Re: Heortling Mills

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 15:17:10 -0000

All very good points....however since very few Heortlanders are even literate I expect that even fewer would know much arithmetic beyond some basic rote-memorized factoring.

I agree, however, that you don't need to know any math at all to construct gears. You can do it by trial and error, and craftsmen who do it regularly will no doubt have rules of thumb and probably some standard ratios enabling them to do it more easily. I expect this is common in some lands, but I suspect it would be rare in Sartar.

One more thought about gears....you are putting a lot of force on them if you are driving a large grindstone. How well will bronze hold up to this (as opposed to iron)? I suppose if you make the teeth broad enough, and use very thick cogs, you could probably get the mechanical strength you need, but that makes them even harder to manufacture, and probably much noiser (the larger teeth will tend to hit harder than will small teeth).

--Bryan

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