Model of Slone's Grist Mill's New Water Wheel
Slone's Grist Mill is in the background below the bridge over mill stream.
This is the first thing visitors will see as you enter the historical areas
of the park. The mill race will carry water under the bridge and into an
elevated sluice box to the top of the water wheel.
In the sectional models: The water wheel arm is the board that runs from
the curve of the water wheel to the right. Behind the water wheel arm is
the rim board, and behind that is the cant board. The treaded metal rod
ends hold the arms or spokes of the water wheel to the bucket sections.
On the left is the end section of the rim board that is lap joined behind
each arm. To the right of that is the cant board and to the right behind
the metal rim plate is both cant and rim boards. The rim plate covers the
sandwich layers of the cant and rim boards and hold in place the front bucket
board. Between the side boards are the water wheel buckets. They consist
of of the front and bottom boards. The rim plates would cover both sides
of the wheel. On tradational water wheel the rim plates would be made out
of wood screwed down rather than being bolted through the side rims.
Added in place in this model is some of the interior drum boards that
form the inner soling of the water wheel. The drum boards hold in place
the bottom bucket board and keep the water in the buckets. The treaded rod
on both ends holds the arms together with the rim sections. Above the bolt
is the thiner felloe board that covers the outside of the watter wheel.
On the left is the outer thinner felloe board that goes between each
arm. Inside of the felloe board are the thicker rim board and the cant board.
The cant board has the mortise slots that hold the two pieces of each water
wheel bucket, the front and the bottom that are also lap jointed together.
The cutaway drum boards form the interior soling of the water wheel. There
is one portion of a water wheel arm placed in position of the left and the
other one on the right is not in place. This method of construction will
be repeated all around the water wheel. The real water wheel is 20 foot
in diameter and 42 inches wide with ten arms that get bolted into the iron
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