Windmill
For a long time, windmills, along with watermills, were the only machines used by mankind. Therefore, the use of these mechanisms varied: as a flour mill, for processing materials (sawmill) and as a pumping or water-lifting station.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Synonyms:See what “Windmill” is in other dictionaries:
Windmill, windmill (simple) Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M.: Russian language. Z. E. Alexandrova. 2011. windmill noun, number of synonyms: 7 ... Synonym dictionary
WINDMILL, a device powered by the wind turning wings or blades. The first known windmills were built in the Middle East in the 7th century. This technical innovation came to Europe in the Middle Ages. At dawn… … Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary
windmill- — EN windmill A machine for grinding or pumping driven by a set of adjustable vanes or sails that are caused to turn by the force of the wind. (Source: CED)… … Technical Translator's Guide
Sea view with windmill on the shore
Windmill- an aerodynamic mechanism that performs mechanical work due to wind energy captured by the wings of the mill. The most famous use of windmills is their use for grinding flour. For a long time, windmills, along with water mills, were the only machines used by mankind. Therefore, the use of these mechanisms was different: as a flour mill, for processing materials (sawmill) and as a pumping or water-lifting station. With the development in the 19th century. steam engines, the use of mills gradually began to decline. The “classic” windmill with a horizontal rotor and elongated quadrangular wings is a widespread landscape element in Europe, in the windy, flat northern regions, as well as on the Mediterranean coast. Asia is characterized by other designs with a vertical rotor placement. Presumably the oldest mills were common in Babylon, as evidenced by the code of King Hammurabi (circa 1750 BC). The description of the organ powered by the windmill is the first documented evidence of the use of wind to power the mechanism. It belongs to the Greek inventor Heron of Alexandria, 1st century AD. e. Persian mills are described in reports of Muslim geographers in the 9th century; they differ from Western ones in their design with a vertical axis of rotation and perpendicular wings, blades or sails. The Persian mill has blades on the rotor, arranged similarly to the paddle wheel blades on a steamship, and must be enclosed in a shell covering part of the blades, otherwise the wind pressure on the blades will be equal on all sides and, since the sails are rigidly connected to the axle, the mill will not rotate. Another type of mill with a vertical axis of rotation is known as a Chinese mill or Chinese windmill.
Chinese mill.
The design of the Chinese mill differs significantly from the Persian one by using a freely turning, independent sail. Windmills with a horizontal rotor orientation have been known since 1180 in Flanders, South-East England and Normandy. In the 13th century, mill designs appeared in the Holy Roman Empire in which the entire building turned towards the wind.
Bruegel the Elder. Jan (Velvet) Landscape with a windmill
This state of affairs existed in Europe until the advent of engines. internal combustion and electric motors in the 19th century. Water mills were common mainly in mountainous areas with fast rivers, A wind - in flat windy areas. The mills belonged to the feudal lords on whose land they were located. The population was forced to look for so-called forced mills to grind the grain that was grown on this land. Combined with poor road networks, this led to local economic cycles in which the mills were involved. With the lifting of the ban, the public was able to choose the mill of their choice, thus stimulating technological progress and competition. At the end of the 16th century, mills appeared in the Netherlands in which only the tower turned towards the wind. Until the end of the 18th century, windmills were widespread throughout Europe - wherever the wind was strong enough. Medieval iconography clearly shows their prevalence.
Jan Brueghel the Elder, Jos de Momper. Life in the field.Prado Museum(at the top right of the picture behind the field is a windmill).
They were mainly distributed in the windy northern regions of Europe, large parts of France, the Low Countries, where there were once 10,000 windmills in coastal areas, Great Britain, Poland, the Baltics, Northern Russia and Scandinavia. Other European regions had only a few windmills. In the countries of Southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans, Greece), typical tower mills were built, with a flat conical roof and, as a rule, a fixed orientation.When the pan-European economic boom occurred in the 19th century, there was also a major growth in the milling industry. With the emergence of many independent craftsmen, there was a one-time increase in the number of mills.
In the first type, the mill barn rotated on a pillar dug into the ground. The support was either additional pillars, or a pyramidal log cage, cut into pieces, or a frame.
The principle of tent mills was different
Tent mills:
a - on a truncated octagon; b - on a straight octagon; c - figure eight on the barn.
- their lower part in the form of a truncated octagonal frame was motionless, and the smaller upper part rotated with the wind. And this type had many variants in different areas, including tower mills - four-wheel, six-wheel and eight-wheel.
