Tools from the Nation’s Past: Finding and Restoring a Wind Charger

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Old water-pumping windmills are still abundant, but they're not what you're looking for
Old water-pumping windmills are still abundant, but they're not what you're looking for
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This is a rebuilt Parris-Dunn of pre-REA days. The design has recently been reintroduced by Vermont's Northwind Power Company.
This is a rebuilt Parris-Dunn of pre-REA days. The design has recently been reintroduced by Vermont's Northwind Power Company.
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If Wincharger was the Chevrolet, here's the
If Wincharger was the Chevrolet, here's the "Cadillac": a reliable old Jacobs.
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A Wincharger, the
A Wincharger, the "Chevrolet" of wind chargers, came in both two- and four-blade models. This is a unit the author found and restored.

There’s been a lot of talk (some of it, unfortunately, quite loose) about restoring old wind generators, most notably the Jacobs models that achieved some fame prior to the formation of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in 1935. Most such discussions, however, fail to mention where to find a rebuildable machine in the first place. (After all, not everyone is fortunate enough to have an old Jacobs sitting out in the barn gathering dust!)

However, if you happen to be driving across the Great Plains, you may well have a chance to take possession of a piece of Americana — a beautiful, potentially functional wind charger. And the tips we’ve garnered from our experience in the used wind machine business will help prevent you from getting ripped off in the process.

Why They’re There

The winds that sweep down out of the Rockies and across the Great Plains are notorious. Their power often rakes the rich topsoil from the earth, kicks it skyward, and carries it across the continent, where it rains down on distant eastern cities.

But for a few years, spanning the dark days of the Depression, this wind was occasionally put to work. It helped connect far-flung farmers and ranchers with the outside world as they and their families huddled around crackly-sounding Philco radios, to find reassurance in the “fireside chats” of Franklin Roosevelt and entertainment in the verbal antics of Fred Allen and Jack Benny.

  • Published on Mar 1, 1983
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