In 1988, the town council decided to restore the mill with the help of local craftsmen and youth clubs. The "Association du Moulin à Elise" was then created (The "Moulin à Elise" association), named after its last owner.
WORKING
Mechanism
The mill is now equipped with a side wheel (the water level reaching half its height) made of pinewood.
The water inflow has been improved by the fitting of a tin feeder-pipe. A hatch controls the water flow, which can vary from 0 to 300 litres/second. Pressed between the curved paddles and the granite waterway ("coursier"), the water moves the wheel by gravity force.
Several toothed wheels made of cast-iron and acacia wood transmit the rotation of the wheel to the millstone and two shafts that drive the mill machinery thanks to a system of belts and pulleys
During the dry season, an electrical engine makes up for the lack of power from the hydro-system.
The grains
The grain is lifted to the upper floor by a bucket elevator (small buckets attached to a rope) so as to be cleaned. Then they go through a sift and are finally brushed to get rid of the dust and unwanted particles.
In the summer, the grains are moistened so as to get the best grinding possible and make the crushing process easier. After those two operations, the grains are stored in a trolley on the upper floor. They will be manually tipped into the hopper above the millstones. They will run between the two millstones at a regular pace thanks to an "auget" (a piece of wood) shaken by a cam called "babillard". It is then crushed into flour. |
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The flour When going through increasingly wider mesh-stifters, the grinding is separated into thin , then rougher flours, in the machine called "bluterie" |
| The bran (the wheat envelope) is thus eliminated, as it cannot go through the sifters. The miller will choose the different qualities of flour and will package it for the sale to the visitors or bakers.
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