US160922A - Improvement in windmills - Google Patents

Description

2Sheets--Sheet2. G.`H. ALUA'S. v

- Wind-Mill. N0. 160,922. v PatentedMarch'16Q1875.

Q N AINI jl] /7747/ l Uil @lill (9 Wizz www,

fyyym gawd v 4C. Invefzoli' ATENT GEORGE LUCAS, OF PEKIN, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WINDMILLS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. IGMQQ, dated March 16, i875; application filed i February 9, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that l, GEORGE H. LUcAs, of Pekin, in the county of Tazewell and State of Illinois, have invented certain Improvements in Windmills, of which the following is a speciiication:

This invention'relates to that class of windmills the wheels of which have sails capable of automatically adjusting themselves to stand more or less in the wind, according to its force, and thus to govern the velocity of rotation ofthe wheel. My improvement consists, rst, of certain novel combinations of devices for governing the position of the sails; secondly, in making the sails concave in cross-section, the curvature being regular and the same in degree from end to end, so that the sails, which are tapering in width, as usual, will constitute true tapering segments of a cylinder. This particular form .I have found to be exceedingly effective, and aside from this possesses the advantage of greater ease of manufacture as compared with sails presenting irregular curves.

In the annexed drawings, Figure l is a vertical section of my improved windmill. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views, hereinafter more particularly referred to.

The same letters of reference are used in all the figures inthe designation ofidentical parts.

The Wind-wheel and its connections are supported upon the top of a tower, A, a strong frame-work of wood or iron, suitably secured at its base. The turn-table B, which supports the shaft C1 of the wind-wheel G in bearings b b, rests upon a series of rollers, d, which run upon a circular track, a, fixed upon the top of the tower, and turn on arms radially projecting from a ring, D. The turn-table has a circular downwardly-projecting ange, b1, which lits snugly in the circular opening in the track a, and serves as the axis of the roller-frame D, which enoircles it. Two or more brackets, b2, are fixed to the under side of the turntable, hooking under the projecting edge of track a to properly hold the turn-table down to its seat on the rollers d. The rim and the hub of the wind wheel are connected by a number of spokes, as usual, o n which a flanged ring, O2, is fastened. The sails E turn on studs or journals e, projecting from their respective ends,

near their outer rectangular edge, in bearings in the ian ged ring O2 and the rim of the windwheel. The sails are tapering in width, as clearly shown, and are bent transversely upon a regular curve from end to end, so that theyr are in fact true tapering segments of a hollow. cylinder. Their contour is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The several sails are also pivoted at c to an encircling-rin g, F, which is connected by links f to a series of levers, G, fulcrumed at about their mid-length on arms g, projecting from the spokes of the wind-wheel, and all united at their inner converging ends by a sleeve, G', upon the shaft C1 of thewheel. By-sliding this sleeve upon the shaft the levers G will be oscillated, and the ring F actuated so as to turn all the sails simultaneously on their journals e, and set them more or less in the wind. The sleeve G is controlled by a sliding shifter, H, (best seen in Fig. 3,) which is connected to the arm i of the toggle I, the other arm l of which is pivoted at its outer end to a iixed lug, i2, on the turn-table B. By straightening the toggle I more or less the sleeve G can be properly adjusted by theshifter H, and the sails arranged to take the required amount of wind. To provide for an automatic adjustment of the sails according to the force of the wind, a spring, K, is introduced, fixed at one end to a standard, K', erected on the turn-table B', and reaching with its loose end into an eye, h, on the shifter H. The spring is so arranged and its resistance so calculated that it will, through the intermediate means described, hold the sails fully in the Wind until the wheel attains its desired maximum speed. If the wind should then increase in strength, it will turn the sails against the force ofthe spring sufcientlyout ofthewind to prevent any excess beyond the proposed maximum speed, and as the wind decreases in strength, the spring will gradually return the sails to their original positions. One or more springs may be used for this` purpose, as well as springs diiferent from the particular one shown. The tail-vane L is rigidly connected to the turn-table in line with the wheelshaft. All the component parts of the wheel,

the turn-table and connections, and the tailvane are preferably made of metal, the sails and vane of sheet-iron. The shaft Gl extends rrrcn.

quite a distance beyond the Wheel, affording support for braces G2. The standard K and the tailvane are also suitably braced to the turn-table and to each other, as clearly shown. The inner end of the wheel-shaft G1 carries a erank-disk, m, for operating the pump-rod N through the pitman M, in the usual manner. From the arm t" of the toggle I a rod, O, reaches down intothe tower, and is connected to a sleeve, o, on the pump-rod N, the sleeve being in turn connected by rods O1 and O2 to a hand-lever, P, at the base of the tower, through means of which lever the toggle may be operated for the purpose of adj Listing the sails by hand.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. rlhe combination of the sails E, ring F,

links f, levers G, sleeve G', shifter H, and spring K, substantially as and for the purpose specilied.

2. The combination of the sails E, ring F, links f, levers G, sleeve G', shifter H, spring K, and the toggle I, and hand-lever P, with intermediate connections, substantially as and for the' purposes specied.

- 3. The sails E, in the form of tapering segments of a hollow cylinder, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specicaton in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE H. LUCAS.

Witnesses:

LoUIs A. WILDHACK, FRANK SHAW.

Images