Belin windmill

Windmill - Port-Louis

Nearly 30 mills are listed in the commune of Port-Louis. Like the majority of the windmills built on the island, the Belin mill, near the departmental road 128 and not far from the old Beauport factory, in Port-Louis, consists of a frustoconical barrel, the more widespread in the 19th century. Inside a workspace could accommodate several pairs of grinding wheels. This type of tower mill had three arched cut stone openings. One of them, wider, allowed the mechanism to enter inside the mill. Another opening, the “Goulotte“ à vesou (must extracted from sugar cane), was placed at ground level. The roof, or the cap, of the windmill, was mostly mobile and slid on a sleeping path, a sort of wooden rail or carved out of the stone. To resist strong winds, the conical roof did not extend beyond the tower. The mill also had a long wooden shaft (or tail), attached to the roof, which made it possible to orient the wings facing the wind. Four wings formed the engine of the windmill. A wooden axis transmitted to the wheels the energy delivered by the movement of the wings. A large gear (the spinning wheel) located on the same level as the wings caused a horizontal gear. The windmill was also equipped with a lantern consisting of two circular wooden boards to transmit the movement of the spinning wheel to the millstones. A metal axis, integral with the lantern, transmitted the movement to the grinding wheel. The walls were covered with a lime-based plaster. Above the main base, there was often a cartouche showing an inscription signifying the membership of the sugar refinery, as coats of arms. It represented the emblem of families or the name of the owner and the date of construction of the mill, even the name of the builder. The Belin windmill has a rare cartridge, because highlighted, there are two bars surmounted by a wheel, a heart in the center ends with a small cross.