What is "mill race"

Mill \Mill\, n. [OE. mille, melle, mulle, milne, AS. myln, mylen; akin to D. molen, G. m["u]hle, OHG. mul[=i], mul[=i]n, Icel. mylna; all prob. from L. molina, fr. mola millstone; prop., that which grinds, akin to molere to grind, Goth. malan, G. mahlen, and to E. meal. [root]108. See Meal flour, and cf. Moline.]

1. A machine for grinding or comminuting any substance, as grain, by rubbing and crushing it between two hard, rough, or indented surfaces; as, a gristmill, a coffee mill; a bone mill.

2. A machine used for expelling the juice, sap, etc., from vegetable tissues by pressure, or by pressure in combination with a grinding, or cutting process; as, a cider mill; a cane mill.

3. A machine for grinding and polishing; as, a lapidary mill.

4. A common name for various machines which produce a manufactured product, or change the form of a raw material by the continuous repetition of some simple action; as, a sawmill; a stamping mill, etc.

5. A building or collection of buildings with machinery by which the processes of manufacturing are carried on; as, a cotton mill; a powder mill; a rolling mill.

6. (Die Sinking) A hardened steel roller having a design in relief, used for imprinting a reversed copy of the design in a softer metal, as copper.

7. (Mining)

   1. An excavation in rock, transverse to the workings, from which material for filling is obtained.

   2. A passage underground through which ore is shot.

8. A milling cutter. See Illust. under Milling.

9. A pugilistic encounter. [Cant]
   --R. D. Blackmore.

10. Short for Treadmill.

11. The raised or ridged edge or surface made in milling anything, as a coin or screw.

12. A building or complex of buildings containing a mill[1] or other machinery to grind grains into flour.

    Edge mill, Flint mill, etc. See under Edge, Flint, etc.

    Mill bar (Iron Works), a rough bar rolled or drawn directly from a bloom or puddle bar for conversion into merchant iron in the mill.

    Mill cinder, slag from a puddling furnace.

    Mill head, the head of water employed to turn the wheel of a mill.

    Mill pick, a pick for dressing millstones.

    Mill pond, a pond that supplies the water for a mill.

    Mill race, the canal in which water is conveyed to a mill wheel, or the current of water which drives the wheel.

    Mill tail, the water which flows from a mill wheel after turning it, or the channel in which the water flows.

    Mill tooth, a grinder or molar tooth.

    Mill wheel, the water wheel that drives the machinery of a mill.

    Gin mill, a tavern; a bar; a saloon; especially, a cheap or seedy establishment that serves liquor by the drink.

    Roller mill, a mill in which flour or meal is made by crushing grain between rollers.

    Stamp mill (Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed by stamps.

    To go through the mill, to experience the suffering or discipline necessary to bring one to a certain degree of knowledge or skill, or to a certain mental state.

alt. A fast-running water-filled channel diverted from a river or stream used to drive a mill wheel. n. A fast-running water-filled channel diverted from a river or stream used to drive a mill wheel.

A mill race, millrace or millrun is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared to the broad waters of a mill pond, the narrow current is swift and powerful. The race leading to the water wheel on a wide stream or mill pond is called the head race (or headrace), and the race leading away from the wheel is called the tail race (or tailrace).

A mill race has many geographically specific names, such as leat, lade, flume, goit, penstock. These words all have more precise definitions and meanings will differ elsewhere. The original undershot waterwheel, described by Vitruvius was a run of the river wheel placed so a fast flowing stream would press against and turn the bottom of a bucketed wheel. In the first meaning of the term, the millrace was the stream; in the sense of the word, there was no channel, so no race.

As technology advanced, the stream was dammed forming a weir. This increased the head of water. Behind the weir was the millpond, or lodge. The water (millrace) was channelled to the waterwheel by a sluice or millrace- this was the head race. From the waterwheel, the water was channelled back to the stream by a sluice known as the tail race. When the tail race from one mill led to another mill where it acted as the head race this was known as the mid race. The level of water in the millrace could be controlled by a series of sluice gates.

race, Birstwith.jpg|A head race water income.jpg|Storckensohn water head race, or flume. race on River Meon at Droxford - geograph.org.uk - 592602.jpg|Tail race rejoining River Meon. Mill race and bypass weir.JPG| Cogglesford Mill: a covered head race and the by-pass weir

Mill Race was a log flume ride that operated between 1963 and 1993 at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. When it opened in 1963, Mill Race was only the second such log flume ride to ever operate in the world (the first being El Aserradero [The Sawmill] at Six Flags Over Texas, which had opened earlier that same year). Mill Race was ultimately removed from the park in 1993 to prepare for the opening of Raptor in 1994.

A mill race is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel (sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel.

Mill race may also refer to:

• Mill Race (log flume), a log flume formerly at Cedar Point amusement park
• Mill Race Park, a city park in Columbus, Indiana