Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Eclipse windmill
The Eclipse windmill was one of the more successful designs of windmill used to pump water in the nineteenth century United States. It was invented by Leonard Wheeler, a Presbyterian minister who was working among the Ojibwe on the south shore of Lake Superior. Wheeler perfected the device on his missionary homestead over nearly two decades, unknown to the larger technological world. In 1866 health issues forced him to move to Beloit, Wisconsin, then a bustling industrial city, where he was persuaded to patent the basic function of the device. Although Wheeler died before he could witness the success of his invention, his sons carried on the legacy. Some of the companies that succeeded the original Eclipse Windmill Company remain viable in the 21st century.
Leonard Hemenway Wheeler was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1811. His mother died when he was one month old. He was raised by his father and an aunt in Bridport, Vermont. He attended college at Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1837, and Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1840. Around this time he met and married Harriet Wood, similarly devout in her religious beliefs. Since Leonard was already committed to missionary work among the Ojibwe, the couple soon found themselves setting up a household at La Pointe, Wisconsin on Madeline Island in Wisconsin Territory.
Wheeler eventually became committed to the notion of helping the Ojibwe learn the agricultural skills needed to sustain themselves, especially since the fur trade, upon which they had been economically dependent for several generations, was declining dramatically. The island was not conducive to farming, so Wheeler moved to the mainland, and established a home and mission, naming it Odanah, the Ojibwe word for village. Many Ojibwe (there were around 1000 in the Chequamegon Bay region) were already semi-permanent residents of that location, because of wild rice fields at the mouth of the Bad River. The Ojibwe name of the location was Kietiganing.
Wheeler originally built his first windmill for the purpose of pumping water out of a deep ravine up to his home. He continually improved it over time, and it was eventually used for a variety of farming purposes such as grinding corn.
The hard winter life in the far north woods eventually took a toll on Wheeler. In 1866 he moved his family to Beloit, where many of his professional colleagues lived and where he was able to find friendship and support for his family while he sought out an alternative career.
After moving to Beloit a cousin from Indiana, Samuel Chipman, became interested in Wheeler's windmill. Chipman persuaded Wheeler to work on a patent and provided financial support while Wheeler did so. On September 10, 1867, US Patent No, 68674 was issued. The patent had three claims.
The principal claim was for a regulating mechanism to keep wheel pointed at an optimum angle based on both the wind speed and direction. The main design problem for windmills is to capture as much power as possible in light wind, but not be damaged or destroyed by high-speed winds. In prior art, windmills had a simple tail vane which kept the wheel pointed directly at the wind, a simple design still in use in decorative garden windmills. Wheeler developed a mechanism that pointed the wheel into the wind at low to moderate wind speeds, but turned the wheel to point obliquely to the wind at high speeds. This was accomplished by the means of a secondary vane which shifted angles, held in an optimum position by weights through a series of pulleys. which operated against the main directional vane to optimize the angle.
An additional benefit to Wheeler's invention, which became second patent claim, was that by a simple shift in one of the hanging weights the motion of the wheel could be stopped altogether. His third claim was for a means by which to mount the vertical axis for the entire mechanism with a hollow shaft so that the ropes operating the regulating pulleys could pass down to the weights without restricting the rotational angle of the platform.
Hub AI
Eclipse windmill AI simulator
(@Eclipse windmill_simulator)
Eclipse windmill
The Eclipse windmill was one of the more successful designs of windmill used to pump water in the nineteenth century United States. It was invented by Leonard Wheeler, a Presbyterian minister who was working among the Ojibwe on the south shore of Lake Superior. Wheeler perfected the device on his missionary homestead over nearly two decades, unknown to the larger technological world. In 1866 health issues forced him to move to Beloit, Wisconsin, then a bustling industrial city, where he was persuaded to patent the basic function of the device. Although Wheeler died before he could witness the success of his invention, his sons carried on the legacy. Some of the companies that succeeded the original Eclipse Windmill Company remain viable in the 21st century.
Leonard Hemenway Wheeler was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, on April 18, 1811. His mother died when he was one month old. He was raised by his father and an aunt in Bridport, Vermont. He attended college at Middlebury College, where he graduated in 1837, and Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1840. Around this time he met and married Harriet Wood, similarly devout in her religious beliefs. Since Leonard was already committed to missionary work among the Ojibwe, the couple soon found themselves setting up a household at La Pointe, Wisconsin on Madeline Island in Wisconsin Territory.
Wheeler eventually became committed to the notion of helping the Ojibwe learn the agricultural skills needed to sustain themselves, especially since the fur trade, upon which they had been economically dependent for several generations, was declining dramatically. The island was not conducive to farming, so Wheeler moved to the mainland, and established a home and mission, naming it Odanah, the Ojibwe word for village. Many Ojibwe (there were around 1000 in the Chequamegon Bay region) were already semi-permanent residents of that location, because of wild rice fields at the mouth of the Bad River. The Ojibwe name of the location was Kietiganing.
Wheeler originally built his first windmill for the purpose of pumping water out of a deep ravine up to his home. He continually improved it over time, and it was eventually used for a variety of farming purposes such as grinding corn.
The hard winter life in the far north woods eventually took a toll on Wheeler. In 1866 he moved his family to Beloit, where many of his professional colleagues lived and where he was able to find friendship and support for his family while he sought out an alternative career.
After moving to Beloit a cousin from Indiana, Samuel Chipman, became interested in Wheeler's windmill. Chipman persuaded Wheeler to work on a patent and provided financial support while Wheeler did so. On September 10, 1867, US Patent No, 68674 was issued. The patent had three claims.
The principal claim was for a regulating mechanism to keep wheel pointed at an optimum angle based on both the wind speed and direction. The main design problem for windmills is to capture as much power as possible in light wind, but not be damaged or destroyed by high-speed winds. In prior art, windmills had a simple tail vane which kept the wheel pointed directly at the wind, a simple design still in use in decorative garden windmills. Wheeler developed a mechanism that pointed the wheel into the wind at low to moderate wind speeds, but turned the wheel to point obliquely to the wind at high speeds. This was accomplished by the means of a secondary vane which shifted angles, held in an optimum position by weights through a series of pulleys. which operated against the main directional vane to optimize the angle.
An additional benefit to Wheeler's invention, which became second patent claim, was that by a simple shift in one of the hanging weights the motion of the wheel could be stopped altogether. His third claim was for a means by which to mount the vertical axis for the entire mechanism with a hollow shaft so that the ropes operating the regulating pulleys could pass down to the weights without restricting the rotational angle of the platform.