De Kat, Zaandam

De Kat is the simplest remaining operating windmill inside the world which makes paint. The mill is inside the Zaanse Schans, Zaanstad. The unique mill 'De Kat' turned into built in 1646 as an oil mill. Oil mill is a grinding mill designed to crush or bruise oil-bearing seeds, which include linseed or peanuts, or other oil-rich vegetable cloth, inclusive of olives or the fruit of the oil palm, that can then be pressed to extract vegetable oils, which can also used as meals or for cooking, as oleochemical feedstocks, as lubricants, or as biofuels. The pomace or press cakeIn 1782 the mill turned into destroyed by fire but the mill became hastily rebuilt again.

The mill changed into in use until 1904 after which become partly demolished. In 1960 the eight-sided paint mill 'De Duinjager' was removed from its former role because of urban improvement and placed on pinnacle of the old storehouse of 'De Kat'. The mill is once more grinding uncooked materials together with chalk to make pigments for paints in the conventional manner. The mill is owned by means of the Vereniging De Zaansche Molen.