All types and variants of mills are amazingly accurate constructive calculation and the logic of cuttings that could withstand strong winds. Folk architects also paid attention appearance these are the only vertical economic structures, the silhouette of which played a significant role in the ensemble of villages. This was expressed in the perfection of proportions and grace carpentry work, and in carvings on pillars and balconies.
Description of the designs and operating principles of mills.
Stolbovki The mills are named because their barn rests on a pillar dug into the ground and covered on the outside with a log frame. It contains beams that keep the post from moving vertically. Of course, the barn rests not only on a pillar, but on a log frame (from the word cut, logs cut in not tightly, but with gaps).
Schematic diagram post mills.
On top of such a ridge, an even round ring is made of plates or boards. The lower frame of the mill itself rests on it.
The pillars may have rows different shapes and height, but not higher than 4 meters. They can rise from the ground immediately in the form of a tetrahedral pyramid or first vertically, and from a certain height they turn into a truncated pyramid. There were, although very rarely, mills on a low frame.
Jan van Goyen. Windmill by the river(here is a typical post or trestle).
Jan van Goyen Scene on ice nearDordrecht(another post - a gantry in the distance on a hill near the canal).
Base tent It can also be different in shape and design. For example, a pyramid may start at ground level, and the structure may not be a log structure, but a frame one. The pyramid can rest on a frame quadrangle, and can be attached to it utility rooms, vestibule, miller's room, etc.
Salomon van Ruysdael View of Deventer from the northwest.(here you can see both the tent and the pillars).
The main thing in mills is their mechanisms.IN tents the internal space is divided by ceilings into several tiers. Communication with them goes along steep attic-type stairs through hatches left in the ceilings. Parts of the mechanism can be located on all tiers. And there can be from four to five. The core of the tent is a powerful vertical shaft, piercing the mill right through to the “cap”. It rests on a metal bearing fixed in a beam that rests on a block frame. The beam can be moved in different directions using wedges. This allows you to give the shaft a strictly vertical position. The same can be done using the top beam, where the shaft pin is embedded in a metal loop.In the lower tier, a large gear with cam-teeth is placed on the shaft, fixed along the outer contour of the round base of the gear. During operation, the movement of the large gear, multiplied several times, is transmitted to the small gear or lantern of another vertical, usually metal shaft. This shaft pierces the stationary lower millstone and rests against a metal bar on which the upper movable (rotating) millstone is suspended through the shaft. Both millstones are covered with a wooden casing on the sides and top. The millstones are installed on the second tier of the mill. The beam in the first tier, on which a small vertical shaft with a small gear rests, is suspended on a metal threaded pin and can be slightly raised or lowered using a threaded washer with handles. With it, the upper millstone rises or falls. This is how the fineness of grain grinding is adjusted.From the millstone casing, a blind plank chute with a board latch at the end and two metal hooks on which a bag filled with flour is hung is slanted downwards.A jib crane with metal gripping arcs is installed next to the millstone block.
Claude-Joseph Vernet Construction of a big road.
With its help, the millstones can be removed from their places for forging.Above the millstone casing, a grain-feeding hopper, rigidly attached to the ceiling, descends from the third tier. It has a valve that can be used to shut off the grain supply. It has the shape of an overturned truncated pyramid. A swinging tray is suspended from below. For springiness, it has a juniper bar and a pin lowered into the hole of the upper millstone. A metal ring is installed eccentrically in the hole. The ring can also have two or three oblique feathers. Then it is installed symmetrically. The pin with the ring is called the shell. Running along the inner surface of the ring, the pin constantly changes position and rocks the slanted tray. This movement pours the grain into the jaw of the millstone. From there it falls into the gap between the stones, is ground into flour, which goes into the casing, from it into a closed tray and bag.
Willem van Drielenburgh Landscape with a viewDordrecht(tents...)
The grain is poured into a hopper embedded in the floor of the third tier. Bags of grain are fed here using a gate and a rope with a hook. The gate can be connected and disconnected from a pulley mounted on a vertical shaft. This is done from below using a rope and a lever. A hatch is cut into the floor boards, covered with inclined double-leaf doors. The bags , passing through the hatch, they open the doors, which then slam shut randomly. The miller turns off the gate, and the bag ends up on the hatch covers. The operation is repeated.In the last tier, located in the “head”, another, small gear with beveled cam-teeth is installed and secured on the vertical shaft. It causes the vertical shaft to rotate and starts the entire mechanism. But it is made to work by a large gear on a “horizontal” shaft. The word is in quotation marks because in fact the shaft lies with a slight downward slope of the inner end.
