A mill, particularly windmill of the horizontal or Chinese type having a mill shaft supporting a vane rotor provided with a plurality of vane shafts rotatably mounted therein and with vanes secured to these vane shafts which vanes, when engaged by a wind flowing in a direction perpendicular to the mill shaft, will swing about their vane shafts from an operating position in which the vane is held by a stop on the rotor at an angle to the wind, to a free position parallel to the wind when reaching the lee-side of the rotor. Each vane shaft is coupled to an individual gear means carried by the rotor and engaging a stationary annular ring gear common to all gear means which gear means comprises a one-way free-wheel drive whereby when a vane swings about at the lee-side of the rotor an additional rotary driving force is transmitted to the latter.
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