Wind-powered rather than water-powered pumps for a change.
These were once quite common, occurring in the same areas as water wheel and ram pumps, typically pumping water for a farm.
The other major use was for land drainage - Mr Mutt did a couple of nice posts about wind pumps on the Norfolk Broads, although this sort are usually beefier than your typical prairie-type farm pump.
For those interested there’s a good history and summary of wind-powered water lifting devices here Water lifting devices.
There were several manufacturers of wind pumps in the UK including Thomas and Son (‘Climax’ pumps) and Duke and Ockenden (‘Dando’ pumps).
However to keep things to a reasonable length I’ve limited this post to just three examples made by E&H Roberts (‘Hercules’ pumps).
Roberts were based in Deanshanger, a village near Milton Keynes, and were one of those foundries operating around 1900 who made all sorts of farm-related things, including pumping equipment, see E & H Roberts Iron Works-Welcome Page.
After Roberts closed in 1927 Godwin of Quenington took over the windmill business and carried on the Hercules brand but with a slightly different design.
It’s easy to distinguish the original Roberts ones since the towers are decorated with iron tensioning disks with their name cast into them.
Tyringham (installed between 1899 and 1920). I originally went to look at a pump house, but it was locked with a couple of old centrifugal pumps dumped outside.
However next door was a Hercules wind pump.
To put the pictures below in context it’s worth explaining briefly how these things work, using a still from an internet video.
There’s a standard gearbox mechanism which converts windmill rotation into up and down movement of the pump rod.
The gearbox sits on the top of the tower, but is otherwise identical to a normal deep well pump mechanism driven by a motor.
The pump rod goes down the middle of the tower and works the pump plunger in a well below.
If the well is a deep one, the plunger cylinder has to be at the bottom (‘deep well pump’) - if the water table is higher the plunger can work by suction from the surface (‘shallow well pump’).
Wind pumps are more complicated than say water wheel pumps because the gearbox has to rotate and a mechanism is needed to orient the rotor into the wind and also to protect the tower from strong gusts.
Here’s a diagram which explains how the tail mechanism works from the first link above.
In this particular wind pump the orientation of tail looks like it’s controlled by a rack and pinion, adjusted by a wheel at the bottom of the tower.
When the wheel is turned the tail is winched out to about 90 degrees, turning the fan into the wind and starting the pump.
I’m guessing the handle on a wire is a brake or clutch mechanism - it seems to lift a section of tube leading up to the gearbox.
The pump is invisible under the insulation, but it looks like a shallow well type.
Halmore (1901 - 1920). This was the first of these Hercules pumps I came across, and is more typical of the general state of wind pumps installed about 100 years ago i.e. falling over and rather battered with no sails.
The curved base of the gearbox at the top would have been filled with oil, and a brake mechanism for the rotor can be seen, worked by rope or wire from the ground.
At the bottom is one of the roller bearings for the wooden pump rod and an overflow loop from the pump.
The pump is a shallow well type - the same sort that was under the insulation in the first example.
Slightly downhill is a large reservoir which predates the wind pump - maybe the pump had to be installed when the water table dropped.
Moreton Pinkney (before 1930). Another rather wrecked one.
The interesting feature, at least to me, was that the windmill pump had been replaced with a petrol-powered deep well pump, the first Lister deep well I’ve come across.
Old wind pumps are easy to find if they’re still upright - many are even marked on modern OS maps.
However since they’re necessarily in fairly exposed locations many installed in the early 1900s have gone completely, while others are little more than a crumpled stalk above a capped well.
These were once quite common, occurring in the same areas as water wheel and ram pumps, typically pumping water for a farm.
The other major use was for land drainage - Mr Mutt did a couple of nice posts about wind pumps on the Norfolk Broads, although this sort are usually beefier than your typical prairie-type farm pump.
For those interested there’s a good history and summary of wind-powered water lifting devices here Water lifting devices.
There were several manufacturers of wind pumps in the UK including Thomas and Son (‘Climax’ pumps) and Duke and Ockenden (‘Dando’ pumps).
However to keep things to a reasonable length I’ve limited this post to just three examples made by E&H Roberts (‘Hercules’ pumps).
Roberts were based in Deanshanger, a village near Milton Keynes, and were one of those foundries operating around 1900 who made all sorts of farm-related things, including pumping equipment, see E & H Roberts Iron Works-Welcome Page.
After Roberts closed in 1927 Godwin of Quenington took over the windmill business and carried on the Hercules brand but with a slightly different design.
It’s easy to distinguish the original Roberts ones since the towers are decorated with iron tensioning disks with their name cast into them.
Tyringham (installed between 1899 and 1920). I originally went to look at a pump house, but it was locked with a couple of old centrifugal pumps dumped outside.
However next door was a Hercules wind pump.
To put the pictures below in context it’s worth explaining briefly how these things work, using a still from an internet video.
There’s a standard gearbox mechanism which converts windmill rotation into up and down movement of the pump rod.
The gearbox sits on the top of the tower, but is otherwise identical to a normal deep well pump mechanism driven by a motor.
The pump rod goes down the middle of the tower and works the pump plunger in a well below.
If the well is a deep one, the plunger cylinder has to be at the bottom (‘deep well pump’) - if the water table is higher the plunger can work by suction from the surface (‘shallow well pump’).
Wind pumps are more complicated than say water wheel pumps because the gearbox has to rotate and a mechanism is needed to orient the rotor into the wind and also to protect the tower from strong gusts.
Here’s a diagram which explains how the tail mechanism works from the first link above.
In this particular wind pump the orientation of tail looks like it’s controlled by a rack and pinion, adjusted by a wheel at the bottom of the tower.
When the wheel is turned the tail is winched out to about 90 degrees, turning the fan into the wind and starting the pump.
I’m guessing the handle on a wire is a brake or clutch mechanism - it seems to lift a section of tube leading up to the gearbox.
The pump is invisible under the insulation, but it looks like a shallow well type.
Halmore (1901 - 1920). This was the first of these Hercules pumps I came across, and is more typical of the general state of wind pumps installed about 100 years ago i.e. falling over and rather battered with no sails.
The curved base of the gearbox at the top would have been filled with oil, and a brake mechanism for the rotor can be seen, worked by rope or wire from the ground.
At the bottom is one of the roller bearings for the wooden pump rod and an overflow loop from the pump.
The pump is a shallow well type - the same sort that was under the insulation in the first example.
Slightly downhill is a large reservoir which predates the wind pump - maybe the pump had to be installed when the water table dropped.
Moreton Pinkney (before 1930). Another rather wrecked one.
The interesting feature, at least to me, was that the windmill pump had been replaced with a petrol-powered deep well pump, the first Lister deep well I’ve come across.
Old wind pumps are easy to find if they’re still upright - many are even marked on modern OS maps.
However since they’re necessarily in fairly exposed locations many installed in the early 1900s have gone completely, while others are little more than a crumpled stalk above a capped well.
