Glacier County chief., 1939-12-29
HoU ssVOice of Cou Creek
Hurnessed Montana Winds

On Montana ranch in 1921, a young
man was busy soldering the last wire
in place on small, homemade radio
transmitter. There were no high lines
within so miles, so the electricity need
ed to operate the transmitter would
have to be produced on the ranch.
First, he belted an engine to a gen.
orator to develop the necessary cleo
tricity, but this arrangement proved
unsatisfactory The engine required
| frequent attention and consumed con-
siderable fuel which had to be trans
ported over so miles of prairie trails.
In 1922 the young man devised and
and applied for a commercial broad
casting and operators license. His little
amateur station grew and became one
of the first commercial radio stations
I in Montana. The call letters were
, KICK. The station was known as
The Voice Of Cow Greek" While its
power was limited, friends and neigh
bors for miles around Rugged ear
phones to their ears or gathered about
their loud speakers to listen to pro-
grams presented by local talent that
gathered at the ranch every Sunday
CThis station was later sold to a prom
inent Montana oil company and now
clear channel)
The engine-driven generator was
taxed heavier than ever by the in
creased current requirements of the
enlarged radio transmitter. Increased
fuel expense and operating difficulties
led to the idea of Harvesting the wind
to produce the required electricity;
| A regular windmill-type of wheel
was mounted on a 30-foot wooden
tower. Gears from the rear axle Of a
popular make of automobile were used
to drive a shaft extending to the
ground. There pulley and belt were
employed to transmit the power to the
generator. The young man soon dis
covered that the stronger winds have
tremendous .power-power capable of
damaging the generator and other
equipment unless properly controlled.
| To control the speed of the gener-
ator. each of the driving fans of the
windmill wheel were hinged so they
would be turned edgewise to the wind
to each section of several blades when
the maximum safe speed was attained.
This method afforded close speed con-
troll.
Wheel Was Enlarged
In 1928 the windmill wheel was en-
larged to generate ample power to OPP
crate the broadcasting station and also
supply the necessary electric current
for lights and various motors used on
the ranch. There were motors to pump
water and operate the churn, cream
separator, ice cream freezer, washing
machine, tanning mill. blacksmith
forge, tool grinder and drill. There was
even a motor to operate an air-com-
pressor pump, that was used to initiate
truck and passenger car tires on the
ranch. Free air" on a Montana ranch
was considered quite forward step
16 years ago.
With the enlargement of the current
capacity of the wind electric plant the
young man turned his keen inventive
mind to the problem of putting cleo
tricity to work everywhere about the
for the churn, ice cream freezer and
a forced draft blower for the kitchen
stove. The forced draft blower enabled
his mother to prepare the family meals
more quickly with slow-burning lig-
mite. With a family of six children
and ranchhands and visitors to cook
for, this proved real blessing to his
mother.
This is the story of how Joseph H.
Jacobs, with the aid of his brothers,
developed successful wind electric
plant. With the wind that blew across
the open plains, they produced cleo
tricity to operate many time and labor
saving devices on their ranch.
Constant enlargement of their broad
casting station and increased electric
requirements of the ranch created the
plant, a plant that would generate
electricity during periods of low wind
SO the storage batteries would be sub
Jected to the load only during the calm
periods
In 1925 Joseph consulted his brother,
M: L. Jacobs, a licensed aeroplane
pilot, regarding the possibility of en-