[18] Station 18 - Lower Mill

Description

The Lower Mill

Built in 1835 as an oil, grinding, rubbing and saw mill. A grain mill had already been in operation at the upper end of the village for two years. In 1840, a grain mill was also established, followed by a gypsum mill in 1855.
The first miller, Martin Kern, born in Wannweil in 1806, a carpenter and sawmill operator, sold the lower mill to Wenzeslaus Merkt in 1846 for 10,010 guilders and ‘fled to America’, as noted in the church register. Merkt was unable to keep the mill and was forced to sell it. He also emigrated to North America with his wife and six children. In 1849, Johann Georg Hipp, a weaver from Wannweil, took over the mill for 7,000 guilders. Hipp had three daughters and no successor, so after 16 years the mill changed hands again. Miller Johann Michael Huober, the scion of a milling family, moved from Gutenberg to Wannweil in 1865 and took over the lower mill. It remained in the family for four generations. After his son Karl Huober died in 1931 at the age of 66, Walter Unsöld married into the business in 1933. The sawmill was abandoned, the building modernised and the business continued as a grain mill. The mill was finally shut down in September 1972. In the course of the Echaz correction, the water channel was dismantled and the water wheel removed. Until the end, the mill was powered by water and electricity. Master miller Karl Unsöld, Huober´s great-grandson, was still young enough at 35 to look for a new job as a miller.

Detailed technical description of the drive and water system in 1890
(official original text)

Lower Mill Wannweil. T 69 on the Echaz.   (T 69 is the 69th drive unit counted from the source of the Echaz).

Transcript of a file dated 22 August 1890 with appendix dated 1 June 1927 (Wannweil municipal archive L9)

Black Forest district, Reutlingen district office, municipality of Wannweil.
Description of the waterworks of miller Michael Huober in Wannweil.

As can be seen from the previous files, the dam in question was licensed by the royal district government in Reutlingen on 6 February and 10 June 1835 for the operation of an oil, grinding, rubbing and saw mill and was built in the same year. On 24 January 1840, the establishment of a grain mill was also permitted. According to the minutes of 24 August 1855, the dam was then used to operate a grain mill, hemp grinder and sawmill, as well as a gypsum mill. On the occasion of a concession application submitted in 1883 by the owners of the underlying dam, the Schirm und Mittler company, it was determined that the existing hydraulic structure, which was already owned by miller Huober at that time, no longer corresponded to the minutes of 24 August 1855, but rather that changes had been made to it that were contrary to the concession. On 7 December 1885, Huober applied for a concession for his hydraulic structure in its current state and for further changes. This request was granted by the royal district government in Reutlingen on 10 September 1886, and the subsequently inspected structure in its current state was approved by deed dated 4 March 1890. 
The following is a description of the dam.
The dam belonging to miller Michael Huober is located on the left bank of the Echaz River in the Wannweil district and at the western end of the village. It is currently used to operate a grain mill in building No. 83 and a sawmill and hemp mill in building No. 83a. In order to supply water to operate these mills, an overflow weir resting on wooden piles and equipped with a wooden weir gate and a bottom outlet on the left bank is installed approximately 48 m above building No. 83a, sloping upwards from the left to the right bank. The weir and bottom outlet have a width of 20.22 m, while the weir gate is located 2.84 m below the calibration chamber for the Huober waterworks, to which all height measurements in the following description refer. The minutes of 24 August 1855 contain the following statement regarding the setting of the calibration chamber in question: ‘The calibration clamp was embedded in tuff stone on the northern side above the working trap for the gypsum mill wheel and cemented in place. The upper wing of the clamp is eight inches and eight lines long and one inch and five and a half lines wide, while the vertical wing is five inches and eight lines long and one inch and eight lines wide. The thickness of the iron is one and a half lines. As shown in the adjacent sketch, the name of the current owner and the year are engraved on it."
 