Abraham van Beveren (1620-1690) Marine scene
The pin of this end is enclosed in a metal shoe of a wooden frame, the base of the cap. The raised end of the shaft, extending outward, rests quietly on a “bearing” stone, slightly rounded at the top. Metal plates are embedded on the shaft in this place, protecting the shaft from rapid wear.Two mutually perpendicular bracket beams are cut into the outer head of the shaft, to which other beams are attached with clamps and bolts - the basis of the lattice wings. The wings can receive the wind and rotate the shaft only when the canvas is spread out on them, usually rolled into bundles in a flat, not work time. The surface of the wings will depend on the strength and speed of the wind.
Schweickhardt, Heinrich Wilhelm (1746 Hamm, Westphalia - 1797 London) Fun on a frozen canal
The "horizontal" shaft gear has teeth cut into the side of the circle. Brake hugs her from above wooden block, which can be released or tightly tightened using a lever. Sharp braking in strong and gusty winds will cause high temperatures when wood rubs against wood, and even smoldering. This is best avoided.
Corot, Jean-Baptiste Camille Windmill.
Before operation, the wings of the mill should be turned towards the wind. For this purpose there is a lever with struts - a “carriage”.
Small columns of at least 8 pieces were dug around the mill. They had a “drive” attached to them with a chain or thick rope. With the strength of 4-5 people, even if the upper ring of the tent and parts of the frame are well lubricated with grease or something similar (previously they were lubricated with lard), it is very difficult, almost impossible, to turn the “cap” of the mill. “Horsepower” doesn’t work here either. Therefore, they used a small portable gate, which was alternately placed on posts with its trapezoidal frame, which served as the basis of the entire structure.
Bruegel the Elder. Jan (Velvet). Four windmills
A block of millstones with a casing with all the parts and details located above and below it was called in one word - postav. Typically, small and medium-sized windmills were made “in one batch.” Large wind turbines could be built with two stages. There were windmills with “pounds” on which flaxseed or hempseed were pressed to obtain the corresponding oil. Waste - cake - was also used in household. “Saw” windmills seemed to never occur.
Bout, Pieter Village square
The sun turned red in the evening.
The fog is already spreading over the river.
The ugly wind has calmed down,
Just the mill flapping its wings.
Wooden, black, old -
Good for no one,
Tired of worries, tired of troubles,
And, like the wind in a field, free.
Disperses the ink clouds
Entertains the wanderer of the wind -
- She didn’t find anything better,
How to greet the dawn and sunrises.
Why are you standing? black mill
A carousel of foreign winds?
You're unhappy, you're a bum
You are the keeper of desires and dreams.
You threw your arms out in despair -
- Wooden, long poles,
And I accidentally heard
How you prayed to heaven for death.
I'm an old black mill -
- Carousel and the abode of devils,
I'm tired and idle -
- Strike me with thunder quickly.
The thunder obeyed - it thundered and crashed,
And it lit up with a hot fire.
I didn’t have time not to scream or gasp, -
-It was all burned out this afternoon.
Only the groans of the mill could be heard
In the pre-sunset, sleepy rays— http://www.vika-nn.ru/texts/verces/65
The first tools for grinding grain into flour were a stone mortar and pestle. Some step forward compared to them was the method of grinding grain instead of crushing. People very soon became convinced that grinding makes flour much better.
Stone mortars and pestles
However, it was also extremely tedious work. The big improvement was the change from moving the grater back and forth to rotating. The pestle was replaced by a flat stone, which moved along a flat stone dish. It was already easy to move from a stone that grinds grain to a millstone, that is, to make one stone slide while rotating on another. Grain was gradually poured into the hole in the middle of the top stone of the millstone, fell into the space between the top and bottom stones and was ground into flour.
Hand mill
This hand mill is the most widely used in Ancient Greece and Rome. Its design is very simple. The base of the mill was a stone convex in the middle. At its top there was an iron pin. The second, rotating stone had two bell-shaped depressions connected by a hole. Outwardly it resembled an hourglass and was empty inside. This stone was placed on the base. An iron strip was inserted into the hole. When the mill rotated, the grain, falling between the stones, was ground. The flour was collected at the base of the bottom stone. Mills like these were the most different sizes: from small ones, like modern coffee grinders, to large ones, which were driven by two slaves or a donkey.
With the invention of the hand mill, the process of grinding grain became easier, but still remained a labor-intensive and difficult task. It is no coincidence that it was in the flour milling business that the first machine in history arose that worked without the use of the muscular power of a person or animal. We are talking about a water mill. But first the ancient craftsmen had to invent a water engine.
