: The supply channel ends in it and the water is collected there, thus increasing the dynamic energy of the system.
The inclined aqueduct: Connects the water tank with the underground space of the water wheel. It usually has a larger cross section near the tank while its end is reduced and ends in a narrow opening, from where the water is sprayed at an angle to the water wheel.
The water tower: in some cases the water tank system - inclined aqueduct is replaced by the water tower. It is a strong construction made of coated masonry, usually of rectangular cross-section. At its lower end it has a hole from where water is sprayed on the horizontal water wheel.
The horizontal water wheel: It is located in the basement of the workshop and rests on a solid horizontal wood. Its central axis penetrates the lower millstone and with a metal joint is connected to the upper millstone, which it rotates, thus acting as the driving axis of the system. Often parallel to the drive shaft and a short distance from the circumference of the wheel there is a second vertical shaft, which is connected to the horizontal wood on which the wheel and drive shaft rest and can slightly lift the wheel, lifting the upper mill at the same time. .
Grinder feed tank: This is a wooden fringe-conical construction, which mechanically supplies the grinding mechanism with a steady wrist. ) so it produces energy with the principle of reaction or part of the impeller blades receiving a burst of water so it produces energy due to thrust, a case which includes the plethora of Greek watermills with a horizontal impeller.
How the Horizontal Watermill operates
The operation of the horizontal watermill is very simple. The water splashes on the impeller blades at an angle and forces it to rotate. The central axis of the water wheel moves with it, which is the driving axis of the grinding mechanism, which as it is firmly connected to the upper millstone, rotates it with the same speed and frequency, producing a small work.
The use of the horizontal watermill is located in mountainous areas where small quantities of water are available at high speed in contrast to the water of the plains which is very large in quantity but at low speed. The technological ease of construction of such mills and the relatively small knowledge required by the users-millers both in their daily use and in their maintenance, contributed to their wide spread and establishment as a necessary element of small rural societies.