Story
04-10-2010, 07:44 PM
Relevant paragraph from the article below, broken down for readability.
http://mayvillesentinelnews.com/page/content.detail/id/509595/Tilting-at-windmills.html?nav=5041
When I was a kid in the 30’s growing up on a grape and dairy farm in Ripley, my parents used kerosene lanterns for illumination. Kid’s homework and dairy milking was done by lantern light. In 1937 my father purchased a 2nd hand 32 volt, 750 watt Delco-Light Plant (a General Motors product) consisting of a one cylinder engine and generator installed in the cellar. 16 very large lead/acid cells in tall, square, clear glass jars lined the cellar wall. This battery bank supplied 32 volts dc to the home.
The barn was too distant from the light plant and lantern light was still used there. The dc voltage drop in the wiring would have provided perhaps only 20 volts at the barn. Direct current bulbs were available in 28, 30 and 32 volt versions. The bulb voltage depended upon the distance, and voltage drop, from the light plant to the bulb. To supplement the generator, my dad built and erected a 50 ft. steel tower, topped by a wind driven 32 volt generator.
If the wind velocity was 7 mph or more, sufficient wind power was generated and the noisy, smelly Delco engine in the cellar could be shut down. Kerosene used to fuel the single cylinder generator engine was expensive (perhaps 10 cents/gallon) and wind power was quiet and free.
However, if the wind velocity increased to say 30 mph, the generator would over-speed and corrective action was required. Who ever was present at the time had to run to the tower and pull a trip rope to turn the wind vane at a 90 degree angle from the generator axis. The propeller blades were stopped by rotating them out of the wind stream.
This was usually a “kid job.” One of us boys would climb the 50 ft. tower ladder to fill the lubrication cups with oil periodically. That was fun and the Lake Erie panorama was spectacular for an impressionable kid.
Dad purchased this “used” windmill in the fall of ’36. He spent the winter months in front of the kitchen stove hand carving and whittling a 6ft. propeller out of a hardwood log. He balanced it, and it ran vibration free. It was a work of art. The windmill and light plant went into service the spring of ’37 and performed well until the memorable year of 1940.
The magnificent “Rural Electrification Act” of 1940 enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration caused power poles to be erected and 110 volt ac power came to the farm. Dad rewired our home and barn for 110 volt power. He sold the Delco-Light plant and the windmill tower to another farmer.
http://mayvillesentinelnews.com/page/content.detail/id/509595/Tilting-at-windmills.html?nav=5041
When I was a kid in the 30’s growing up on a grape and dairy farm in Ripley, my parents used kerosene lanterns for illumination. Kid’s homework and dairy milking was done by lantern light. In 1937 my father purchased a 2nd hand 32 volt, 750 watt Delco-Light Plant (a General Motors product) consisting of a one cylinder engine and generator installed in the cellar. 16 very large lead/acid cells in tall, square, clear glass jars lined the cellar wall. This battery bank supplied 32 volts dc to the home.
The barn was too distant from the light plant and lantern light was still used there. The dc voltage drop in the wiring would have provided perhaps only 20 volts at the barn. Direct current bulbs were available in 28, 30 and 32 volt versions. The bulb voltage depended upon the distance, and voltage drop, from the light plant to the bulb. To supplement the generator, my dad built and erected a 50 ft. steel tower, topped by a wind driven 32 volt generator.
If the wind velocity was 7 mph or more, sufficient wind power was generated and the noisy, smelly Delco engine in the cellar could be shut down. Kerosene used to fuel the single cylinder generator engine was expensive (perhaps 10 cents/gallon) and wind power was quiet and free.
However, if the wind velocity increased to say 30 mph, the generator would over-speed and corrective action was required. Who ever was present at the time had to run to the tower and pull a trip rope to turn the wind vane at a 90 degree angle from the generator axis. The propeller blades were stopped by rotating them out of the wind stream.
This was usually a “kid job.” One of us boys would climb the 50 ft. tower ladder to fill the lubrication cups with oil periodically. That was fun and the Lake Erie panorama was spectacular for an impressionable kid.
Dad purchased this “used” windmill in the fall of ’36. He spent the winter months in front of the kitchen stove hand carving and whittling a 6ft. propeller out of a hardwood log. He balanced it, and it ran vibration free. It was a work of art. The windmill and light plant went into service the spring of ’37 and performed well until the memorable year of 1940.
The magnificent “Rural Electrification Act” of 1940 enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration caused power poles to be erected and 110 volt ac power came to the farm. Dad rewired our home and barn for 110 volt power. He sold the Delco-Light plant and the windmill tower to another farmer.