Trull de tafona (olive mill)

What is

The tafona olive mill. In Mallorca trull names the entire mill (DCVB, Mall.) and, in Mancor, the truncated conical stone that rotates and crushes the olive. It is the step before the biga press .

How is

• Jaç / sotamola: circular stone bed, fixed.
• Trull or mola: one or two truncated conical stones that roll over the jaç (usual number in Mallorca, please verify).
• Arbor: vertical axis in the center.
• Perxa: horizontal arm where the animal is hooked.
• Gronsa: hopper through which the olives fall (see press sheet).

How is fa

• Stone from a local quarry carved by stonecutters (see marès i stonecutters ).
• To lift the tooth and grind it, a corra or curra is used: a wooden or iron roller (Pollença, Santa Margalida, DCVB).

Com s'usa

• A mule or a horse spins around with its eyes covered; the tooth rolls and crushes.
• Rosselló tells it: "Un cavall... donant voltes ab el trui" (Many., DCVB).
• The dough goes to the esportins and the press.
• Trencador (Mall.): "bigalot per a trencar oliva", a mallet to break olives (DCVB; exact shape, to be verified).

Vocabulary

• trull / trui — olive mill; stone that grinds (Mancor).
• mola — mola.
• jaç / sotamola — stone bed.
• arbre — vertical axis.
• perxa — shooting arm.
• run / curra — roller to lift the molar (Pollença, Santa Margalida).
• trencador (Mall.) — mallet for splitting olives.
• tafona — Mallorcan oil mill.

History

• Roman era: roller mill and lever press; The technique almost did not change until the 20th century (see pressa de biga ).
• 1727: a storm "tomà tota la olive del Teix" in Sóller (Hist. Sóller, DCVB): the olive grove as wealth at stake.
• 20th century: electric and hammer mills replace animal blood (please check dates).

On veure'n

• Tafones of possession in the Serra de Tramuntana (Sóller, Valldemossa, Bunyola; visitable examples, to be verified).
• Museum of Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) .

Why is it design

• Cone that rolls in a circle: the same geometric solution as the batre cart .
• Blood machine: the animal is the engine; the perxa, the transmission.
• Stone that lasts centuries: a tooth is passed from generation to generation.

For the project

• Formal family "cones that roll": cart, trull, rodet de Sínia.
• Olive tour: paner coitor trull esportí biga gerra.

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=trull
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=mola
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=curra
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=trencador

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

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