The ancient water engines apparently developed from the irrigation machines of the Chadufons, with the help of which they raised water from the river to irrigate the banks. The chadufon was a series of scoops that were mounted on the rim of a large wheel with a horizontal axis. When the wheel turned, the lower scoops plunged into the river water, then rose to the top point of the wheel and tipped into the gutter. At first, such wheels were rotated manually, but where there is little water and it runs quickly along a steep riverbed, the wheels began to be equipped with special blades. Under the pressure of the current, the wheel rotated and scooped up water itself. The result is a simple automatic pump that does not require human presence for its operation.
Reconstruction of a water mill (1st century)
The invention of the water wheel was of great importance for the history of technology. For the first time, a person had at his disposal a reliable, universal and very easy-to-manufacture engine. It soon became apparent that the movement created by a water wheel could be used not only for pumping water, but also for other purposes, such as grinding grain. In flat areas, the speed of river flow is low to rotate the wheel by the force of the jet impact. To create the required pressure, they began to dam the river, artificially raise the water level and direct the stream through a chute onto the wheel blades.
Water Mill
However, the invention of the engine immediately gave rise to another problem: how to transfer the movement from the water wheel to the device that should perform work useful to humans? For these purposes, a special transmission mechanism was needed that could not only transmit, but also transform rotational motion. Solving this problem, the ancient mechanics again turned to the idea of the wheel. The simplest wheel drive works as follows. Let's imagine two wheels with parallel axes of rotation, which are in close contact with their rims. If now one of the wheels begins to rotate (it is called the driving one), then due to the friction between the rims the other one (the driven one) will also begin to rotate. Moreover, the ways passable points lying on their rims are equal. This is true for all wheel diameters.
Therefore, the larger wheel will make as many times fewer revolutions as the smaller one connected to it, as its diameter exceeds the diameter of the latter. If we divide the diameter of one wheel by the diameter of the other, we get a number called the gear ratio of that wheel drive. Let's imagine a transmission of two wheels, in which the diameter of one wheel is twice as large as the diameter of the second. If the driven wheel is a larger one, we can use this transmission to double the speed, but at the same time the torque will be halved.
This combination of wheels will be convenient when it is important to obtain a higher speed at the exit than at the entrance. If, on the contrary, the driven wheel is a smaller one, we will lose speed at the output, but the torque of this transmission will double. This gear is useful where you need to “intensify the movement” (for example, when lifting heavy objects). Thus, using a system of two wheels of different diameters, it is possible not only to transmit, but also to transform movement. In real practice, gear wheels with a smooth rim are almost never used, since the clutches between them are not rigid enough and the wheels slip. This disadvantage can be eliminated if gear wheels are used instead of smooth ones.
The first wheel gears appeared about two thousand years ago, but they became widespread much later. The fact is that cutting teeth requires great precision. In order for the uniform rotation of one wheel to rotate the second one also uniformly, without jerking or stopping, the teeth must be given a special shape in which the mutual movement of the wheels would occur as if they were moving over each other without sliding, then the teeth of one wheel would fall into the depressions of the other. If the gap between the wheel teeth is too large, they will hit each other and quickly break off. If the gap is too small, the teeth crash into each other and crumble.
The calculation and manufacture of gears was difficult task for ancient mechanics, but they already appreciated their convenience. After all various combinations gears, as well as their connection with some other gears gave huge opportunities to transform movement.
Worm-gear
For example, after connecting a gear to a screw, a worm gear was obtained that transmitted rotation from one plane to another. By using bevel wheels, rotation can be transmitted at any angle to the plane of the drive wheel. By connecting the wheel to a gear ruler, it is possible to convert rotational motion into translational motion, and vice versa, and by attaching a connecting rod to the wheel, a reciprocating motion is obtained. To calculate gears, they usually take the ratio not of the wheel diameters, but the ratio of the number of teeth of the driving and driven wheels. Often several wheels are used in a transmission. In this case, the gear ratio of the entire transmission will be equal to the product of the gear ratios of individual pairs.
Reconstruction of Vitruvius's water mill
When all the difficulties associated with obtaining and transforming movement were successfully overcome, a water mill appeared. For the first time its detailed structure was described by the ancient Roman mechanic and architect Vitruvius. The mill in ancient times had three main components interconnected into a single device: 1) a motor mechanism in the form of a vertical wheel with blades, rotated by water; 2) a transmission mechanism or transmission in the form of a second vertical gear; the second gear wheel rotated the third horizontal gear wheel - the pinion; 3) actuating mechanism in the form of millstones, upper and lower, and the upper millstone was mounted on a vertical gear shaft, with the help of which it was set in motion. Grain fell from a funnel-shaped ladle above the top millstone.
