The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1897-07-24
ANCIENT WINDMlLLS.
Men Learned to Harness tho Air CuIronts
In the Earliest Ages.

ANCIENT WINOMIllS.
Men Learned to Harness tho Air Currents
In the Earliest Ages.
From the earliest antiquity wind
has been employed as a motive
power, but it was not until the thir-
teenth century that 1t was used to
turn the mills Of Holland, France,
Germany and Belgium. In Holland
especially the thirteenth century
was a century marked by growing
intelligence that fostered inventive
talent, and Dutch millwrights and
engineers were celebrated for their
skill in mechanics and engineering.
The avariciousness of landlords
prevented the general use Of wind
mills in England. Of man today
who tries to take more than belongs
to him we say that he wants the
earth, and it is inconceivable to US
that a time ever existed when a
man could claim the proprietorship
of the air. Such, however, at one
time was the power of men holding
vast estates in England that mills
to be propelled by water or air were
heavily taxed to pay for the use OF
the wind which blew them from
over some lords domains. AS to
the form these mills took, they were
at first built movable, with the sails
turned in the direction of the pre-
vailing winds of the country in
which they were situated, so that
they were in operation only when
the wind was from certain quar-
ter. They were afterward built on
q float. To turn tho mills to the
wind two methods were invented.
In the German mill the whole struc-
ture turned on post, which gave
it very ridiculous appe trance, as
If the bulky tower and superstruc-
ture were attempting to walk
around on one silt.
In the Dutch type the roof with
the axle and epars alone are nova
BILE. But they were both operated
by wheel and pinions within or
by long lever without. The base
ment was generally built up Of
powders or heavy stonework, and
the interior was fitted up with
pumps or with various kinds Of ma
ohine1y. Half century ago nearly
the whole of the grinding, stamp
ing, saving, draining and pumping
Of the low countries Of Europe was
done by wind power. And even
now, after nearly six centuries of
constant use and the introduction
Of many rivals into the field Of mo-
tors, the people Of Holland have
never found anything better for
their purposes. The Zuyder Zee,
which is to be emptied and added
to the land area of the country,
will be pumped dry with windmills,
but they will be Of the automatic
steel type known as the American
mill.
Despite the erroneous popular no.
ton that windmills are antiquated,
their use is constantly increasing.
A traveller in Holland records the
fact that from a car window he
counted 80, two-thirds Of which
were of the American type, in the
spaoe Of ten minutes, and one jour-
neying on the New York Central
will become aware of these features
of the landscape in our own country
before Troy Is left 100 miles behind.
All over central New York, Ohio
and westward across what we used
to be taught in our school geogra-
phies was the Great American des-
ert, now in Kansas, Nebraska and
eastern Colorado, these windmills
may be seen. Sometimes they are
built like the Eiffel tower, an open
work structure of steel or iron, in
which are pumping works and sur
mounted by a wheel made of Stats.
The receiving surface Of these
American mills is made up Of blades
of small width set at an angle into
orossbars connecting the arms of
the mill. This construction is much
lighter than that Of the Dutch mill,
stronger and of greater capacity for
a given diameter, and it responds to
every variation of the wind with
the lightness and certainty of a
birds wing.-Modern Machinery.
Scientific Cutting.
Men of science sometimes make
extraordinary demands upon the
skill of instrument makers. An in
te1esting illustration is furnished
by the instrument called the micro