This request for SPOOM Member help is driven by the recent discovery of historic water-right documents and mill drawings from the 1820s that will be of interest for several reasons. To start, the attached paper has a detailed 1822 drawing of a Rolling Mill’s waterwheel in a mill first referenced as a “rolling mill” in a 1752 deed. Another document has the dimensions and water flow measurements for the large, “three millstones under the same roof” flour mill owned by the Robeson family and dating back to 1702 (the mill burned down in 1862 and no longer exists).
Lastly, the document at the link contains the first contemporaneous documentation that describes a “Nail Factory” in the same Robeson complex as the flour mill, the rolling mill, and a sawmill.
The request for help is made within a larger effort to document the history of the sawmill and rolling mill (originally a corn mill), which date back to 1886-1690, and the large flour mill, erected before 1702.
While my interests are narrow, the request for help is written in a manner intended to be enlightening to SPOOM members interested in the mills that existed in the earliest colonial days, old waterwheel dimensions and/or Philadelphia. Here is the link to the paper and questions it poses about the Nail Factory - please cut & paste: https://www.philacanoe.org/resources/Communications/1822%20Robeson%20Mills%20Water%20Levels%20and%20Waterpower%20Measurments.pdf
Thanks in advance for your help, Griffin Affel
TreasurerWissMills@gmail.com or gpaffels@comcast.net