Windmill. Page: 3 of 4
[2], 2 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this patent.
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
FRANK WITHERSPOON, OF PARIS, TEXAS.
WINDMILL.
SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,904, dated April 29, 1884.
Application filed August 14, 1883. (No model.)
To aZl whom it may concern: I but will hold the detent and sail in place; but
Be it known that I. FRANK WITHERSPOOxN, when subjected to a heavy wind or gale the
a citizen of the United States, residing at spring will yield and the sail will pass over
Paris, in the county of Lamar and State of the detent and swing idle.
5 Texas, have invented certain new and useful The journals on which the sails are pivoted 55
Improvements in Windmills; andI do declare are located near the outer end of the radial
the following to be a full, clear, and exact de- arms, as shown. A wheel of this construe-
scription of the invention, such as will en- tion may be mounted on each end of the
able others skilled in the art to which it ap- wheel-shaft where great power is required.
1o pertains to make and use the same, reference It will be observed that the detent holds its 6o
being had to the accompanying drawings, and sail during a little more than a half-revolu-
to letters or figures of reference marked there- tion of the wheel,when the action of the wind
on, which form a part of this specification. disengages the sail from the detent and causes
Figure 1 of the drawings is a representa- it to swing freely in returning toward the wind.
15 tion of a side elevation of my improved wind- The power of the wind is thus rendered effect- 65
mill. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of ive 6n the same side of the wheel constantly,
the windmill. Fig. 3 is a detail view show- and the wheel will revolve with great power.
ing one of the sails and tension - springs. As the sails have a tendency to swing or
Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are detail views play around too far in the wind when they
20 of modifications of the invention. have been forced over the detents, and thus 70
This invention has relation to vertically or offer resistance on their opposite faces to the
horizontally rotating wind-wheels; and it con- wind, I have provided auxiliary detents, x,
sists in the construction and novel arrange- applied to suitable braces, or arms, x', to en-
ment of the pivoted sails and their detent- gage the sail after it has been released by the
25 springs, as will be'hereinafter fully described, wind from the detent-spring q, at an angle be- 75
and particularly pointed out in the claim ap- tween the .detent q and a point, q', on the arm,
pended. if extended to q'.
Referring by letter to the accompanying Fig. 8 shows the sail resting against the de-
drawings, a designates the derrick, b the tent q when the wind is blowing at its usual
30 turn-table, c the wheel-shaft, and d the vane. rate. 80
The wheel-shaft c has its bearings on the turn- Fig. 9 shows the sail passing by the auxil-
table, and is geared to the crank-shaft e through iary detent-spring in time of high wind, the
gear-wheelf and the pinion h on said crank- spring yielding.
shaft. Fig. 10 shows the sail passing over the de-
35 m designates the hub of the wind-wheel. tent-spring in a direction opposite to that 85
The sails n are pivoted in bearings in the in- shown in Fig. 9 as it returns to its proper po-
ner faces of the radial arms o, set into the hub sition, to be engaged by the detent on the arm
ai near each end, as shown. The bearings of of the wheel. These detents q consist of a
the sails n are quite near the outer ends of piece of spring-wire having its outer ends
40 the arms o. These radial arms o may be con- coiled to form spiral springs r r, the free ends 90
nected immediately below the lower edges of of which are connected to the cross-bar p of
the sails a by a cross-bar, p, to which the de- the radial arms o, and are provided with an
tent q is attached, as shown in the drawings. intermediate loop-arm, a', which is designed
The detent may be attached to the cross-bar to engage the inner end of the sails, as before
45 to catch against the sail, or to the lower edge described. 95
of the sail to catch against the cross-bar, or to Having thus fully described my invention,
the radial arm, or to one side of the sail, as what I claim as new, and desire to secure by
shown in Fig. 6. Letters Patent, is-
The tension-spring r is of such a strength In a wind-wheel, the combination of the
So that it will not yield in an ordinary wind, turn-table, crank-shaft e, carrying the pinion oo
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Witherspoon, Frank. Windmill., patent, April 29, 1884; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth170742/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.