History Of Windmills From Past To Present

Humans have a history of using the power of the wind for thousands of years, it has been used to propel ships for over 5000 years. Early windmills were used in the past to mill grain, and pump water. The ability to pump water from wells has advanced settlements around the world, the water being used to irrigate land, and power steam locomotives.

Windmills in the 19th Century 

The first electricity generating wind turbines were invented in the 1890s. Inventions in this area happened concurrently by Professor James Blyth in Scotland,  Charles F. Brush in the USA and Poul la Cour in Denmark.

Blyth powered his home using a 10 metre high windmill, one of the first examples of green living in the UK. Interestingly, there were skeptics of wind power even in those days. He offered to give surplus electricity to the local community but they declined saying it was 'the work of the devil'. Although he later built a windmill to supply a hospital with electricity, the technology never really took off as electricity could be produced more cheaply in other ways.

Brush produced a windmill standing 18 metres tall, with 144 blades (main image). The mill was connected to a bank of batteries in Brush's basement and used to power lights and machinery in his home. After reaching the end of it's life, Henry Ford tried to purchase it but the Cleveland city councilman opposed the sale. In the end it was removed for the building of a new road. There is a replica windmill under construction in the USA.

Poul La Cour came from a farming background, his father introduced a lot of modern technology to the farm. La Cour's gift in mathematics came from his mother, and undoubtedly helped with his scientific achievements. At the time many people discounted wind power due to the difficulty in storage of the electricity it generated. La Cour's solution was to convert the energy into hydrogen which could be used to power a generator. The problem with early windmills was they would work in low winds, but not when the wind became too strong. As a power generator, windmills needed a better way to harness the strong winds. His experiments using wind tunnels proved that by using less sails on a windmill, a better efficiency could be achieved.

Windmills in the 20th Century

In the 1920s two brothers, Joe and Marcellus Jacobs set up Jacobs Wind which produced wind turbines for farms. This meant farms away from main power lines could light their homes and charge batteries. The company produced over 30,000 turbines which were also used in Africa and Antarctica. In the 1930s Wincharger Corporation produced the most widely used turbine for the US market, it was still in production in the 1980s.

The Dutchman Johannes Juul installed one of the first windmills to generate AC power in the 1950s. This 3 blade windmill is considered one of the forerunners for modern wind technology, it was refurbished in 1975 at the request of NASA for measuring purposes.

Perhaps the most similar in design to modern turbines was the Station d'Etude de l'Energie du Vent in France, which operated from 1956 to 1966 (image left). This windmill generated 800 KVA and stood on a metal tripod base.

The Future of Windmills 

Due to increasing aesthetic requirements the present turbines are now generally built on a column base. Traditionally windmills were built close to where the power was needed. Nowadays, due to better transmission of electricity they can be built where the wind is strongest. Offshore wind farms allow high wind speeds to be captured, without causing inconvenience to residents.

Through more concern over environmental issues, there has been a massive increase in the number of wind farms over recent years. In the UK there are major plans for new developments. We have a few thousand years of history in harnessing the wind, and it seems now we are ready to use its full potential.

Published - Fri 30th Oct 2009 10:49:10