Paper macerator GIF of De Schoolmeester paper mill:
De Schoolmeester is a restored Dutch paper mill originally built around 1692, and is now the last functioning wind-powered paper mill in the world.
A paper mill is a mill that makes paper from ingredients like rags, pulp, fibers, or waste paper.
De Schoolmeester is a smock windmill, which means that (in comparison to a post mill or a tower mill), it resembles a medieval farmer's smock. It has a sloping tower, usually hexagonal or octagonal, often with a rotating cap to alter the position of the windmill sails relative to the wind. Smock mills are also of wooden construction, as opposed to the more common brick or masonry mills.
The De Schoolmeester paper mill in action:
And, here's an image of a different smock mill, the Danish Sønderho Windmill, so you can get an idea of the smock mill aesthetic in full force:
Previously:
1586 Tsar Cannon
1770 Mechanical Turk chess machine
1870 restored Pratt & Whitney metal planer
1873 water-powered machine shop Knight Foundry
1877 Le Creusot world's largest steam hammer
1897 steam-powered planing mill
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