Portsmouth Block Mills
Okay kiddo, let's talk about the Portsmouth Block Mills! These were big buildings in Portsmouth, England that were used a long time ago to help make things called blocks that were used on ships.
Blocks were kind of like pulleys - they helped sailors pull ropes on ships so they could raise and lower sails or move things around. Making these blocks used to be really hard work, because they needed to be very precise and strong to hold up to all the work they had to do on a ship.
So some really smart people came up with a way to use machines to make the blocks instead of having people do it all by hand. These machines were all set up in the Portsmouth Block Mills, which were really big buildings with lots of levels.
The machines in the Block Mills did lots of different things to help make the blocks. Some cut the wood into the right shape, some drilled holes into them, and some put pins and ropes through the blocks so they would work properly on a ship.
All the machines in the Block Mills were powered by big steam engines - kind of like a really powerful kettle boiling water to make steam, which then made the machines work. This meant that lots of blocks could be made really quickly and easily.
The Portsmouth Block Mills were really important because they helped make shipbuilding much faster and more efficient. The mills were used for over 100 years to make lots of different kinds of blocks, and lots of sailors all around the world used these blocks on their ships.
Blocks were kind of like pulleys - they helped sailors pull ropes on ships so they could raise and lower sails or move things around. Making these blocks used to be really hard work, because they needed to be very precise and strong to hold up to all the work they had to do on a ship.
So some really smart people came up with a way to use machines to make the blocks instead of having people do it all by hand. These machines were all set up in the Portsmouth Block Mills, which were really big buildings with lots of levels.
The machines in the Block Mills did lots of different things to help make the blocks. Some cut the wood into the right shape, some drilled holes into them, and some put pins and ropes through the blocks so they would work properly on a ship.
All the machines in the Block Mills were powered by big steam engines - kind of like a really powerful kettle boiling water to make steam, which then made the machines work. This meant that lots of blocks could be made really quickly and easily.
The Portsmouth Block Mills were really important because they helped make shipbuilding much faster and more efficient. The mills were used for over 100 years to make lots of different kinds of blocks, and lots of sailors all around the world used these blocks on their ships.