Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

I was driving around today and passed a few windmills one caught my eye it looked as tho there was a tractor weight attached to the pump rod just hanging there and cycling up and down as the mill spun. I had never seen this before on just a spinner mill. Is this a pretty common practice? I’m assuming it was to add weight to help control how fast the windmill spins. Anyone else add weight to theirs and is there any down fall to this... extra wear on moving parts etc...

A better way would be to raise the handle part way so the wheel is only part way into the wind and fasten it that way. That eliminates wear from the heavy load of the weight. I know that it looks odd for the vane to not be fully extended.

I got a friend who insists on running his Pipe Raymond all the way open ALL the time and it is not hooked up to a well. It was a nightmare for keeping it going as the governing system never worked no matter where you put the weight. Hanging some old window weights off the sucker rod made the thing open and close as designed and solved the problem for the most part.

I have a few 'spar weights' used to help offset the weight of the water lift force. They are spherical iron balls or brick sized slabs with a slit in them and 2 set screws to hold them in place on the fan spars. I could see the need for a simulated water lift load done by a weight IF the spar weight(s) were still on the fan. I've seen unloaded pump rods stuck in the fully raised position and could imagine the consequences if they go mangled or worn through by getting caught in the jack-in-the box. (And that ain't carmel corn prize !) But, they just increase the loads within the motor, and may also keep teeth in the gears or pins to be always be engaged on the same surfaces. If a worn tooth were to jump on a double gear set, it would sound pretty crunchy for a few hours.

Talked to a very nice fellow at Aermotor the other day about our mill brake system.
He told me to let the mill run and if it wasn't on a pump and just free to add 20lbs to the pump rod and let it go.