Bevel gears
Spur gears with helical teeth. Geared ruler
The creation of the water mill is considered an important milestone in the history of technology. It became the first machine to be used in production, a kind of pinnacle reached by ancient mechanics, and the starting point for the technical search for mechanics of the Renaissance. Her invention was the first timid step towards machine production.
See other articles section.
Using the energy of water flow. Centuries ago, windmills were typically used to grind grain, drive a water pump, or do both. Most modern windmills are in the form of wind turbines and are used to generate electricity; Wind pumps are used to pump water, drain land, or pump out groundwater.
Windmills in ancient times
The windmill of the Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria, invented in the first century AD, is the earliest example of the use of wind power to drive a mechanism. Another example of an ancient wind power is the prayer wheel, used in Tibet and China in the early 4th century. There is also evidence that in the Babylonian Empire, Hammurabi planned to use wind power for his ambitious irrigation project.Horizontal windmills
The first windmills put into operation had sails (blades) rotating in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis. According to Ahmad al-Hasan, windmills were invented in eastern Persia by the Persian geographer Estakhiri in the ninth century. The authenticity of the earlier invention of the windmill by the second caliph Umar (during 634 - 644 AD) has been questioned on the basis that information about windmills appears only in documents dating back to the tenth century.Mills of that time had from six to twelve blades covered with reed or fabric material. These devices were used for grinding grain or extracting water, and were quite different from later European vertical windmills. Windmills were initially widespread in the Middle East and Central Asia, and then gradually became popular in China and India.
A similar type of horizontal windmill with rectangular blades, used for irrigation, can also be found in thirteenth century China (during the Jin dynasty in the north), discovered and brought to Turkestan by the traveler Yelu Chucai in 1219.
Horizontal windmills were present in small numbers throughout Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most famous of those that have survived to this day are Hooper's Mill in Kent and Fowler's Mill at Battersea near London. Most likely, the mills that existed in Europe at that time were an independent invention of European engineers during the Industrial Revolution; the design of European mills was not borrowed from eastern countries.
Vertical windmills
Regarding the origin of vertical windmills, debate among historians continues to this day. Due to the lack of reliable information, it is impossible to answer the question of whether vertical mills are an original invention of European masters or the design was borrowed from Middle Eastern countries.The existence of the first known mill in Europe (it is assumed that it was of the vertical type) dates back to 1185; it was located in the former village of Weedley in Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Humber. In addition, there are a number of less reliable historical sources, according to which the first windmills in Europe appeared in the 12th century. The first purpose of windmills was to grind grain crops.
Gantry mill
There is evidence that the earliest type of European windmill was called a post mill, so named because of the large vertical part that makes up the main structure of the mill mill.When installing the mill body in this way, it was able to rotate in the direction of the wind; this allowed for more productive work in northwestern Europe, where wind direction changes at short intervals. The bases of the first gantry mills were dug into the ground, which provided additional support when turning. Later it was developed wooden support called the overpass (or goats). It was usually closed, which gave extra bed for storing crops and providing protection during adverse weather conditions.
This type of windmill was the most common in Europe until the nineteenth century, when powerful tower mills replaced them.
Hollow (empty) gantry mill
Mills of this design had a cavity inside which the drive shaft was located. This made it possible to turn the structure in the direction of the wind with less effort than in traditional gantry mills, and there was no need to lift bags of grain to high-mounted millstones, since the use of a long drive shaft allowed the millstones to be placed at ground level. Such mills have been used in the Netherlands since the 14th century.Tower mill
Towards the end of the 13th century, a new type of mill design, the tower mill, was introduced. Its main advantage was that only the upper part of the structure was set in motion, while the main part of the mill remained stationary.The widespread use of tower mills came with the beginning of a period of strengthening of the economy, due to the need for reliable sources of energy. Farmers and millers were not even more embarrassed high price construction compared to other types of mills.
Unlike the gantry mill, in the tower mill only the roof of the tower mill responded to the presence of wind, this made it possible to make the main structure much higher, which, in turn, made it possible to produce larger blades, making rotation of the mill possible even in light windy conditions.
The upper part of the mill could be rotated in the direction of wind movement due to the presence of winches. In addition, it was possible to hold the mill roof and blades towards the wind by having a small windmill mounted at right angles to the blades at the rear of the windmill. This type of construction became widespread in the territory of the former British Empire, Denmark and Germany. In areas located a short distance from the Mediterranean Sea, tower mills were built with fixed roofs, since the change in wind direction was very small most of the time.
