Water-powered fulling mill
Batán hidráulico
- Date
- c. 1000 · confidence medium
- Place
- Tuscany / Lombardy, Italy
- Credited to
- Anonymous Italian
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Wooden hammers driven by a water wheel and camshaft that beat cloth to full it, replacing treading by foot. The first mechanisation of an industrial stage of textile production.
It is documented in Italy c. 960-1010 and in Normandy and England in the 12th century.
What it led to
- relocation of the wool industry to valleys with fast-flowing rivers
- concentration of capital in cloth-making and the rise of wool guilds
- a mechanisation model copied in hammer mills, sawmills and bark mills
Built on
- Watermill (water wheel)c. 250 BCE
- water mill
- camshaft
Made possible
- Water-powered trip hammer (forge)c. 1100
- Water-powered paper mill1276
- Water-powered trip hammer (forge)
- Water-powered paper mill