De Huinsermolen is a smock mill in Húns

Húns

Húns is a small village in Littenseradiel in the province Friesland of the Netherlands and has around the 100 citizens . There is a preserved windmill, De Huinsermolen....

, Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 which was built in 1829. The mill has been restored to working order. It is listed as a Rijksmonument

Rijksmonument

A rijksmonument is a National Heritage Site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.-History and criteria:...

, number 8530.

History

Drainage of the 1200 pondemaat Huinserpolder started in 1828, initially by five windmills. These were replaced by De Huinsermolen, which was built by millwright

Millwright

A millwright is a craftsman or tradesman engaged with the construction and maintenance of machinery.Early millwrights were specialist carpenters who erected machines used in agriculture, food processing and processing lumber and paper...

 Lieuwe Johannes van der Meulen of Leeuwarden in 1829. In 1937, plans were made to replace De Huinsermolen with a mechanical pump, but these plans were not carried through, mainly due to opposition from then miller Cees Hoitsma. A three cylinder Lister

R A Lister and Company

R A Lister & Company was founded in Dursley, Gloucestershire, in 1867 by Sir Robert Ashton Lister , to produce agricultural machinery. The family was originally from Yorkshire but Ashton's father relocated to Dursley in 1817....

 diesel engine was placed in the mill in 1958, working in conjunction with the windmill.

The mill was restored between 1978 and 1980 by millwright Dijkstra of Giekerk. The work included rethatching the mill and new Patent sails. In 1995, the mill was owned by Waterschap De Middelsékrite, Sneek

Sneek

Sneek is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland . As for 2011 it is part of the municipality Súdwest Fryslân...

, but it is now owned by Wetterskap Fryslân. A new pumping station was built alongside the mill in 2001. The mill is kept in working order and is used regularly.

Description

De Huinsermolen is what the Dutch describe as an grondzeiler. It is a three storey smock mill on a single storey base. There is no stage, the sails reaching almost to the ground. The mill is winded by tailpole and winch. The smock and cap are thatched. The sails are Patent sails. They have a span of 21.8 metre. The sails are carried on a cast iron windshaft, which was cast in 1877 by Prins van Oranje, 's Gravenhage, Zuid Holland. The windshaft also carries the brake wheel which has 55 cogs. This drives the wallower (31 cogs) at the top of the upright shaft. At the bottom of the upright shaft, the crown wheel, which has 44 cogs drives a gearwheel with 40 cogs on the axle of the Archimedes screw. The axle of the Archimedes screw is 640 millimetre diameter. The screw is 1.6 metre diameter and 5.04 metre long. It is inclined at 22°. Each revolution of the screw lifts 1343 litres (295.4 imp gal) of water.