The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-17


of his plans and labor The windmill prop
err is the ordinary kind, common in al! out
of-town and country places where there is
no public water supply. The steel frame
or supporters extend fifty feet above the
second story of the stables.
At the top of this frame are the wheel
and fan, which are operated by the wind.
As the wheel reVolveS under the influence
of the slightest breeze it operates a Sc
ries of cog wheels, which work upon a
long vertical shaft running from the head
of the machine to the basement or cellar
of the stables, where it communicates with
second shaft leading directly 10 the
dynamo of the plant.
From this dynamo lead two sets of wires.
One set carry the current to the various
parts of the estate, where il is utilized for
power purposes and for lighting, while the
other set of wires receive the surplus cur
rent and store it in storage batteries for
use when the tickle wind is not sufficiently
strong TO give power enough to supply
the necessary voltage. When there is a
stronger current than is necessary, and
in order that il may not be wasted or play
havoc with the lights, the surplus energy
Is led into these storage batteries and
there kept until needed. A feature of this
dynamo is that the same one which gen.
crates the current when there is a breeze
also acts as a motor during a calm and
can be used with the energy always on
hand in the storage batteries This double
service by dynamo has never before been
accomplished. In the compare lively light
-
trial was made, the wheel of the windmill
began to slowly revolve, then faster and
faster it went until it looked like one solid
piece oil circular wood spinning about in
the air. a number of electric lights had
been put up in the stable as a test, and
when these were turned on after the
windmill had been working some time they
showed brilliant steady light, the equal
of that supplied by any electric light COM
pany in the country. The experiment was
a success and a combination of windmill
and motor had been found at such a COM
paratiVeiy slight cost that the matter of
expense was hardly worth considering.
Once the practicability of the machinery
was assured MIR. Feely lost no time IN
putting electric lights throughout his
house and stables and about his private
grounds, and utilizing the new agency
for various household and farm purposes.
The whole secret of the success of his
work is in the dynamo, which, in num-
Der of ways, is different from the usual
electric dynamo. In an ordinary dynamo
the voltage depends upon the speed with
which its armature is driven, and it was
found that owing to the various speed
at which the windmill was driven an or
binary dynamo would be entirely useless
for such purposes as MIR. Feely intended,
hence 1t was necessary to construct the
special one. In devising such a dynamo
three things were essential. 1t must be
self-regulating, free from all mechanical
contriVances and above all it must be eff
ficient.
When the dynamo was tried it was
found to work perfectly. BY keeping the
voltage constant, it was found that sub
stantially all the power of the windmill,
however cratic, could be utilized by sim
ply increasing the current in proportion
to the increase of the speed of the wind
mill. During his experiments in ascer-
tanning the varying changes in the Veloc-
ity of the wind Mr. Feely found that
there is not as great a difference as is
generally supposed between winter and
summer winds During the midsummer
months he found that the wind averaged
eight miles an hour, while during the win
ter months the average was about nine
miles an hour One of the most import
ant features of this new contrivance is
what is called a speed equalizer of special
construction, by which the surplus energy
generated by high winds is mechanically
stored and delivered to the batteries in
a comparatively uniform manner.
As it is necessary that a dynamo must
attain a sufficient velocity to give an elc-
tro-motive force sufficient to overcome the
back electro-motive force of the battery,
it was therefore necessary to devise some
means of preventing the current from the
storage battery passing back to the dy-
namo when not needed. This was accom-
plished by device, which, when the cleo
tro-motive force of the dynamo rose to
a given point, would connect with the
circuit, thereby sending it into the stor-
age battery, and again opening the cir
cult, when, owing to decreasing speed
of the dynamo, the electro-motive force
fa1l Of o battery