A Sectional 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 hubs.
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