On the weir tree there is a board extension 0.28 m high, attached to loose, light stumps, whose upper edge is 2.56 m below the calibration clamp. At the left end of the weir is the bottom outlet, which is 2.58 m wide in the opening, with a sill 3.10 m below the calibration channel and the upper edge of the trap 2.56 m below the calibration channel. The bottom outlet trap is operated by means of a swing lever from the left bank. Next to the weir, the river banks on both sides and the weir compartment downstream are enclosed by walls with lengths of 10.80 m and 11.40 m respectively. The discharge floor of the weir consists of stone paving between wooden grates and is covered with boards at the top. On the left side of the weir, the approximately 50 m long upper canal branches off. The canal inlet consists of two traps equipped with chains and shafts, including a frame, and is directly connected to the weir. The clear width of the left trap is 2.07 m, that of the right trap 1.98 m. The trap sill is 3.16 m and the upper edge of the trap 2.05 m below the calibration clamp, while the trap panels are 1.11 m high. The gates are operated by means of a chain and shaft lift from a plank laid behind the gates over the upper channel. The upper channel is 3.0 m to 4.2 m wide and its bottom is 3.15 m below the calibration channel at the beginning and 3.32 m below the calibration channel at the empty shot. The channel bed consists of natural soil, and the channel has vertical side walls, which are secured on the right by a plank wall and on the left by a brick wall. The empty shot has two traps, each with a clear width of 1.33 m and a height of 1.76 m. Its sill is 3.32 m below the calibration channel and its trap upper edge is 2.56 m below the calibration channel. It is located at the right-hand end of the upper canal. These two traps are also operated from the trap bridge by means of chains and a shaft lift. The adjoining wooden empty shot canal is 2.30 m wide and its bed lies 3.96 m below the Eichklamme at the end. From the empty chute to the wheel trap of wheel No. 1, there is a 4.62 m wide wooden inlet channel at the end of which the 0.69 m wide wheel trap of wheel No. 1 is installed, whose sill is 3.21 m below the calibration chute. This is operated by means of a mechanical gear from inside the sawmill. Sawmill wheel 1, which also drives the hemp grinder, is 3.90 m high, 0.74 m wide and its shaft centre is 2.78 m and the wheel channel bottom 4.75 m below the calibration channel. The approximately 13.30 m long channel for the grinding mill is 2.24 m wide at the beginning next to the wheel trap for the sawmill wheel and widens to approximately 3.90 m immediately before the wheel traps. The bottom of this channel is 3.21 m below the calibration channel at the beginning and 3.25 m below at the end. At the end of the channel is the trap frame for the grinding mill. The working or wheel trap for wheel 2 is 0.82 m wide, its trap sill is 3.22 m and the upper edge of the trap is 2.38 m below the Eichklamme. The empty chute to the right of this trap is 1.28 m wide, the trap board is 0.96 m high, the sill is 3.25 m and the upper edge of the trap is 2.56 m below the calibration channel. Wheel 2 is 0.80 m wide, 4.45 m high, its wheel centre is 2.80 m and the wheel channel bottom is 5.03 m below the calibration channel. The channel for wheel 3 is approximately 6.80 m long, 1.45 m wide and its bottom is 3.17 – 3.21 m below the calibration channel. Wheel trap 3 is 1.36 m wide and its sill is 3.15 m below the calibration channel. Wheel 3 is 1.40 m wide and 4.56 m high, its centre is 2.51 m and the wheel channel floor is 4.89 m below the calibration channel. Wheel traps 2 and 3 are raised from inside the mill by means of a mechanical gear, while the second empty shot trap is operated by a chain and shaft lift. Wooden rakes reaching down to the bottom of the channel are installed in front of all working traps. Between the rakes and the wheel traps or the wheel chamber, the channel is covered with planks. The wheels are surrounded by wooden wheel chambers. The gears are stored in a safe place. The lower channel, which is cut into the natural soil, is approximately 110 m long and 3.0 to 4.80 m wide. Its bottom lies 5.19 m below the Eichklamme in the wheel chamber and 5.40 m below the Eichklamme at the outlet. Both banks are overgrown with bushes, except at the end of the lower channel, where there is a short tongue of beams laid on top of each other on the right bank.

Regulations:
The bottom outlet and empty shot traps must be operated in such a way that the permissible dam height, i.e. 2.56 m below the calibration chamber, is not exceeded without good reason. Parcel No. 46, located between the inlet channel and the wild bed, must always be kept at channel wall height, i.e. 2.35 m below the calibration channel, and may only be planted with wood that can be easily knocked down by running water. The useful effect of the water power is around 37 horsepower (1300 times 214 divided by 75) with a free fall of 2.14 m and an average water volume of 1300 litres per second.
The waterworks located upstream is the grinding mill of miller Schlayer and the waterworks located downstream is the mechanical weaving mill of the Schirm und Mittler company, both in the district of Wannweil.

Done at Reutlingen, 22 August 1890. Signature NN
Approved: Schlayer, Schirm und Mittler, mill owner Huober, mayor Brucklacher.
Inspected: Reutlingen, 6 September 1890, signature NN

Note: The weir described was destroyed by flooding on 4 June 1926 and rebuilt in a modified form. It was constructed approximately 1.8 m above the former weir in concrete, omitting the movable 28 cm high board attachment. Instead of one bottom outlet trap in the weir with a clear width of 2.67 m, two bottom outlet traps with a clear width of 3.00 m each have now been installed. The previously approved dam height of 2.40 m below the calibration channel of 1855 was retained.  (Approval document dated 1 June 1927).