Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Wayne wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:20 am Great Work a real craftsman. Were you a Mechanical Engineer by trade?

Ron Stauffer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:55 pm Very nice duplication of an Aermotor style wheel under tension. You must have had one for a pattern?

If you post good pictures, I will look close. The wheel on the bench you made a common assembly mistake of not switching the starting point of the outer band when arriving back at the starting point. Overlap of the outer band in the 4 oclock position needs to lap the other way. You did good on the inner band overlaps. The pic of the finished product isnt good enough to see all the laps. Maybe you took note of that for the final assembly?

I am impressed with the one piece spoke braces on the inner bands but thinking getting spokes in position on the outer band would have been hard?

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

hwy8 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:33 am Welcome to the group! I have found much knowledge and help here, just as I'm sure you will.

You do beautiful work and I will be especially interested in your vaneless project. Even though my background is in wind electrics, I have a long held interest in the vaneless Duplex mills and am beginning to restore a Baker "L". Both of those machines will just be running unloaded in my yard but I once saw a "modern" steel wheel, vaneless machine that had a design that might interest you. (I'm sorry to say that I do not remember the name and I didn't take pictures, but I know there will be someone in this group that can name the brand.)

Once you identify some vaneless machines that interest you (through a source like "A FIELD GUIDE TO AMERICAN WINDMILLS"), you might try the US Patent Office. The drawings attached to US patents can be very helpful and can sometimes be detailed as much as blueprints, and best of all, they can be downloaded free.

Downwind, vaneless machines are a beautiful thing to see operate (when running properly). They can govern really well and recover quickly without the shudder downwind electric generators can suffer from. Tower shadow on high speed rotors could cause problems and inefficiencies but with water-pumping windmills, the effect is not as great. I have spoken to a number of "old timers" living out in the high wind areas of the Great Plains and they would have ONLY a vaneless mill. HOWEVER, the large number of parts and the almost countless number of wearpoints have been the cause of many problems.

I'll be cheering you on!......

Burt

Sidebikecomete wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:56 am

hwy8 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:33 am Welcome to the group! I have found much knowledge and help here, just as I'm sure you will.

You do beautiful work and I will be especially interested in your vaneless project. Even though my background is in wind electrics, I have a long held interest in the vaneless Duplex mills and am beginning to restore a Baker "L". Both of those machines will just be running unloaded in my yard but I once saw a "modern" steel wheel, vaneless machine that had a design that might interest you. (I'm sorry to say that I do not remember the name and I didn't take pictures, but I know there will be someone in this group that can name the brand.)

Once you identify some vaneless machines that interest you (through a source like "A FIELD GUIDE TO AMERICAN WINDMILLS"), you might try the US Patent Office. The drawings attached to US patents can be very helpful and can sometimes be detailed as much as blueprints, and best of all, they can be downloaded free.

Downwind, vaneless machines are a beautiful thing to see operate (when running properly). They can govern really well and recover quickly without the shudder downwind electric generators can suffer from. Tower shadow on high speed rotors could cause problems and inefficiencies but with water-pumping windmills, the effect is not as great. I have spoken to a number of "old timers" living out in the high wind areas of the Great Plains and they would have ONLY a vaneless mill. HOWEVER, the large number of parts and the almost countless number of wearpoints have been the cause of many problems.

I'll be cheering you on!......

Burt

Hi Burt
I have tried to find vaneless windmill on the site of US patent office but I can’t find one. I don’t now how to search there. It doesn’t matter if it is a steel one or with wooden blades. I just need the dimensions and forms of the moving points. If you can find them I would be very interested in them.
Greetings
John (Dutch Miller)