Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Hello everyone,

I am from Saskatchewan, Canada and my wife and I just took down and old windmill to move to our yard. Right now we have it laying down to try and make sure we can get everything working before we set it back up.

The major problem is the vane won't stay straight out the back anymore. It looks to have been tied off to the rotor or sail so am thinking the spring might have been stretched. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Pictures or a name of what you have would help. New springs or old springs can be bought if someone knows the brand and size.

Welcome to the forum, Bgaetz! Attach a few photos of your mill so that we can see what you're working with. As Wayne mentioned, springs are easy to come by, if that is ultimately the issue.

Yes welcome! There are a few others from north of the border that frequent this site also. Maybe you can have some close company!

Thanks everyone. I will look to take some pictures and post them. Is there a good way to determine the type of mill? The only thing I have been able to find is a name on the gearbox. Timken Braking Equipment and it is approximately 40ft high.

That's a Beatty Pumper made in Fergus Ontario, tower is Goold shapely & Muir.
Peter

Nice!

Thank you. As you can see the vane has been getting caught in the rotor. Should the vane be parallel or perpendicular to the rotor? Would a new spring help with this or what is the best way to fix this?

The vane operates both ways. No wind, it's perpendicular to the wheel. Turned off, it's parallel to it. The spring is ok, but the tail frame is bent, allowing the vane to be too close to the wheel. There is a "buffer" that has a spring cushion to keep the tail frame from going too far over. I think something is out of whack with it also.
Peter can tell you more. He is the Canadian go-to guy for those.

Here are a couple of pics that might help, also tail pin and pin holes might be worn and need to be repaired. I also added a picture of two that are apart, yours is the same as the one on the left, the one on the right is the earlier spring oiling model.
Peter