26ft Windmill—Rapid City, SD

[Wind Charger Mike]

Anyone know what happened to the 26’ windmill built by Ken Harris in the 1970s? It was located outside of Rapid City along I-90. He scaled the design off a water pumper but intended it to run a generator....
I like the ladder.

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[mattshup]

Sorry for the wayyyyyy late post, i was just exploring this forum. This is still setup at the same spot! along i90 along with the truck stop, gas station, and restaurant. I will get pictures of it the next time i go by it!

[Wind Charger Mike]

That would be great, thanks

[mattshup]

Made it out there today!

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

That is really cool thanks for the pics Matt

[PaulV]

That's AWESOME! Thanks Matthew!

[mtblah]

That took imagination , foresight , craftsmenship , talent , time , money , all of the above !
1/2 inch plate , WOW . impressive !
the three rings for lifting , can you "see " the crane used to lift that motor into position !!!!

[Ron Stauffer]

He scaled the design off a water pumper but intended it to run a generator....

There is definitely water pumper design influence based on the off center fan to the swivel for furling. I like what looks like hydraulic cylinders for the buffering. Maybe a design and use like the hydraulic cylinders used on tilt deck trailers? I think the single cylinder on the other side was for the pull out but not sure how activated. It is a testament to what you do in the winter in SD...

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

[mtblah]

My thought was air cylinders , pretty large diameter for hydrolic .

[Wind Charger Mike]

Great pictures Matt, it’s like you have wings. I found another pic online that has a couple guys working on it for scale. It does appear to be well built.

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