Hip mill
The hip mill is an improved version of the tower mill, where the stone tower is replaced wooden frame usually octagonal in shape (there are mills with more or fewer angles). The frame was covered with straw, slate, sheet metal or roofing felt. More lightweight design, compared to tower mills, made the windmill more practical, allowing the structure to be erected in areas with unstable soil. Initially this type of mill was used as a drainage mill, but later the scope of use expanded significantly.When a mill was built in a built-up area, it was usually placed on a masonry base, allowing the structure to be raised above the surrounding buildings for better wind access.
Mechanical structure of mills
Blades (sails)
Traditionally, a sail consists of a lattice frame on which the canvas is located. The miller can independently regulate the amount of fabric depending on the wind force and required power. In the Middle Ages, the blades were a lattice on which canvas was located, while in colder climates the fabric was replaced by wooden slats, which prevented freezing. Regardless of the design of the blades, to adjust the sails it was necessary to completely stop the mill.The turning point was the invention in Britain at the end of the eighteenth century of a design that automatically adjusted to wind speed without the intervention of the miller. The most popular and functional sails were those invented by William Cubitt in 1807. In these blades, the fabric was replaced by a linked shutter mechanism.
In France, Pierre-Théophile Berton invented a system consisting of longitudinal wooden slats, connected by a mechanism that allowed the miller to open them while the mill was turning.
In the twentieth century, thanks to advances in aircraft construction, the level of knowledge in the field of aerodynamics significantly increased, which led to further improvements in the efficiency of mills by the German engineer Bilau and Dutch craftsmen.
Most windmills have four sails. Along with them, there are mills equipped with five, six or eight sails. They are most widespread in Great Britain (especially in the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), Germany, and less often in other countries. The first factories producing canvas for mills were located in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia.
A mill with an even number of sails has an advantage over other types of mills, because if damage occurs to one of the blades, it is possible to remove the blade opposite to it, thereby maintaining the balance of the entire structure.
In the Netherlands, while the mill blades are stationary, they are used to transmit signals. The slight tilt of the sails towards the main building symbolizes a joyful event; while tilting in the opposite direction from the main building symbolizes grief. Windmills across Holland have been placed in positions of mourning in memory of the Dutch victims of the 2014 Malaysian Boeing plane crash.
Mill mechanism
Gears inside the mill transmit energy from rotational movement sails to mechanical devices. The sails are fixed on horizontal shafts. Shafts can be made entirely of wood, wood with metal elements or entirely made of metal. The brake wheel is installed on the shaft between the front and rear bearings.Mills were used to carry out many industrial processes, such as processing oilseeds, processing wool, dyeing products and making stone products.
Spread of mills
The total number of windmills in Europe is estimated to have been around 200,000 at the time when this type of device was most widespread, a figure that is quite modest compared to the approximately 500,000 that existed at the same time. Windmills became widespread in regions where there was too little water, where rivers froze in winter, and in lowland regions where river flows were too slow to provide the required power to operate water mills.With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the importance of wind and water as major industrial energy sources declined; ultimately a large number of windmills and water wheels were replaced by steam mills and mills equipped with internal combustion engines. However, windmills remained quite popular and continued to be built until the end of the 19th century.
These days, windmills are often protected structures as their historical value has been recognized. In some cases, antique mills exist as static exhibits (when the ancient machines are too fragile to be powered), in other cases, as fully working exhibits.
Of the 10,000 windmills used in the Netherlands in the 1850s, about 1,000 are still in operation. Most windmills are now operated by volunteers, although some millers still operate on a commercial basis. Many of the drainage mills exist as a backup mechanism to modern pumping stations. The Zaan region in Holland was the first industrial region in the world, with about 600 windmills operating by the end of the 18th century. Economic fluctuations and the Industrial Revolution had a much greater impact on windmills than on other energy sources, resulting in only a few surviving to this day.
Mill construction was common throughout the Cape Colony of South Africa in the 17th century. But the first tower mills did not survive the storms at the head of the peninsula, so in 1717 it was decided to build a more durable mill. Craftsmen specially sent by the Dutch East India Company completed construction by 1718. In the early 1860s, Cape Town boasted 11 mills.
