Windmill

A windmill is a machine operated by the force of wind acting on vanes or sails, historically used to mill grain and pump water. One of the earliest recorded working windmill designs, the panemone, was developed in Persia around 700 to 900 AD, using vertical sails and serving first to pump water before being adapted to grind grain. The vertical windmill, turned by wind striking sails on a rotating shaft, first appeared in northwestern Europe in the 12th century, with the earliest documented English reference dating to 1185 in Yorkshire; the earliest European design, the post mill, could be turned by hand to face the wind directly.