THE WIND MILL.
[Footnote: A paper read before the Engineers' Club of St. Louis, 1884.]
By JAMES W. HILL.
In the history of the world the utilization of the wind as a motive power antedates the use of both water and steam for the same purpose.
The advent of steam caused a cessation in the progress of wind power, and it was comparatively neglected for many years. But more recently attention has been again drawn to it, with the result of developing improvements, so that it is now utilized in many ways.
The need in the West of a motive power where water power is rare and fuel expensive has done much to develop and perfect wind mills.
Wind mills, as at present constructed in this country, are of recent date.
The mill known as the "Eclipse" was the first mill of its class built. It is known as the "solid-wheel, self-regulating pattern," and was invented about seventeen years ago. The wind wheel is of the rosette type, built without any joints, which gives it the name "solid wheel," in contradistinction to wheels made with loose sections or fans hinged to the arms or spokes, and known as "section wheel mills."
The regulation of the Eclipse mill is accomplished by the use of a small adjustable side vane, flexible or hinged rudder vane, and weighted lever, as shown in Plate 1 (on the larger sizes of mills iron balls attached to a chain are used in place of the weighted lever). The side vane and weight on lever being adjustable, can be set to run the mill at any desired speed.
Now you will observe from the model that the action of the governing mechanism is automatic. As the velocity of the wind increases, the pressure on the side vane tends to carry the wind wheel around edgewise to the wind and parallel to the rudder vane, thereby changing the angle and reducing the area exposed to the wind; at the same time the lever, with adjustable weight attached, swings from a vertical toward a horizontal position, the resistance increasing as it moves toward the latter position. This acts as a counterbalance of varying resistance against the pressure of the wind on the side vane, and holds the mill at an angle to the plane of the wind, insuring thereby the number of revolutions per minute required, according to the position to which the governing mechanism has been set or adjusted.
If the velocity of the wind is such that the pressure on the side vane overcomes the resistance of the counter weight, then the side vane is carried around parallel with the rudder vane, presenting only the edge of the wind wheel or ends of the fans to the wind, when the mill stops running.
This type of mill presents more effective wind receiving or working surface when in the wind, and less surface exposed to storms when out of the wind, than any other type of mill. It is at all times under the control of an operator on the ground.
A 22-foot Eclipse mill presents 352 square feet of wind receiving and working surface in the wind, and only 9½ square feet of wind resisting surface when out of the wind.
Solid-wheel mills are superseding all others in this country, and are being exported largely to all parts of the world, in sizes from 10 to 30 feet in diameter. Many of these mills have withstood storms without injury, where substantial buildings in the immediate vicinity have been badly damaged. I will refer to some results accomplished with pumping mills:
In the spring of 1881 there was erected for Arkansas City, Kansas, a 14-foot diameter pumping wind mill; a 32,000-gallon water tank, resting on a stone substructure 15 feet high, the ground on which it stands being 4 feet higher than the main street of the town. One thousand four hundred feet of 4-inch wood pipe was used for mains, with 1,200 feet of 1½-inch wrought iron pipe. Three 3-inch fire hydrants were placed on the main street. The wind mill was located 1,100 feet from the tank, and forced the water this distance, elevating it 50 feet. We estimate that this mill is pumping from 18,000 to 20,000 gallons of water every twenty-four hours. We learned that these works have saved two buildings from burning, and that the water is being used for sprinkling the streets, and being furnished to consumers at the following rates per annum: Private houses, $5; stores, $5; hotels, $10; livery stables, $15. At these very low rates, the city has an income of $300 per annum. The approximate cost of the works was $2,000. This gives 15 per cent. interest on the investment, not deducting anything for repairs or maintenance, which has not cost $5 per annum so far.
Plate 2. THE ECLIPSE WIND MILL.
In June, 1883, a wind water works system was erected for the city of McPherson, Kansas, consisting of a 22-foot diameter wind mill on a 75-foot tower, which pumps the water out of a well 80 feet deep, and delivers it into a 60,000-gallon tank resting on a substructure 43 feet above the ground. Sixteen hundred feet of 6-inch and 300 feet of 4-inch cast iron pipe furnish the means of distribution; eight 2½-inch double discharge fire hydrants were located on the principal streets. A gate valve was placed in the 6-inch main close to the elbow on lower end of the down pipe from the tank. This pipe is attached to the bottom of the tank; another pipe was run up through the bottom of tank 9 feet (the tank being 18 feet deep), and carried down to a connection with the main pipe just outside the gate valve. The operation of this arrangement is as follows:
The gate valve being closed, the water cannot be drawn below the 9-foot level in tank, which leaves about 35,000 gallons in store for fire protection, and is at once available by opening the gate valve referred to. The tank rests on ground about 5 feet above the main streets, which gives a head of 57 feet when the tank is half full. The distance from tank to the farthest hydrant being so short, they get the pressure due to this head at the hydrant, when playing 2-inch, or 1-1/8-inch streams, with short lines of 2½-inch hose; this gives fair fire streams for a town with few if any buildings over two stories high. It is estimated that this mill is pumping from 30,000 to 38,000 gallons on an average every twenty-four hours. There is an automatic device attached to this mill, which stops it when the tank is full, but as soon as the water in the tank is lowered, it goes to pumping again. The cost of these works complete to the city was a trifle over $6,000.
