Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

All great questions and answers everyone!!! I enjoy reading them.

I would guess they do that, so they would fit any application of stroke, or pumpjack. When i plumbed in a welll I had with 2 inch casing, I used an
1 3/4 inch cylinder to ease the installation into the older pipe, thinking that the 1/8 inch smaller would help, and it did. Of course, those sized cylinders don't make much water, but at least it's some, better than nothing. I have made stroke modifiers enableing an adjustable stroke of small mills with small cylinders in wells.

When pipe and rod became pricey, open tops are only cost effective at greater than 200'. So yes you can get 2 sets on even a 24" open top as I mentioned in my first reply. One inch off the bottom is customary on the first set. On the rez where the mills 12 to 16, open tops were 36.

Ron Stauffer

Pumping with new leathers:

Pulling rod

Homemade pipe tower, interesting!!!

Windcatcher530 Dan wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 6:01 pm Homemade pipe tower, interesting!!!

Yeah! This is the Texas Panhandle. See LOTS of pipe towers out here. Not sure if they were thought to be “sturdier” (lots of high winds), or if folks were just too cheap to pay for the galvanized angle towers. Wish my platform was 3 feet higher….

Pipe would definitely be sturdier than angle,i like that idea !!!

In the past there was a lot of drill stem in piles , lots of fences , gates , pens , towers made with used pipe .

We have some of those around here. I like an open side to them, easy to plumb. Used to be you could pick up that pipe with a song. Now, they charge the crap out of you. If you don't seal the open tops off, when it rains, and then freezes, it breaks the bottom of the legs.