Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/641

 MALT-HOUSES, LIMEKILNS, CIDER-HOUSES, ETC. 617 allowing the short end of the axle to rise or fall as the stone does so, over the fruit in tic chace. The spindle, also 5 inches thick, protected as well as the wooden axle by iron l)andS' round each extremity, revolves by a pivot at cither end ; the lower one is provided with a shoulder working in the socket of a brass box fixed in the bed of the mill, the upper in a beam of the roof above. Attached to tliis, at the breast height of a horse, measur- ing from the ground, is a pole, e, 3 inches and a half square, passing horizontally, close before the runner ; and being shaped so as to run directly out parallel to the axle. This pole extends about 3 feet beyond the mill, having two shafts, /, 2 feet 3 inches long and 3 inches square, 2 feet apart, projecting at right angles from it. Between these shafts the liorse employed in grinding is yoked, his head being over the pole, and a short chain of a link or two from his collar being hooked on the projecting end of each shaft. The horse, having no other encumbrance save a head stall, is left quite free behind, allowing him to turn much more readily than when hampered with traces, which, moreover, con- tinually rub against and gall his haunches. An iron rod from the top of the spindle to the pole, about 4 feet from the former, serves to strengthen it ; and an iron box, in which the outer end of the axle is pinned close to the wheel, is also connected by an iron bar with this pole, which bar is also attached by a side stay to the inner shaft. Thus, then, the circular motion of the runner round the chace is effected by the revolving spindle, while the rimner has a rotatory motion on its axle, instead of with it, as is the case with the runners in general use. By this method, the labour of the horse is diminished, and the necessity of cogs is superseded ; because the wheel is much less liable to slide. This mill will grind about 90 bushels of fruit in a day, which on an average will yield 3 hogsheads of cider, of 100 gallons each ; but the quantity ground depends much on the degree of care used in gi-inding. The stone employed in constructing cider-mills, or the vats of cider-presses, should invariably be of a siliceous nature ; the malic acid having a stronger affinity for lime than the carbonic, which is present in all calcareous stone that could be made available for this purpose. The grey gritstone is preferable to the old red stone (in very common use), from its being less liable to crack and split, and from its wearing away inucli more slowly, owing to its gi-eater hardness. 1312. The portable Implements used with the mill are all made of wood, metal being found objectionable. They are as follows : — 1182 1313. The Stirrer, fig. 1182, for stirring the pulp from the sides, into the bottom of the chace. 1314. The Reever, fig. 1183, to push it up together for removal when ground. 1315. The Scoop, fig. 1184, to take it from the chace. 1316. The Cider-Press, for extract- ing the juice after the fruit has been ground to a pulp by the mill, consists of a sill of wood, fig. 1185, k, 5 feet 6 inches long, and 18 inches square, let into the gi-ound about 4 inches. On this is placed the bed or vat, /, which is 4 feet wide by 4 feet and a half, and canted off at the corner : it is 3 inches in thickness, with an inch-square rim (preferable to a mere channel cut in the vat), which is raised round the edges to conduct the liquid to a lip cut through it in front whence it runs into a re- ceiver. The vat should be of stone, though wood is often employed for the purpose. On either side, standing 6 feet from the sill, is an upright wrought-iron pillar, passing quite through it, and pinned on the under side by wedges driven through a keyhole. These pillars, for 2 feet 6 inches of their height, are square, the sides being 2 inches and a quarter, and smooth ; above this square part they are cut into a screw, with a square thread, 2 inches in dia- meter, which makes 16 or 18 revolu-