Brief history of the sail windmills
The first sailing windmills of the well-known design were built in the 13th century, but were only used in large numbers as late as the 17th and 18th centuries. Old, but mostly dilapidated traces of these wind turbines can be found not only in Greece, but in the entire Mediterranean area, also in Portugal and southern France. They were mostly used for the milling of cereals, pulses and many other raw materials, as well as for irrigation of the fields, e.g. in the Lasithi plain on Crete. Lasithi is the first historically documented wind farm in the world with over 1000 wind pumps.
Sail windmills had their technical maturity through the increased use of steel for rotor and gearbox at the end of the 19th century and were built and used until the beginning of the 20th century. Rural exodus and more effective technologies for grinding with electric motors led to the rapid decline and abandonment of most sail windmills in the first half of the 20th century.
The International Molinological Society (TIMS)
has started to record old mills in many countries, to compile a database , to document the old mill techniques in high-quality scientific publications and thus to secure them for posterity. TIMS supports the rebuilding of old mills.
There is an excellent work recently published by TIMS on Greek Mills - from the Middle Byzantine Period to the 20th Century (BM 23, Vol. I and II). It describes the technologies and types of windmills and water mills in Greece very comprehensively on more than 700 pages. Highly recommended for all friends of old mills!
How did mills operate in the past?
No safety devices, dangerous operation in strong winds, especially when storms were imminent. Not infrequently there were nasty surprises when the miller wasn't on his guard. The mechanical brakes on these old machines were not designed for strong winds. There are stories that Müller and his helpers had to throw ship anchors on lines into the rotor in order to brake the rotor in an emergency.
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In the old days one or two windmills were usually operated by a miller. This had to be on standby at all times.
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The heavy gondola of the mill had to be turned into the wind by hand with a heavy lever.
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When storms threatened, the sails had to be rolled individually onto the rotor masts.
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Because the mills did not have good brakes, the rotor had to be secured with lines during storms and storms.
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Many mills were quickly destroyed by the wind if nobody cared about them anymore (rural exodus)
