It owes its German name to Dutch mill builders, with the Dutch engineer and mill designer Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater being named as the inventor of the rotating cap. The lower part of these mills is mostly made of brick or beams (Mill Alt Schwerin), so it is extremely stable and exerts less ground pressure because it has no individual foundations. The movable head (cap or hood) of the mill resting on the "tower" made of wood or masonry with the blades attached to the impeller shaft can be rotated via rollers (formerly made of wood, later made of steel) and a jug ring (Dutch Kroyring). stored at the top of the tower. A sanding cap works without rollers and sits on sanding boards that are lubricated with soft soap. So only the upper part - the cap (boat-, onion-, cone-shaped) - had to be turned into the wind. Originally with internal agitator, a rotary mechanism built into the hood (15th century), which makes some of these mills (depending on the internal agitator, which is also operated from the gallery via a gear wheel with endless chain protruding from the end of the cap) appear more compact because of the larger hood. Since the late 16th century[2], they have increasingly been equipped with external churning, consisting of five control bars (four V-shaped "swords" or "Schoren" with a middle, actual codend (Sterz)) that protrude over the laterally protruding from the cap "Spreetbalken" (crossbar) the cap is actuated by means of a windlass attached to the end of the cod end, or with a compass rose (automatic wind tracking) attached to the end of the cap on a solid frame, patented in 1745 by the Englishman Edmund Lee from Brockmill Forge near Wigan. The lower, fixed part, on the other hand, could be used as the actual work platform (grinding mill, sawmill, pumping station, etc.), for storing and loading goods, and also as a living space and sales room. High Dutch mills thus have several floors or floors (Söller, Low German Soller, Dutch zolder), here for a nine-storey mill, starting with
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