Posted by JWmHarmon on May 29, 2002 at 12:49:07:In Reply to: Re: Wind Turbines posted by bsp on May 24, 2002 at 07:07:52:
Windmills need not be unsightly. Take a look at the Frank Lloyd Wright designed "Romeo and Juliet" windmill from the 1890's linked below. I realize it is on a completely different scale than today's electric generating windmills.
Windmills in the United States were a common sight until the middle of the 1950's. I had a relative who lived on a dairy farm in the 1930's. The windmill was used to pump water for the dairy herd. The farm had no electicity at the time. Electricity didn't arrive until the late 1930's or early 1940's.
Most windmills that were still around in my chilhood were rusted steel framed towers about forty or fifty feet high. If not oiled and greases properly they were squeaky and annoying. If properly maintained they were almost no operating cost following the initial capital investment. When allowed to deteriorate the vanes sometimes broke and make a rhytmic noise. It was not really an unpleasant sound. It was the 20th century music of the farm. It was a little like the boys with the booming bass speakers in their cars heard from a distance, but more metallic in nature and chaonging with the wind.
I have heard stories of old-timers who hooked up electric generators to the windmills. The generators were supposedly connected to automobile batteries. Is there nothing new in the world?
You have probably seen old paintings of Dutch windmills on the seacoast. Did you consider them unattractive?
Making a good looking windmill should be considered a desgin challenge.
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