Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Next time I'm that direction I'll try to get a photo of the Winpower. It is very difficult to see. The 1500 watt Jakes were very early (~1930) 32 volt long case generators. They were very similar to the later generators but with different hardware and a tear drop tail. I have two of them that was re...

Amazingly there's an old original Winpower still standing less than 20 miles away, about 1/4 mile off an interstate highway that's almost completely hidden in trees and farm structures.

That's good information. Thank You!
The original Allied governor appears to be a very efficient and simple design especially when compared to the Jacobs flyball governor. Do you know if the Allied governor was similar to the Winpower governor?

About 40 years ago I heard the story that Marcellus Jacobs was so impressed with the simplicity of the blade actuated governor used on the Allied wind generator he purchased the company and later used that governor on the Jacobs generators BUT when checking patents for the blade actuated governor Ma...

Amps are what kills you. Amps depend on what is in the circuit that is energized.and/or how well you are grounded. it takes only a minimum of amps going through the body to kill you if it travels through the heart. Very true. I bought a "Fido-Shocker" to keep my dogs from digging out or j...

I've been shocked many times by both 120 vdc and 144 vdc. In my opinion it's about the same as 120 vac. Doesn't hurt, just makes you jump a little.

Many have used 32 volt Jakes to charge 48 volt batteries. Not ideal due to excessive current draw by the field coils but possible.

My 110 volt Jake will go over 200 volts open circuit so using the same ratio calculates to over 60 volts open circuit on a 32 volt generator.

Line loss is too great with 12 volts, 24 volts was uncommon, 32 volts was what the railroads was using so 32 volt light bulbs were common. So why did the railroads use 32 volts?

I have three 150 volt big com 3000 watt Jakes and one 2800 watt 40 volt Jake. Maybe someday I'll get at least one of them back up and flying.