In November last a wind mill 18 feet in diameter was erected over a coal mine at Richmond, in this State. The conditions were as follows:
The mine produces 11,000 gallons of water every twenty-four hours. The sump holds 11,000 gallons. Two entries that can be dammed up give a storage of 16,500 gallons, making a total storage capacity of 27,500 gallons. It takes sixty hours for the mine to produce this quantity of water, which allows for days that the wind does not blow. The average elevation that the water has to be raised is 65 feet, measuring from center of sump to point of delivery. A record of ninety days shows that this mill has kept the mine free from water with the exception of 6,000 gallons, which was raised in the boxes that the coal is raised in. The location is not good for a wind mill, as it stands in a narrow ravine or valley a short distance from its mouth, which terminates at the bottom lands of the Missouri River. This, taken in connection with the fact that the grit in the water cuts the pump plunger packing so fast that in a short time the pump will not work up to its capacity, accounts for the apparent small amount of power developed by this mill.
There has been some discussion of late in regard to the horse power of wind mills, one party claiming that they were capable of doing large amounts of grinding and showing a development of power that was surprising to the average person unacquainted with wind mills, while the other party has maintained that they were not capable of developing any great amount of power, and has cited their performance in pumping water to sustain his argument. My experience has has led me to the conclusion that pumping water with a wind mill is not a fair test of the power that it is capable of developing, for the following reasons:
A pumping wind mill is ordinarily attached to a pump of suitable size to allow the mill to run at a mean speed in an 8 to 10 mile wind. Now, if the wind increases to a velocity of 16 to 20 miles per hour, the mill will run up to its maximum speed and the governor will begin to act, shortening sail before the wind attains this velocity. Therefore, by a very liberal estimate, the pump will not throw more than double the quantity that it did in the 8 to 10 mile wind, while the power of the mill has quadrupled, and is capable of running at least two pumps as large as the one to which it is attached. As the velocity of the wind increases, this same proportion of difference in power developed to work done holds good.
St. Louis is not considered a very windy place, therefore the following table may be a surprise to some. This table was compiled from the complete record of the year 1881, as recorded by the anemometer of the United States Signal Office on the Mutual Life Insurance Building, corner of Sixth and Locust streets, this city. It gives the number of hours each month that the wind blew at each velocity, from 6 to 20 miles per hour during the year; also the maximum velocity attained each month.
Complete Wind Record at St. Louis for the Year 1881.
_______________________________________________________________________________
|No. |No. |No. |No. |No. |No. |No. |No. |
|hours |hours |hours |hours |hours |hours |hours |hours |Maximum
|wind |wind |wind |wind |wind |wind |wind |wind |velocity
YEAR |blew 6 |blew 8 |blew 10|blew 12|blew 14|blew 16|blew 18|blew 20|during
1881. |miles |miles |miles |miles |miles |miles |miles |miles |each
MONTHS|or over|or over|or over|or over|or over|or over|or over|or over|month.
______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|____
|H. M.|H. M.|H. M.|H. M.|H. M.|H. M.| H. M.| H. M.|
Jan. | 545 45| 429 45| 289 00| 198 15| 131 30| 87 15| 56 00| 38 45| 31
Feb. | 619 30| 533 15| 449 15| 374 15| 287 00| 207 15| 151 15| 110 30| 32
March.| 604 15| 534 30| 449 45| 368 45| 296 30| 243 45| 191 00| 158 45| 37
April.| 577 15| 468 45| 342 45| 359 30| 175 00| 121 00| 62 45| 36 00| 28
May. | 553 00| 375 00| 226 15| 138 00| 74 45| 42 30| 23 45| 11 30| 31
June. | 614 15| 463 45| 303 30| 215 15| 123 45| 76 30| 29 45| 17 45| 32
July. | 556 45| 378 00| 228 15| 136 15| 55 30| 22 30| 6 00| 2 30| 22
Aug. | 536 30| 345 00| 176 00| 80 30| 35 45| 22 15| 17 15| 15 00| 34
Sept. | 564 15| 445 45| 326 45| 224 45| 145 30| 96 45| 70 00| 46 45| 30
Oct. | 617 30| 501 45| 368 45| 363 00| 170 00| 93 45| 40 30| 27 45| 27
Nov. | 642 45| 537 30| 428 45| 328 30| 226 00| 151 45| 100 30| 74 00| 30
Dec. | 592 15| 516 30| 390 00| 308 45| 224 45| 167 45| 110 45| 67 00| 30
------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----
Totals|7,024 |5,529 |3,981 |2,995 |1,946 |1,335 | 868 | 606 | --
| 00| 30| 00| 45| 00| 00| 30| 15|
Max. | | | | | | | | |
for | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | 37
year | | | | | | | | |
______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|____
The location of a mill has a great deal to do with the results attained. Having had charge of the erection of a large number of these mills for power purposes, I will refer to a few of them in different States, giving the actual results accomplished, and leaving you to form your own opinion as to the power developed.
