Strutt's North Mill

The iron-framed mill is 127 ft long by 31 ft wide, 63 ft high. It had two 41.5 by wings. Cotton mills were prone to fire as cotton dust ignites easily and the resulting fire burns through ceiling and floor timbers. This had happened to the earlier mill. In an attempt to prevent this happening experiments were made to construct a fireproof mill. The wooden beams supporting the floor timbers were replaced with beams of cast iron, (steel was not available till after 1860) and between them were low vaults made of brick with a 9 ft span. Above this rubble was used to level the floor which was made of brick. The floor arches over the wheel pit were of a hollow clay construction. The beams were…

A breast-shot waterwheel, 18 by wide, was built by Thomas Hewes. It was a suspension wheel with the power taken off at the edge by a spur wheel, making it lighter than a clasp wheel. The power was transmitted to the machines by a vertical shaft, geared to horizontal shafts on each floor. Leather belts were used to connect the shafts to individual machines.