Stamp mills were used for mining and other purposes, with stamps arranged in a wooden frame and driven by a cam and rotating shaft. They were powered by water or steam engines and could be easily transported. Stamp mills have been used for thousands of years and have largely been replaced by modern methods.
The term “crusher” usually refers to a type of mining equipment used to crush rock containing ore, although it can also mean the building in which the rock is crushed. In ancient times, variants of the stamp mill were used for threshing grain, processing seed oil and in the paper manufacturing process. Traditionally, however, this type of mill has been used to extract gold, silver and copper.
A stamp mill, sometimes called a stamp mill, is built with a number of stamps arranged in what is normally a wooden frame. There are usually five stamps in a frame, but this number can vary. Sometimes a single frame with its set of stamps is called a stamp bank. Although some of the largest stamp mills were powered by steam engines, most use water as their energy source.
Stamps are usually made of steel or something equally heavy, like wood with iron heads. These stamps are driven by a cam and rotating shaft designed to drop the stamp onto the rock which is fed through the machine. This process is repeated until the rock has been pulverized to the point where the target ore can be mined.
The process of pulverizing by beating with a heavy object is what differentiates stamp mills from grind mills. Grinding uses some form of compression to break down a substance. The simplest example of grinding is when using a mortar and pestle.
One of the advantages of the stamp mill was the simplicity of its structure. It could be disassembled, transported to a new location and reassembled quite easily. This meant that miners could use this type of mill in remote locations. The major restriction for a stamping mill was the availability of running water for power. In many cases, this has been resolved by damming or diverting nearby rivers or streams.
Stamp mills have largely been replaced by more modern means of ore extraction, but archaeological records indicate that variations of the stamp mill have been around for thousands of years. The early Greeks used components similar to those of the stamp mill for agricultural purposes, such as removing the hulls from grain. Gold and silver mining efforts during the Roman Empire period show the use of stamps operated by a cam system. There are even sketches made by Leonardo da Vinci depicting a similar mechanism for use by blacksmiths.
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