Windmill

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Windmill shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Windmill offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Windmill at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Windmill? Wrong! If the Windmill is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Windmill then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Windmill? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Windmill and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Windmill wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Windmill then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Windmill site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Windmill, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Windmill, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

tower windmill, sporting sails, surrounded by tulips

A windmill is a machine designed to convert the energy of the wind into more useful forms using rotating blades. The term also refers to the structure it is commonly built on. In much of Europe, windmills served to grind cereal, later applications include pumping water.

History wind-powered Organ (music) (reconstruction)

A windwheel operating an Organ (music) is described as early as the 1st century AD by Hero of Alexandria, marking probably the first instance of a wind powering machine in history.A.G. Drachmann, "Heron's Windmill", Centaurus, 7 (1961), pp. 145-151Dietrich Lohrmann, "Von der östlichen zur westlichen Windmühle", Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, Vol. 77, Issue 1 (1995), pp.1-30 (10f.) Windmills were first built in Sistan, Afghanistan, sometime between the 7th century and 9th century, as described by Muslim geographers. These were verticle axle windmills, which had long vertical shafts with rectangle shaped blades. The first windmill may have been constructed as early as the time of the second Rashidun caliph Umar (634-644 AD), though some argue that this account may have been a 10th century amendment. Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind corn and draw up water, and used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries.

Horizontal axle windmills IslandsFixed windmills, oriented to the prevailing wind were, for example, extensively used in the Cyclades islands of Greece. The economies of power and transport allowed the use of these 'offshore' mills for grinding grain transported from the mainland and flour returned. A 1/10th share of the flour was paid to the miller in return for his service. This type would mount triangular sails when in operation.

In North Western Europe, the horizontal-shaft or vertical windmill (so called due to the dimension of the movement of its blades) dates from the last quarter of the 12th century in the triangle of northern France, eastern England and Flanders. These earliest mills were used to grind cereals. The evidence at present is that the earliest type was the post mill, so named because of the large upright post on which the mill's main structure (the "body" or "buck") is balanced. By mounting the body this way, the mill is able to rotate to face the (variable) wind direction; an essential requirement for windmills to operate economically in North-Western Europe, where wind directions are various. By the end of the thirteenth century the masonry tower mill, on which only the timber cap rotated rather than the whole body of the mill, had been introduced. Due to the fact that only the cap of the tower mill needed to be turned the main structure could be made much taller, allowing the blades to be made longer, which enabled them to provide useful work even in low winds. Windmills were often built atop castle towers or city walls, and were a unique part of a number of fortifications in New France, such as at Fort Senneville.

The familiar lattice style of windmill blades allowed the miller to attach cloth sails to the blades (while applying a brake). Trimming the sails allowed the windmill to turn at near the optimal speed in a large range of wind velocities.

(Essex, UK) Windmill in June 2006; a smock mill - before it lost one of its sails in an early 2007 storm.The Windmill fantail, a small windmill mounted at right angles to the main sails which automatically turns the heavy cap and main sails into the wind, was invented in England in 1745. The smock mill is a later variation of the tower mill, constructed of timber and originally developed in the sixteenth century for land drainage. With some subsequent development mills became versatile in windy regions for all kind of industry, most notably cereal grinding mills, sawmills (late 16th century), threshing, and, by applying scoop wheels, Archimedes' screws, and piston pumps, pumping water either for land drainage or for water supply. In 1807, William Cubitt invented a new type of sail, known there on as patent sails, that could be regulated whilst moving and became the basis of self-regulating sails, which avoided the constant supervision that had been required up till then.

With the industrial revolution, the importance of windmills as primary industrial energy source was replaced by steam engine and internal combustion engines. Polder mills were replaced by steam, or diesel engines. The industrial revolution and increased use of Steam and later Diesel power however had a lesser effect on the Mills of the Norfolk Broads in the United Kingdom, these being so isolated (on extensive uninhabitable marshland), therefore some of these mills continued use as drainage pumps till as late as 1959.More recently historic windmills have been preserved for their historic value, in some cases as static exhibits when the antique machinery is too fragile to put in motion, and in other cases as fully working mills.

See Flood control in the Netherlands#Windmills for use of windmills in land reclamation in the Netherlands.

