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 Marcellus Jacobs himself held the patent for the design. Does anyone know who really designed the blade actuated governor and if it was Jacobs what type governor was originally used on the Allied prior to Jacobs acquisition of Allied?
It's my understanding the Allied was a 1250 watt downwind machine whereas the Jacobs of course was a upwind machine and depending on year, model and voltage they varied between 1500 and 3000 watts. I once saw a set of Allied blades for a blade actuated governor and they were 6 feet long whereas when used on the Jacobs they were 6.5 feet long.
Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
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Wind Charger Mike
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Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
I believe the credit for inventing the blade actuated governor would go to Joseph Jacobs who filed the patent for it in 1943.
As for the background on the earlier, pre-Allied, governor, here's the version I leaned from Craig Toepfer who worked with Marcellus in the 70's. It starts with A.P Nelson of Spencer Iowa that started Nelson Wind Electric. A machinist working for Nelson, named John Prince invented the Nelson governor which was a flyball actuated device. Prince also patented the Wincharger governor and over the years worked for several wind electric companies...he got around. Jacobs bought out Nelson in 1943 primarily for the companies material allotment however Jacobs did like the 8 pole Nelson generator design. At that time, Marcellus also changed the name to Allied and used the blade actuated governor invented his brother, Joseph. I understand Joseph was the mechanical mastermind of the family.
"Back around that period there was a picture in a book called the "Energy Primer" published by the Portola Institute of Menlo Park, CA that showed what appeared to be interesting looking flyball governor with the caption "Allied Governor Device, An Excellent Design" It was actually the Nelson governor. When M.L. Jacobs found out about the misrepresentation he wrote a somewhat blistering letter to the Portola Institute and called the Nelson governor " a worthless engineering contraption".
I've seen ads for upwind Allied machines but don't recall seeing a downwind version.
As for the background on the earlier, pre-Allied, governor, here's the version I leaned from Craig Toepfer who worked with Marcellus in the 70's. It starts with A.P Nelson of Spencer Iowa that started Nelson Wind Electric. A machinist working for Nelson, named John Prince invented the Nelson governor which was a flyball actuated device. Prince also patented the Wincharger governor and over the years worked for several wind electric companies...he got around. Jacobs bought out Nelson in 1943 primarily for the companies material allotment however Jacobs did like the 8 pole Nelson generator design. At that time, Marcellus also changed the name to Allied and used the blade actuated governor invented his brother, Joseph. I understand Joseph was the mechanical mastermind of the family.
"Back around that period there was a picture in a book called the "Energy Primer" published by the Portola Institute of Menlo Park, CA that showed what appeared to be interesting looking flyball governor with the caption "Allied Governor Device, An Excellent Design" It was actually the Nelson governor. When M.L. Jacobs found out about the misrepresentation he wrote a somewhat blistering letter to the Portola Institute and called the Nelson governor " a worthless engineering contraption".
I've seen ads for upwind Allied machines but don't recall seeing a downwind version.
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Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
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?
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?
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Wind Charger Mike
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Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
I like the simplicity of the Nelson governor. Jacobs probably disliked it because "it wasn't invented here." It is very similar to the Winpower governor, flyweight actuated, 3 coupled props and a single central spring. Otherwise the prop pivots and means of attachment differ.
Last edited by Wind Charger Mike on Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
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.
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Wind Charger Mike
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Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
I’d love to see pics of the Winpower if you can get close enough. What do you know about the 1500W Jacobs? Not the Twins...I’d like to know the years they were produced.
Re: Marcellus Jacobs and Allied
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 rewound to 110 volts with Dakota Wind and Sun & Kirkwood aftermarket big coms.
I once saw an even earlier long case Jacobs in North Dakota that had 6 brushes. The owner of it talked to ML Jacobs while he was still alive and ML commentated "you really did some digging to find that".
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 rewound to 110 volts with Dakota Wind and Sun & Kirkwood aftermarket big coms.
I once saw an even earlier long case Jacobs in North Dakota that had 6 brushes. The owner of it talked to ML Jacobs while he was still alive and ML commentated "you really did some digging to find that".
