Anyone have (or seen) a "Power Converter"?

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Burt i don't think the pump rod goes up and down fast enough to operate that power hammer. I believe most those converters worked off a ratchet type system

[hwy8]

I'd love to have a windmill operate a power hammer but I just meant doing some kind of "reverse engineering": I have a couple of direct-drive Challenge machines where the pitman attaches to an offset hole on a circular plate that is attached to an axle, etc kind of like on that power hammer...even those lube reservoirs look the same as my Challenge. At one time, I owned a Duplex pump-jack and wondered if I disconnected the gears and hooked my windmill pump rod to it, could I use it to run an output shaft? Only thinking about ways of doing things at this point. I've seen two Aermotor power mill "ground units/gear sets and they were beautiful! (Neither was for sale---one was at the Henry Ford Museum and the other is privately held) By the way, I have seen videos of a hellacious big power hammer run by a water wheel and it was really impressive! It shook the whole building when it hit!

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

No dought what did they use it for cracking nuts

[hwy8]

[hwy8]

Yikes! Here's the patent drawing for the Little Giant Power Converter and look at all of those wearing points and breakable parts! Wayyyyy too complicated for me!

[Smax]

Used to be a windmill powered corn sheller on a ranch I lived on when I was a kid. That windmill was what first got me interested in windmills. Unfortunately the mill and corn sheller have disappeared

[hwy8]

Smax: Do you remember how the windmill was hooked to the sheller? Did the pump-rod hook right to the sheller or was there some kind of machinery that changed the up and down motion to rotary? Someone mentioned to me that he remembered a ratchet and pawl....

[Smax]

If I remember right it had a crank plate and two gears that ran off the pump pole .