Wind turbines
A wind turbine is essentially a windmill whose structure is specifically designed to generate electricity. It can be seen as the next step in the development of the windmill. First wind turbines were built in the late nineteenth century by Professor James Blyth in Scotland (1887), Charles F. Brush in Cleveland, Ohio (1887-1888), and Paul la Cour in Denmark (1890s). Since 1896, the Paul la Cour mill has served as an electric generator in the village of Askov. By 1908 there were 72 wind power generators in Denmark, with power ranging from 5 to 25 kW. By the 1930s, windmills became widespread on farms in the United States, where they were used to generate electricity, due to the fact that power transmission and distribution systems had not yet been installed.The modern wind energy industry began in 1979 with the start of mass production of wind turbines by Danish manufacturers Kuriant, Vestas, Nordtank and Bonus. The first turbines were small by today's standards, with a power of 20-30 kW each. Since then, commercial production turbines have increased significantly in size; The Enercon E-126 turbine is capable of delivering up to 7 MW of energy.
As the 21st century begins, there has been a rise in public concern about energy security, global warming, and fossil fuel depletion. All this ultimately led to increased interest in all kinds of renewable energy sources and increased interest in wind turbines.
Wind pumps
Wind pumps have been used to pump water in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan since the 9th century. The use of wind pumps became widespread throughout the Muslim world and then spread to modern China and India. Wind pumps were used in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and the East Anglian areas of Great Britain, from the Middle Ages onwards, to drain land for agricultural work or for construction purposes.The American wind pump, or wind turbine, was invented by Daniel Haladay in 1854 and was used primarily to lift water from wells. Larger versions of the wind pump were also used for tasks such as sawing wood, chopping hay, hulling and grinding grain. In California and some other states, the wind pump was part of autonomous system for the extraction of domestic water, which also included a hand well and a wooden water tower. At the end of the 19th century, steel blades and towers replaced the obsolete ones wooden structures. At their peak in 1930, experts estimate that about 600,000 wind pumps were in use. The following companies were engaged in the production of wind pumps: American companies, such as the Pump Company, Feed Mill Company, Challenge Wind Mill, Appleton Manufacturing Company, Eclipse, Star, Aermotor and Fairbanks-Morse, eventually became the major suppliers of pumps in the Americas.
Wind pumps are widely used on farms and ranches in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia these days. They have a large number of blades, which allows them to rotate at a higher speed in light winds and slow down to the required level in strong winds. These mills lift water to feed feed mills, sawmills and agricultural machinery.
In Australia, Griffiths Brothers has been making windmills under the name Southern Cross Windmills since 1903. These days they have become an indispensable part of the Australian rural sector thanks to the use of water from the Great Artesian Basin.
Windmills in different countries
Windmills of Holland
In 1738 - 40, 19 stone windmills were built in the Dutch town of Kinderdijk to protect the lowlands from flooding. Windmills pumped water from the area below sea level to the Lek River, which flows into the North Sea. In addition to pumping water, windmills were used to generate electricity. Thanks to these mills, Kinderdijk became the first electrified town in the Netherlands in 1886.
Today, water from below sea level in Kinderdijk is pumped by modern pumping stations, and the windmills were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.
How did the three elements influence each other? ancient technologies of humanity: the wheel, the potter's wheel and the millstone? But it is absolutely clear that already in the late Neolithic era, what we call “progress” began with these three devices. No one had yet thought about crossbows, door locks and watches, but the millstones were already turning. Also in ancient times Grinding grain into flour began to be done on millstones rotating one relative to the other. For quite a long time they continued to spin, thanks to the effort of human hands. Perhaps the use of mechanical force was first in demand in the production of flour because this work was very monotonous and unproductive. The greatest discovery in the history of mankind, comparable, perhaps, only with the ability to use fire, was the use for work mechanical device strength other than muscular. Water and wind are what are called to help for the first time. How did the process of turning grain into flour take place? Along the lower millstone lying horizontally, the upper millstone, which had a hole in the middle, moved rotationally. Grain was poured into this hole. It ground into flour as it moved towards the outer edge. To facilitate the grinding process, radial straight or spiral grooves were applied to the millstones. It was impossible to install heavy stone circles vertically at that time, and how could grain be brought to them for grinding? The shaft, which transmits force to the upper stone, was located vertically.
One of the earliest types of mills. The rotor (rotating part) of the windmill is located on a vertical axis and its shaft is directly connected to the upper millstone.
Wind walls direct air flow to half of the windmill, causing it to rotate. Such mills have been known since the 7th century AD and may have first appeared in Persia. The model from the German Museum (Model on a scale of 1:20. Inv No. 79235) reproduces a Persian mill from the 18th century.
