The Windmill Farmer

Brief History of Windmills in the New World

Early immigrants to the Western Hemisphere brought with them the technology of windmills which had developed in the Old World. Windmills of this type had the same basic design of windmills used in England and on the continent of Europe.

These wind machines typically had four large blades which powered wooden components which converted rotary motion of the wheels into usable power for human work. They most often operated grist mills for grinding grain into meal or flour. Although the European-style windmills served valuable roles, they were expensive to build and required constant human attention.

Windmills which developed in North America were quite different in design and appearance.

Daniel Halladay in 1854 is credited with having designed the first commercially successful new windmill in the New World. His windmill had a self-governing design. This means that it automatically turned to face changing wind directions and that it automatically controlled its own speed of operation.

Halladay's initial wind machine had four wooden blades which swiveled to provide varying pitch in order to regulate operating speed. Later he devised wheels comprised of "sections" of thin wooden blades which could pivot in order to control surface exposed to the wind and thus regulate wheel speed. Windmills of this design were called sectional wheel windmills.

Halladay invented his first successful self-governing windmill in Connecticut, U.S.A., and his company manufactured them there from 1854 to 1863. Delays in production and shipping, some caused by the American Civil War, prompted him to relocate the factory to Batavia, Illinois. There, in the Fox River Valley just west of Chicago in the American Midwest, his company thrived. It sold its Halladay Standard windmills by the thousands to farmers and ranchers on the plains and prairies of North America as well as farther afield.

The earliest major competitor for Daniel Halladay's pioneer windmills were the Eclipse windmills invented by 1867 by the Reverend Leonard H. Wheeler. A missionary among the Ojibway Indians of Wisconsin, Wheeler and his son devised a windmill for use at their mission station. Instead of having a wheel comprised of pivoting sections, their wind machine had a "solid" wheel in which the wheel components were rigidly fastened together.

The Wheelers attached their wheel to a hinged vane (or tail), which like a weather vane kept the wheel pointed into the wind when it was operating. Their mill had a second, smaller vane attached parallel with the wheel. This side or governor vane pushed the wheel out of increasing wind velocities to regulate its speed of operation. Other contemporary mills achieved the same end by placing their wind wheel just off center. The Wheelers used a weight on the end of a lever connected with the vane to "pull" the wheel back to face the wind when its velocity subsided. All mills of this design were called solid wheel windmills.

How Windmills Work

A windmill is a machine used for grinding, pumping, and is used to harness energy. The secret behind how windmills work is harnessing the driving force of the wind acting upon a number of vanes or sails. People in ancient times have known how windmills work, particularly during the 7th century AD in Persia where the first known structures of this type were constructed. These have been well utilized in Europe especially in Holland. Today, they are primarily used to generate electricity.
How Windmills Work
Windmills use blades to accumulate wind that flows over it. These blades are used for lift as well – to turn the windmill. Their blades are linked to a drive shaft that is also linked to an electric generator to create electricity. Electricity is produced when the drive shaft revolves as the blades turn. Electricity then is sent through wires and gathered.
The windmill’s location is very crucial as it assures that the mill can have access to the best wind reserves possible.
Types of Windmills
How windmills work depends also on the types. There are various different types of windmills. They are classified depending by the direction their blades rotate. The two most common windmills are the horizontal axis turbines and vertical axis turbines.
Horizontal turbines are the most popular by far and the traditional type of windmills that are similar to an airplane that have propeller. Furthermore, vertical axis windmills are windmills that have blades like an egg beater. They are, by far, less popular than the former which only make up a very small total percentage.
Modern windmills also called wind turbines are positioned in big groups known as wind farms. Some of these turbines are actually off shore. Turbines generate about forty percent of the total electricity on earth. However, they are usually steered by steam, caused by the burning of fossil fuels or the application of nuclear fission.
Benefits
Size matters on how windmills work. A windmill can produce a certain amount of electricity depending on the size of the structure. Bigger windmills are stronger and can generate greater electricity. Small windmills can power a single household. Windmill farms can generate a considerable megawatts of electricity, enough to power a whole community. Wind power turbines produce zero emissions and use an entirely renewable fuel source.
Concerns
The production of electricity depends on how windmills work specially when there is an irregular wind. Problems may also occur caused by the slacking off of the gusts. Because windmills use a renewable energy, further development is encouraged. However, over time, technology has enhanced the effectiveness of wind turbines. They have become a cost effective enterprise for both the producers and consumers.