In Canada and the United States Windmills feature uniquely in the history of New France, particularly in Canada, where they were used as strong points in fortifications.Chartrand, French Fortresses in North America 1535–1763: Québec, Montréal, Louisbourg and New Orleans Prior to the Battle of Quebec (1690), the strong point of the city's landward defenses was a windmill called Mont-Carmel, where a three-gun battery was in place. At Fort Senneville, a large stone windmill was built on a hill by late 1686, doubling as a watch tower. This windmill was like no other in New France, with thick walls, square loopholes for muskets, with machicolation at the top for pouring lethally hot liquids and rocks onto attackers.Chartrand, p 41 This helped make it the "most substantial castle-like fort" near Montréal.Chartrand, p. 38

In the United States, the development of the water-pumping windmill was the major factor in allowing the farming and ranching of vast areas of North America, which were otherwise devoid of readily accessible water. They contributed to the expansion of rail transport systems throughout the world, by pumping water from water wells to supply the needs of the steam locomotives of those early times. Two builders were the Eclipse Model of Windmill (which was later bought by Fairbanks-Morse) and Aeromotor.They are still used today for the same purpose in some areas of the world where a connection to electric power lines is not a realistic option. Quirky old-style contraptions make water from wind on the mesas of West Texas

The multi-bladed wind turbine atop a lattice tower made of wood or steel was, for many years, a fixture of the landscape throughout rural America. These mills, made by a variety of manufacturers, featured a large number of blades so that they would turn slowly with considerable torque in low winds and be self regulating in high winds. A tower-top Transmission (mechanics) and crankshaft converted the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a rod to the pump cylinder below.

Windmills and related equipment are still manufactured and installed today on farms and ranches, usually in remote parts of the western United States where electric power is not readily available. The arrival of electricity in rural areas, brought by the Rural Electrification Administration (Rural Utilities Service) in the 1930s through 1950s, contributed to the decline in the use of windmills in the US. Today, the increases in energy prices and the expense of replacing electric pumps has led to an increase in the repair, restoration and installation of new windmills.

Modern windmills The most modern generations of windmills are more properly called wind turbines, or wind generators, and are primarily used to generate electric power. Modern windmills are designed to convert the energy of the wind into electricity. The largest wind turbines can generate up to 6MW of power (for comparison a modern fossil fuel power plant generates between 500 and 1,300MW).

With increasing environmental concern, and approaching limits to fossil fuel consumption, wind power has regained interest as a renewable energy source.

Windpumps are to be found on remote farms all over South Africa.A windpump is a type of windmill used for pumping water from a water well or draining land.

Windpumps of the type pictured are used extensively in Southern Africa and Australia and on farms and ranches in the central plains of the United States. In South Africa and Namibia thousands of windpumps are still operating. These are mostly used to provide water for human use as well as drinking water for large sheep stocks.

Kenya has also benefited from the Africa development of windpump technologies. At the end of the 70s, the UK NGO Intermediate Technology Development Group provided engineering support to the Kenyan company Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd for the development of the Kijito windpumps. Nowadays Bobs Harries Engineering Ltd is still manufacturing the Kijito windpumps and more than 300 Kijito windpumps are operating in the whole of East Africa., UK. An example of the derelict state of many Broadland WindpumpsThe Netherlands is well known for its windmills. Most of these iconic structures situated along the edge of polders are actually windpumps, designed to drain the land. These are particularly important as much of the country lies below sea level.

Many windpumps were built in The Broads, of East Anglia in the United Kingdom for the draining of land. They have since been mostly replaced by electric power, many of these windpumps still remain, mainly in a derelict state, however some have been restored.

On United States farms, particularly in the Midwest, windpumps of the type pictured were used to pump water from farm wells for cattle. Today this is done primarily by electric pumps, and only a few windpumps survive as unused relics of an greenhouse effect technology.

Windmills in culture and literature windmills at La Mancha.Miguel de Cervantes' book Don Quixote, which helped cement the modern Spanish language and is regarded as one of the greatest works of fiction ever published, features an iconic scene in which Don Quixote attacks windmills that he believes to be ferocious giants. This gave international fame to La Mancha and its windmills, and is the origin of the phrase "tilting at windmills", to describe an act of futility.

The Windmill also plays an important role in Animal Farm, a book by George Orwell. In the book, an allegory of the Russian Revolution (1917) and the subsequent early Soviet Union, the effort invested construction of a windmill is provided by the animals in the hope of reduced manual labour and increased living standards.

Footnotes References

Ahmad Y Hassan, Donald Routledge Hill (1986). Islamic Technology: An illustrated history. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42239-6.
Chartrand, French Fortresses in North America 1535–1763: Québec, Montréal, Louisbourg and New Orleans.
Dietrich Lohrmann, "Von der östlichen zur westlichen Windmühle", Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, Vol. 77, Issue 1 (1995)
A.G. Drachmann, "Heron's Windmill", Centaurus, 7 (1961).
Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.