On large millstones, levers were attached to it, which workers pushed, walking around the millstone in a circle. Then the animals were harnessed to the levers. At the moment when sails began to be used instead of slaves and animals, one of the first mechanical drives in human history was born. The wind rotated a structure of several panels attached to the spokes of a giant wheel. And she set the upper millstone in motion. No gears, and therefore no power loss: the proto-rotor worked in any wind direction. A similar pattern was found in Persia. Only there the soft sails were replaced by hard wooden blades, the entire structure was extended in height, and the structure was supplemented with walls to direct the wind. This mill was somewhat more productive, but, unfortunately, it only worked in a certain direction and strength of the wind. And here it is appropriate to remember that at the same time as the wind drive, a water wheel already existed, but at first it was not used for grinding, but only for raising water for artificial irrigation in agriculture. In order for the power of water to set the millstones in motion, it was necessary to invent an angular gear that allowed the working shaft to be rotated at a right angle. Such difficulties were inevitable due to the fact that it was neither possible to place the millstone on its edge, nor to position the wheel driven by the force of falling water horizontally. And as soon as the efforts were completed with the task of turning, the water wheels began to rotate the millstones. In late antiquity, such designs were quite well developed. Water mills became widespread in Europe and, having successfully survived the collapse of the Roman Empire, continued to be used in the Middle Ages. Somewhere in the south of Europe at the beginning of the second millennium AD, the drive of a water mill was first “crossed” with a windmill, creating the same model that existed from the beginning of the 12th century until the beginning of the 20th century.
Despite the apparent simplicity of the design and the considerable age of the invention, the pyramid of knowledge and technology, at the top of which was the first mechanical wind-driven mill, was already quite large. There was knowledge about metal processing, without which it is impossible to make tools for working with wood, and the wheel, as well as its derivative - a still primitive, but already working transmission from pin and lantern wheels, and ceramics, aerodynamics (still at the level of experiments and guesses , but...) and even knowledge about the weather and prevailing winds, i.e. the rudiments of meteorology. The first windmills were tower mills and did not have a windmill turning mechanism. The windmill itself was soft design made of slanting sails stretched over the spokes of a yard-wheel. Later the sails were replaced by blades. The tower house, along with the millstones, mechanisms, windmill and miller (as in the painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder) began to turn towards the wind. It is possible that just such a mill entered folklore in the form of “a hut that turns its back to the forest and its front to me.” It is simply impossible to call the gantry structure on which the mill rested other than a “chicken leg”. In Russia, such a mill was called a stolbovka, or German mill. Over time, the post was replaced by a device for turning only a tent with a windmill. In this case, turning into the wind was much easier. The fixed tower began to be made more durable - stone or brick, which increased its service life and resistance to the elements. The mills, gradually improving, regularly ground, sawed, crushed and ground until the beginning of the 20th century. In Germany alone in 1910 there were 22,000 windmills, by 1938 there were only 4,500 left. After World War II, windmills were practically not used. Alexander Ivanov
The water wheel is the first mechanical drive in human history. water is supplied through a special chute to the wheel on top and, with its weight, causes it to rotate. Such wheels were used in the mining industry as a drive for winches and hoists. With a water flow of approximately 50 l/sec. the wheel develops up to 1.3 kW of power. The first wheels appeared in Mesopotamia 3000 years ago and were used for irrigation. Two thousand years ago they began to be used in water mills. One of the earliest types of mills. The rotor (rotating part) of the windmill is located on a vertical axis and its shaft is directly connected to the upper millstone. Wind walls direct air flow to half of the windmill, causing it to rotate. Such mills have been known since the 7th century AD and may have first appeared in Persia. The model from the German Museum (Model on a scale of 1:20. Inv No. 79235) reproduces a Persian mill from the 18th century. Tower mill. Although the model in the German museum (Scale 1:20. Inv. No. 79227) repeats the mill from the island of Crete built in 1850, windmills with a windmill equipped with sails appeared in the Mediterranean region at the beginning of the first millennium AD. The complex spatial structure of a windmill with spokes-yards on which the sails are attached. Rope guy wires absorb axial wind loads and make the entire structure simple and reliable. Jan Brueghel the Elder. Road after the flood, 1614 
However, the idea of harnessing wind energy has not died. In 2012, wind power plants around the world generated 430 terawatt-hours (2.5% of all produced by humanity) electrical energy). Their total power reaches 283 gigawatts, which is about ¾ of the power of all nuclear power plants planets. In Denmark, for example, a third of all electricity is generated by wind turbines, and Germany intends to increase generation to 20% of total energy consumption by 2020, and to half of the total by 2030.