Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

I'm dreaming that I could build one of those water towers that has the tower top and the mill sitting in the tank, like this photo I found online. I think it would be easiest to NOT store water in it but it will give everyone the idea how it works.

There was an old 1890's hotel near the lake and the water tower is still sitting in the woods! The tower structure itself is 20' high (to the bottom of the tank). I couldn't find my notes but I think the leg angle is 3" x 3" x 1/4". The tank is riveted and the bottom is shot. It would be easier and cheaper to buy some sheet and fabricate a steel tank than build a wooden one. It's too bad that I think the wooden ones are prettier! There's good access to lift/push the tank off and then unbolt and lay the thing down on a big equipment hauler for a short trip home.
If I can't convince the owner to sell, I've been eyeing up a disassembled fire tower for materials which I can buy by the pound.

The cross braces sure look like Aermotor, as do the channel iron and I-beam supports beneath the tank. No ladder loops up the corner though.

I wonder if the old windmill is under the weeds somewhere. That would not surprise me.

Hope you get it! Quite the project!

I talked to someone that remembers an old gas engine in a well-house close to this: They might have filled the tank as they needed it with that. There's water pipe standing around and laying in the grass next to the tower but it doesn't look like there's a well below it. It's too bad that engine isn't around! There have been Rider-Ericsson hot-air engines found around here that were used to pump water in just these situations.

For the windmill to work, there is a tube going down the center of the tank, for the pump rod, and water pipe. Of course, it's all waterproof.

On the wooden tanks I have, there are three holes: "in", "out", and "pump rod".

There must be special "feet" anchoring the windmill tower inside of the tank. Something like a floor flange that would be bolted to the I-beams beneath the tank.

I wonder how they furl the tail....For that matter, do they have to crawl up on the roof of the tank to service the mill?

Tail furls from ground level, wire going up through the same tube as the pump pole. Yes on crawl up to it for service.

Man, getting off the ladder, crawling onto the roof, then onto the tower....Yikes! My backyard-display tower will be short enough but no room for accidents!....renting a man-lift for service might be the thing for me.....

Has anyone seen assembly instructions for ANY BRAND suburban setups? I'd love to see some diagrams....

The photo you found online is my photo. That windmill/tower is on Bowles Farm in Grand Prairie, Tx. It is a city owned park.

Bryon, Sometimes when I find my photos in surprising places online, it feels a little creepy, so I feel I should at least thank you for letting me use your work to help me figure things out! I think I pulled that photo from Waymark and even though I tried, I couldn't find any other views of that machine that shows the rooftop.

Do you remember if it is cone shaped? I'm wondering how the tower legs come through the roof; do they just bring the roofing material right up to the tower leg and then "caulk" it with tar?

If anyone wants to see it, there's a roof on a tank mounted Aermotor being replaced at the paul's windmill service site.

https://paulswindmillservice.com/windmi ... -hills-il/