Floor’, of the Mill 70 feet above
the ground is the heart of the
sail mechanism, the engine
room of the whole Mill.
Everything you see here with
the exception of the tower wall
and dust floor itself, revolves in
a horizontal plane like a gun
tarret. This action is called
‘Luffing’ and is fully automatic.
Before the ‘Fly’ or ‘Fantail’ was
invented in 1745 by Edmund
Lee, Luffing, which means “to
bring the Mill head to wind”
or ‘Winding’ was accomplished
by hand-crank or continuous
chain and wheel or worm
screw as was the case at
Staining Mill. A formidable task
and in a thunder storm the
wind could suddenly change
direction and blow from behind
the sails which became ‘Tail-
Winded’. If the miller was slow
to luff or re-wind, the cap and
sails together with everything
else moveable could be blown
off as was the sad fate of
Singleton Mill in 1891.
wind wheel of fantail with
wooden vanes attached by a
wooden stage to the rear at right
angles to the sails at the other
end of the cap. When the wind
veered or backed, the sensitve
and restless fantail, which could
turn in either a clockwise or anti-
clockwise direction, spun silently
to every shift and flaw of the
wind. This varying motion was
transmitted through a system of
bevel gears, shafts, spurs and cog
a rack set on the tower wall curb.
this machinery can be seen
through the fantail door. In hand
luffing the gear ratio was 5000 : 1
and in Lees automatic flyer 1000:
1. The result of this process brings
the sails into the new ‘Quarter’.