In 1877 a 25-foot diameter mill was erected at Dover, Kansas, a few miles southwest of Topeka. It was built to do custom flour and feed grinding, also corn shelling, and is in successful operation at the present time. We have letters frequently from the owner; one of recent date states that it has stood all of the "Kansas zephyrs," never having been damaged as yet. On an average it shells and grinds from 6 to 10 bushels of corn per hour, and runs a 14 inch burr stone, grinding wheat at the same time. During strong winds it has shelled and ground as high as 30 bushels of corn per hour. Plate 2 is from a photograph of this mill and building as it stands. One bevel pinion is all the repairs this mill has required.
In the spring of 1880 there was erected a 25-foot diameter mill at Harvard, Clay County, Neb. After this mill had been running nineteen months, we received the following report from the owner:
"During the nineteen months we have been running the wind mill, it has cost us nothing for repairs. We run it with a two-hole corn sheller, a set of 16-inch burr stones, and an elevator. We grind all kinds of feed, also corn meal and Graham flour. We have ground 8,340 bushels, and would have ground much more if corn had not been a very poor crop here for the past two seasons; besides, we have our farm to attend to, and cannot keep it running all the time that we have wind. We have not run a full day at any time, but have ground 125 bushels in a day. When the burr is in good shape we can grind 20 bushels an hour, and shell at the same time in the average winds that we have. The mill has withstood storms without number, even one that blew down a house near it, and another that blew down many smaller mills. It is one of the best investments any one can make."
The writer saw this mill about sixty days ago, and it is in good shape, and doing the work as stated. The only repairs that it has required during four years was one bevel pinion put on this spring.
The owner of a 16-foot diameter mill, erected at Blue Springs. Neb., says that "with a fair wind it grinds easily 15 bushels of corn per hour with a No. 3 grinder, also runs a corn-sheller and pump at the same time, and that it works smoothly and is entirely self-regulating."
The No. 3 grinder referred to has chilled iron burrs, and requires from 3 to 4 horse-power to grind 15 bushels of corn per hour. Of one of these 16-foot mills that has been running since 1875 in Northern Illinois, the owner writes: "In windy days I saw cord-wood as fast as the wood can be handled, doing more work than I used to accomplish with five horses."
The owner of one of these mills, 20 feet in diameter, running in the southwestern part of this State, writes that he has a corn-sheller and two iron grinding mills with 8-inch burrs attached to it; also a bolting device; that this mill is more profitable to him than 80 acres of good corn land, and that it is easily handled and has never been out of order. The following report on one of these 16-foot mills, running in northern Illinois, may be of interest: This mill stands between the house and barn. A connection is made to a pump in a well-house 25 feet distant, and is also arranged to operate a churn and washing machine. By means of sheaves and wire cable, power is transmitted to a circular saw 35 feet distant. In this same manner power is transmitted to the barn 200 feet distant, where connection is made to a thrasher, corn-sheller, feed-cutter, and fanning-mill. The corn-sheller is a three horse-power, with fan and sacker attached. Three hundred bushels per day has been shelled, cleaned, and sacked. The thrashing machine is a two horsepower with vibrating attachment for separating straw from grain. One man has thrashed 300 bushels of oats per day, and on windy days says the mill would run a thrasher of double this capacity. The saw used is 18 inches diameter, and on windy days saws as much wood as can be done by six horses working on a sweep power. The owner furnishes the following approximate cost of mill with the machinery attached and now in use on his place:
1 16-foot power wind mill, shafting, and tower. $385
1 Two horse thrasher. 70
1 Three horse sheller. 38
1 Feed grinder. 50
1 18-inch saw, frame and arbor. 40
1 Fanning mill. 25
1 Force pump. 27
1 Churn. 5
1 Washing machine. 15
Belting, cables, and pulleys. 45
----
Total. $700
The following facts and figures furnished by the owner will give a fair idea of the economic value of this system, as compared with the usual methods of doing the same work. On the farm where it is used, there are raised annually an average of sixty acres of oats, fifty acres of corn, twenty acres of rye, ten acres of buckwheat.
