A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden "cap" or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.This rotating cap on a firm masonry base gave tower mills great advantages over earlier post mills, as they could stand much higher, bear larger sails, and thus afford greater reach into the wind. The advantage of the tower mill over the earlier post mill is that it is not necessary to turn the whole mill with all its machinery into the wind; this allows more space for the machinery as well as for storage.
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