De Gekroonde Poelenburg (''The Crowned Poelenburg'') is a paltrok mill in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

which has been restored to working order. Like all Dutch ''paltrok mills'' it is a windpowered

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. The mill is listed as a Rijksmonument, number 40093. It is located at the

Zaanse Schans Zaanse Schans () is a neighbourhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk, Netherlands. It is best known for its collection of windmills and wooden houses that were relocated here from the wider region north of Amsterdam for preservation. From 1961 to 1974, o ...

in a group of several historic industrial windmills.

History

The history of ''De Gekroonde Poelenburg'' is rather complicated involving several distinct windmills. The first windmill on the original location of the first ''De Poelenburg'' in Zaandam-Oost was mentioned in 1733. It was named after its owner Pieter Jochemsz. Poelenburg. This mill burned down in 1903 and was replaced by a windmill from

Koog aan de Zaan Koog aan de Zaan () is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 11 km northwest of Amsterdam. History Koog aan de Zaan developed in the 16th century on the western bank of ...

called ''De Locomotief'' (''The Locomotive'') which was renamed to ''De'' Gekroonde ''Poelenburg'' after the move. ''De Locomotief'' was newly built in Koog aan de Zaan in 1867 to replace the 200-year-old ''De Groene Jager'' (''The Green Hunter'') that had to be dismantled for the construction of a railway line by the HSM. Hence the name of the new mill. ''De Gekroonde Poelenburg'', formerly ''De Locomotief'', was working until 1950 after which it fell into disrepair. It was acquired by ''Vereniging De Zaansche Molen'' and moved to the

in 1963. It was re-erected at the site of pealing windmill ''De Grootvorst'' that had burned down in 1928. The restored mill turned out to be very hard to wind and attempts to use this mill commercially were abandoned in 1966. Since then it is operated by volunteers. The winding problem was solved years later. In hindsight a misunderstanding on the weight distribution of paltrok mills may have caused the problem. It is now known that most of the weight should be carried by the central post and not evenly divided between post and roller ring (see below). Another misunderstanding was put right in 2005 when the black tar coating of 1963 was replaced by the original bright green paint.

Description

''De Gekroonde Poelenburg'' is a Dutch ''paltrok mill'' - a wooden mill supported on a short central post and a ring of wooden rollers on a low brick base and designed specifically for sawing wood. The mill body is boarded, however the sawing floor is open on three sides with only the windward facing side and the side roofs giving protection against the weather. The entire mill is winded by a tailpole and winch. On the front is a stage, above ground for setting the sails. The sails are common sails with a span of . They are carried on a cast-iron ''windshaft'' cast by foundry ''De Prins van Oranje'' as number 0430 in 1866. The ''brake wheel'' with 66 cogs on the wind shaft drives the crank wheel with 26 radial cogs on the horizontal crank shaft. There is no upright shaft. The ''crank shaft'' has three

crank pin A crankpin or crank pin, also known as a rod bearing journal, is a mechanical device in an engine which connects the crankshaft to the connecting rod for each cylinder. It has a cylindrical surface, to allow the crankpin to rotate relative to t ...

s. Connecting rods from the crank pins drive the three ''frame saws''. Reciprocating lever bars also drive the pawl and ratchet mechanisms which in turn drive the winches and the feeding mechanism of the log carriages through rack and pinion mechanisms. The winches can be used with the log hoist to lift logs from the water onto the sawing platform and to pull the log carriages back to their starting position.

Public access

The Crowned Poelenburg is not open to the public due to safety concerns.

References

External links

De Gekroonde Poelenburg
on the website of the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gekroonde Poelenburg Windmills in North Holland Rijksmonuments in North Holland Windmills completed in 1963 Zaandam