Premsa de biga (olive-mill beam press)

What is

The oil press of the Mallorcan tafona: a huge wooden beam that acts as a lever on the pile of esportins with olive paste. Tafona (from the Arabic ṭaḥūna, mill) is a word exclusive to Mallorca (and Menorca, according to DCVB): the group of trull, press and building.

How is

• Biga: thick and long trunk, the main piece (DCVB, "biga", meaning 4).
• Fixed point: at one end the beam is held between muntants (uprights).
• Mobile end: crossed by a spike or perxa with guides; A vertical screw makes it rise or fall.
• Counterweight: at the foot of the spindle, a heavy stone called lliura or quintar (which is why also premsa de lliura).
• Bassi or cofinera: base where the pile of sports is placed.
• Pits: underground deposits where the oil falls.
• Mallorcan beam measurements: not verified.

How is fa

Work of fusters and masters of possessió, with the longest wood available (species to be verified: pine and oak are mentioned for large pieces). See Mallorcan fusteria . It was part of the building: the tafona room was built around the biga ( house of possession ).

Com s'usa

1. Mòlta: the olive is crushed on the trull, a stone that rotates moved by an animal on a raised jaç (in Mallorca, with railings).

2. Pila: the dough is put into esportins; The tafoner major stacks them under the biga ( cofí i esportí ).

3. Pressing: by turning the spindle, the beam lowers and tightens. The oli de bigues (first prey) comes out.

4. It repeats; With boiling water from the boiler you get oli escaldat, of lower quality.

5. Tria: in the pits the oil floats and is separated from the water and morca. It is kept in alfabies .

• Winter work, night and day: "de sa nit fa dia", sings the tafoner copla (DCVB).
• Light: the llum de tafona, a larger gresol ( llum de cresol ).

Vocabulary

• tafona: Mallorcan oil mill: trull, press and building.
• biga: beam-lever of the press.
• lliura / quintar: spindle counterweight stone.
• caragol: vertical spindle.
• trull / mola: stone that grinds the olive.
• jaç / sotamola: stone bed of the trull.
• gronsa: hopper through which the olives fall.
• pila / peu: column of esportins.
• piques: oil deposits.
• morca: poso, alpechín.
• tafoner / tafoner major: tafona worker / who assembles the pile.
• oli de bigues: oil from the first dam (Mall.).
• llum de tafona: large lamp for the tafona.

History

• Roman times: the lever press was already used; The technology almost did not change until the 1960s (Viquipèdia).
• 1610: document from Sóller on safareigs to collect the lost oil from the tafonas (DCVB).
• 1641: "tafoners" in a document from Sóller (DCVB).
• 19th century: the oil trade is the economic basis of the Tramuntana possessions (to verify academic source).
• 20th century: hydraulic presses and electric motor replace biga and animal. Can Det (Sóller) electrifies in 1942.

On veure'n

• Tafona de Raixa (Bunyola), Consell estate (state of the biga to be verified).
• Can Det (Sóller): oil mill in use, now hydraulic (commercial source).
• Many possessions preserve the tafona room (often a hotel or restaurant: Sa Tafona, Ca'l Bisbe, Sóller).
• Museu de Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) : the 1962 plan provided for a muntanya house tafona as a subsection; There is no evidence that it was done.

Why is it design

• Building-scale lever: a single piece of wood multiplies the strength of two men.
• Gravity as a tool: the lliura hangs and tightens without continuous effort.
• Architecture and machine at the same time: the building is sized by the beam.
• Decantation without energy: the oil is separated only by density in the pits.

For the project

• Piece: model or animation of the tafona beam for the atlas (lever + spindle + lliura).
• Inventory of bigas preserved in possessions of the Tramuntana; Contact Raixa (Consell) and Can Det.
• Question: what remains of the design of the tafona in today's DO Oli de Mallorca oil?

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=biga
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=tafona
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=oli
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=tafoner
• ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trull
• hotelmonport.com/en/post/visiting-can-cets-olive-mill-in-mallorca

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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