Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-10
THE ELECTRICAL FARMER.

THE ELECTRICAL FARMER.
Where is the farmer going and where
does he intend to stop in this evolution
that has been taking place since you
and | We're boys down on the farm
Furnaces in the homes where the frost
stood thick on the nail heads thirty
all the long list of labor saving and
comfort creating devices that our in
fancy knew not. All this was hard
enough to bear for us who lived or
the farm before overshoes became
common, but worse is to come. The
farmer is to have an electrical plant in
the cubby house under the wind mill
And he will have it.
Wind made electricity, the Tech
nical World tells us, holds out the
promise of becoming a great boon to
rural districts; and the day is near at
hand when every farmer who has a
windmill on his grounds can enjoy
electric lights and the many other serv-
ices which electric power is capable
of yielding. For many years, men
have been trying to convert wind
power into electricity. R. w. Wilson,
of Westtield, Ind. has worked out a
practicable method of accomplishing
it. The contrivances heretofore tried
for this purpose have usually failed
because of their inability to control the
variability of the wind power Gener-
alyly this failure has been due to eff
fort to derive electricity as a direct
product of wind power. Under the
Wilson method, electricity is generated
as a by-product in the course of the
windmills service in driving a water
pump.
In producing wind-made electricity,
Wilson calls upon the windmill to per-
form it's customary function of pump
ing water. He leads the water into a
hydraulic regulator built on the prin-
ciple of a water-lift, in which the pres
sure is controlled by weights Approx
imately, a uniform head pressure of
Is pounds will correspond to the ca
pacity of the water pumped by a 10
foot windmill wheel. This is increased
water is discharged from the hydraulic
chamber by means of automatic valves.
This regulator is the means Of main
tanning an even pressure under all con-
ditions whether the,windmill is revolv-
ing fast or slow.
Under the uniform pressure, the wa
ter is passed from the hydraulic cham
Der thru a water motor to which a dy-
namo is attached. Then it is discharged
thru troughs, and led away to the
fields if desired; or it can be stored up
in tanks or reservoirs to be pumped
back into the hydraulic regulator
again. in case water economy should be
necessary. BY producing an evenness
is run at a uniform speed, whether
the wind is blowing a gale or is just
enough to make the wheel go around
Speaking of his invention, or rather
Of principles, Mr. Wilson
says:
This is the age of by-products, as
YOU know. My idea is in touch with
the trend of the times, to get some
thing for nothing. I am satisfied that
the wind has been harnessed at last"
The possible electric supply is limit
ed only by the number and size of the
windmills employed, and the capacity
of storage. With ample equipment it
would be possible to light small towns
with by-product electricity; and all the
time. the mills would be busy pumping
water for other purposes, the same as
usual.
Think Of it, you grandmothers
grown old on the farm. Cooking by
electricity instead Of with cobs churn-
ing. doing a half hundred labors in the
domestic economy of the farm simply
by turning switch button set in the
wall, hard by the rocking chair. Why
didn't we have all these helps in the