Having grown up on the Oklahoma plains where wind-powered water pumps were
common but water was (and is) scarce, it occurred to that a wind-powered pump
might have been used in Prince William County in the mid-1800s. The material
quoted below is from the website _http://www.telosnet.com/wind/early.html_
(http://www.telosnet.com/wind/early.html) , which indicates that 'modern'
windmills for water pumping became widespread in the mid-1800s and might have been
available much earlier. In my experience, many of these pumps work with
wells that are quite deep (ie, >50 ft).
This is not definitive; but it may be a useful clue for you
:-) Bob Shriner
Role of Smaller Systems
For hundreds of years, the most important application of windmills at the
subsistence level has been mechanical water pumping using relatively small
systems with rotor diameters of one to several meters. These systems were
perfected in the United States during the19th century, beginning with the Halladay
windmill in 1854, and continuing to the Aermotor and Dempster designs, which
are still in use today.
The first mills had four paddle-like wooden blades. They were followed by
mills with thin wooden slats nailed to wooden rims. Most of these mills had
tails to orient them into the wind, but some were weather-vaning mills that
operated downwind of the tower. Speed control of some models was provided by
hinging sections of blades, so that they would fold back like an umbrella in high
winds, an action which reduced the rotor capture area to reduce thrust. The
most important refinement of the American fan-type windmill was the
development of steel blades in 1870 (Figure 5). Steel blades could be made lighter and
worked into more efficient shapes. They worked so well, in fact, that their
high speed required a reduction (slow-down) gear to turn the standard
reciprocal pumps at the required speed.
Between 1850 and 1970, over six million mostly small (1 horsepower or less)
mechanical output wind machines were installed in the U.S. alone. The primary
use was water-pumping and the main applications were stock watering and farm
home water needs. Very large windmills, with rotors up to 18 meters in
diameter, were used to pump water for the steam railroad trains that provided the
primary source of commercial transportation in areas where there were no
navigable rivers.
In the late 19th century, the successful "American" multi-blade windmill
design was used in the first large windmill to generate electricity.
In a message dated 7/17/2006 11:57:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:54:21 EDT
From: Morgan Breeden <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: mid-19th century "deep well pump"
We have found information that implies that Brentsville, Prince William Co.,
had the first and only deep well pump in the county around 1840 on the
public lot. Now we are attempting to identify several issues: 1) what would
constitute a "very deep hand dug" well? 2) what would the pump look like
and 3)
how would it have worked? If anyone has a source of information that would
help us in this area we would very much like to hear from you.
Best regards,
Morgan Breeden
History Interpreter (Brentsville)
Historic Preservation Division
Prince William County, VA
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