We hear from those enamored with fossil fuels many lies about wind power. That it is untested, dangerous, costly, and unsightly. If that were the case would windmills be an important historical power source in many cultures?
There is ample historical record of the first wind turbines being used in Persia. The design was in a vertical axis and used cloth and reed sails for impellers. What follows is a selection of vertical shaft designs.
A vertical design would look like this. Although the Persian style did not use helical blades:
Another vertical axis style:
Here is one with a scoop design using cloth impellers:
A very unique scoop design:
Windspire Design:
Helix Design:
Graceful Technology:
Leonardo Da Vinci also had some ideas about using wind power:
Wind turbines are rotating machines that convert kinetic energy inherent in the wind into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy is then converted into electricity, which is one the most basic utilities that we can say we can’t live without.
Recounting the ancient times, the very first wind machines likely of a windmill design were used twenty-two centuries ago in Persia. Persians used these simple machines in grinding up grains. Around 250 A.D., the same methods were used by the Romans for the same grinding purpose for their crop grains. Also recorded was the Dutch method of employing windmills to drain water from low-lying areas in the Rhine River delta.
China has also laid claims to having invented windmills around 2,000 years ago, but the first documented claims appear in the 1200's. Around 250 A.D. the Romans introduced windmills into their culture and in the 700's so did Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan windmills were also of the vertical axis style and cloth sails or reed matting was developed to catch the air. These windmills were used to grind corn and sugarcane plus draw water.
In the 13th century Holland started developing large horizontal axis windmills. These four-blade windmills were larger, carried more torque and wind speed and could do more work than other windmills previously designed.
Antique Chinese Windmill:
I doubt those that live in Holland think of their windmills as ugly:
The iconic American farm windmill:
To the new American windfarm model:
To Be Continued...