A proven answer for centuries, still blowing strong

On an impulse, we added a stop at the Mid Atlantic Windmill Museum to our eastward travels.  Some readers may recall that I stumbled onto this place last year on my westward journey, but found it closed.

Today, it was open!

We toured the property and talked with two of the volunteers that keep these ingenious devices running.

Fascinating designs! Based on European design grain mills that had been built in the Piedmont, settlers found that wind powered water pumps could supplement the few surface water sources available for farming. Railroads also found that windmills could keep trackside water tanks full to replenish locomotives on long stretches between rivers.

Two general concepts were used to make the windmill-driven water pumps automatically point into the wind and control vane speed to avoid tearing themselves apart in high winds.  One popular model (pictured above) used a complex set of hinges that folded back vane segments into a cone shape as the wind speed increased, while also turning into the wind.

A simpler model favored on smaller farms used a fixed wheel of vanes adjusted by a counterweighted paddle that simply turned the vane at an angle to the wind when it was too strong.

In either case, most models required farmers to climb up the towers to grease the gears and replace damaged vanes frequently. Judging by the number of innovative features that builders were adding to simplify these tasks, the maintenance work must not have been very popular.

Many farm equipment suppliers offered windmills.  The museum here is supported and closely tied to Flint and Walling, a leading manufacturer. Here's the steering fin of one of their popular makes, one of the giant ECLIPSE models.

Here's one marked "HUTCH". Hutchinson?

The ridges and plains of this country and of many others are filling up quickly with the children of these great machines.  With good stewardship, they can help solve today's and tomorrow's needs as well.