The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-09-27
No. "a
WHAT A WINDMILL CAN DO AND
SAVE.


years record OF the possible work of a
Is foot geared windmill and what it
would cost to do the same work with,
an engine.
A full statement of all the tests and,
tabulated records Of all results are
given in bulletin No. 68, of which the
following are the salient points:
Both the velocity of the wind and
the work done by the mill were re-
corded by automatic instruments dur
ing every hour of the whole year.
The variable and unsteady force of
the wind has always been the most
serious hindrance to the use of the
windmill as a motive power, and so, in
order that the real character and mag
nitude of this variability in terms of
work may be seen for all hours of the
day and for all days of the year, the
records of the whole year have been
brought into table in such away that
simple inspection will chow just what
this windmill was able to do on any
hour or day or succession Of days
throughout the year. The table shows
just how frC quently and during how
long intervals the windmill was able to
do no work. 1t shows when and how
consecutively it could do heavy work,
and it shows how persistently q mod
crate amount Of work could be done
by it. These are the essential facts
which the practical man needs to know,
and they are in the form which is most
readily accessible to him. At the same
time the data are in such shape that
those who wish to use them for scien-
tifc purposes will be able to do 80.
The mill used was geRred Aermo.
ter, with Is foot steel wheel mounted
on steel tower 80 feet high.
In the water pumping test the expe-
riment was started at noon on March
6, 1892, and closed at noon of the same
date, 1898, and the number of times
the measuring tank was emptied each
hour of every day in the year is given
in table 1, at the close, together with
the miles of wind which passed the
mill during the corresponding times.
The water was raised 10 feet.
The table shows that during the 365
days of the year the mill pumped
enough water to cover 79 acres Of
land II inches deep, an average Of q
little over two and half acres one
inch deep every day of "a hourg.
AS water for irrigation is usually
caught and stored in reservoirs as it
comes from the pump, and is applied
to the ground about once every 10
days, another table shows the quantity
of water for each period of 10 days
during the year. From this table it
appears that the smallest quantity of
water pumped in any 10 days was
from July % to August 8-enough to
cover nearly 10 acres one inch deep.
The largest quantity was February 13
to 2S-enough to cover 75f acres one
inch.
During the 100 days from May 29sh
to September Oh, there was an aver
age Of enough to cover ~ acres one
inch in every ten days. This is the
growing season, when water is most
needed in Wisconsin. But of course
that pumped during the wet spring
season might be stored in reservoirs
and held in reservation for the dry
time.
The mill would not work the pump
when the wind had a velocity of less:
than nine miles an hour and there
were 3, 531 such hours during the year,
so that the pump was at work but
5, 329 hours in the year-an average Of
14B hours out Of every twenty four.
But from March to September l it
ran an average OF only Ia hours out
of every twenty four, ana this is the
main irrigation season.
The average horse power developed
was a fraction over two.
To test the economic value of the
pumping done by the mill 81 horse
power gas engine was put to running
the s4me pumps and it was found that
it cost ninety five cents to run the en-.
gine ten hours and in that tine it
pumped ] 3 202 cubic feet of water,
while the average for the mill was
g. ,938 cubic feet in ten hours. Hence
il cost about thirty two cents to pump
as much water with the engine as the
mill pumped in ten hours. AS the mill
ran an average of 49, hours per day,
it would have cost forty three cents to
pump as much water with the engine
as the mill pumped each day, or $3.50 95
for one year of 365 days.
Tests made in grinding corn with the