Adjustable windmill
First Claim
1. A wind wheel adapted to being driven by the wind, comprising means defining an axis about which the wheel is adapted to rotate, a pair of radially spaced apart segmented rims, a set of generally equally spaced, radially mounted blades equal in number to the segments of each of the rims mounted inside the inner rim and having a front wind engaging surface oriented with respect to the axis to cause the wheel to rotate when subjected to wind directed generally along the axis, a plurality of interconnected movable vanes, one corresponding to each blade and each segment of each rim, mounted on the wheel outside the blades and a governor mechanism including a number of weights equal to the number of blades and connected to the vanes for sensing the speed of the wheel and adjusting the orientation of the vanes with respect to the axis to change the efficiency of the wheel in inverse proportion to its speed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
There is disclosed in the present application a windmill including a wheel having a set of fixed blades and a set of movable vanes whose angular orientation with respect to the axis of the wheel is adjusted automatically for limiting the speed of the wheel to a safe level in winds of high velocity. The fixed blades may be installed to cause turning of the wheel under generally prevailing winds of a very low velocity. The movable vanes are connected to a speed sensing governor mechanism which changes their orientation from positive through neutral to negative for reducing the speed of the wheel when the wind velocity is excessive and the mill would otherwise reach damaging speeds. In addition, there is disclosed a mechanism for changing the orientation of the vanes from a remote location to stop the wheel. The mill wheel is also constructed in modular segments adapted to being shipped in sections and assembled at the operating site.
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Citations
5 Claims
- 1. A wind wheel adapted to being driven by the wind, comprising means defining an axis about which the wheel is adapted to rotate, a pair of radially spaced apart segmented rims, a set of generally equally spaced, radially mounted blades equal in number to the segments of each of the rims mounted inside the inner rim and having a front wind engaging surface oriented with respect to the axis to cause the wheel to rotate when subjected to wind directed generally along the axis, a plurality of interconnected movable vanes, one corresponding to each blade and each segment of each rim, mounted on the wheel outside the blades and a governor mechanism including a number of weights equal to the number of blades and connected to the vanes for sensing the speed of the wheel and adjusting the orientation of the vanes with respect to the axis to change the efficiency of the wheel in inverse proportion to its speed.
Specification