Bushels.
The oats average, say 30 bushels per acre. 1,800
Corn " 30 " " 1,500
Rye " 20 " " 400
Buckwheat " 20 " " 200
Grinding for self and others. 1,000
It will cost to thrash this grain, shell the corn, and
grind the feed with steam power. $285
And sawing wood, 12½ cords. 18
Pumping, one hour per day, 365 days. 36
Churning, half hour per day, 200 days. 10
Washing, half day per week, 26 days. 26
----
Total. $375
This amount is saved, and more too, as one man, by the aid of the wind mill, will do this work in connection with the chores of the farm, and save enough in utilizing foul weather to more than offset his extra labor, cost of oil, etc., for the machinery. The amount saved each year is just about equal to the cost of a good man. Cost of outfit, $700--just about equal to the cost of a good man for two years, consequently, it will pay for itself in two years. Fifteen years is a fair estimate for the lifetime of mill with ordinary repairs.
The solid-wheel wind mill has never been built larger than 30 feet in diameter. For mills larger than this, the latest improved American mill is the "Warwick" pattern.
A 30-foot mill of this pattern, erected in 1880, in northwestern Iowa, gave the following results, as reported by the owner:
"Attachments as follows: One 22-inch burr; one No. 4 iron feed-mill; one 26-inch circular saw; one two-hole corn-sheller; one grain elevater; a bolting apparatus for fine meal, buckwheat and graham, all of which are run at the same time in good winds, except the saw or the iron mill; they being run from the same pulley can run but one at a time. With all attached and working up to their full capacity, the sails are often thrown out of the wind by the governors, which shows an immense power. The machines are so arranged that I can attach all or separately, according to the wind. With the burr alone I have ground 500 bushels in 48 consecutive hours, 100 bushels of it being fine meal. I have also ground 24 full bushels of fine meal for table use in two hours. This last was my own, consequently was not tolled. This was before I bought the iron mill, and now I can nearly double that amount. I saw my fire wood for three fires; all my fence posts, etc. My wood is taken to the mill from 12 to 15 feet long, and as large as the saw will cut by turning the stick, consequently the saw requires about the same power as the burrs. With a good sailing breeze I have all the power I need, and can run all the machinery with ease. Last winter I ground double the amount of any water mill in this vicinity. I have no better property than the mill."
A 40-foot mill, erected at Fowler, Indiana, in 1881, is running the following machinery:
"I have a universal wood worker, four side, one 34-inch planer, jig saw, and lathe, also a No. 4 American grinder, and with a good, fair wind I can run all the machines at one time. I can work about four days and nights each week. It is easy to control in high winds."
A 60-foot diameter mill of similar pattern was erected in Steel County, Minnesota, in 1867. The owner gives the following history of this mill:
"I have run this wind flouring mill since 1867 with excellent success. It runs 3 sets of burrs, one 4 feet, one 3½ feet, and one 33 inches. Also 2 smutters, 2 bolts, and all the necessary machinery to make the mill complete. A 15-mile wind runs everything in good shape. One wind wheel was broken by a tornado in 1870, and another in 1881 from same cause. Aside from these two, which cost $250 each, and a month's lost time, the power did not cost over $10 a year for repairs. In July, 1833, a cyclone passed over this section, wrecking my will as well as everything else in its track, and having (out of the profits of the wind mill) purchased a large water and steam flouring mill here, I last fall moved the wind mill out to Dakota, where I have it running in first-class shape and doing a good business. The few tornado wrecks make me think none the less of wind mills, as my water power has cost me four times as much in 6 years as the wind power has in 16 years."
There are very few of these large mills in use in this country, but there are a great many from 14 to 30 feet in diameter in use, and their numbers are rapidly increasing as their merits become known. The field for the use of wind mills is almost unlimited, and embraces pumping water, drainage, irrigation, elevating, grinding, shelling, and cleaning grain, ginning cotton, sawing wood, churning, running stamp mills, and charging electrical accumulators. This last may be the solution of the St. Louis gas question.
In the writer's opinion the settlement of the great tableland lying between the Mississippi Valley and the Rocky Mountains, and extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Red River of the North, would be greatly retarded, if not entirely impracticable, in large sections where no water is found at less than 100 to 500 feet below the surface, if it were not for the American wind mill; large cattle ranges without any surface water have been made available by the use of wind mills. Water pumped out of the ground remains about the same temperature during the year, and is much better for cattle than surface water. It yet remains in the future to determine what the wind mill will not do with the improvements that are being made from to time.