Saturday, October 29, 2011

Miller's Windmills
























Terry is always asking me to photograph windmills that we see in our travels. When we went to Indiana, we saw windmills for about 40 miles from Illinois to Reynolds, Indiana along Highway 24. They were placed in fields where the farmer planted around them.

He bought a little windmill that he placed in our front yard but really wanted one that would generate electricity. The first step was to get a permit from Marion County. Their main requirement was that it must be positioned at least as far away from all buildings as it is tall.

The next step was to get a trencher to dig a hole to fit the wires to the batteries in the basement. There were many trips to Des Moines to find all the poles, batteries and parts that he needed. Then he had to weld the pipes together and paint them. He built forms for the guide wires and center pole to cement into the ground. (I thought that it looked like a sailboat structure on the ground.) Then I drove the car, which was connected to the cables and poles, to bring the structure up in the air.

The nine bladed windmill works!!! It even looks pretty silhouetted in the night sky with stars shinning around it.

1 comment:

Jerry and Suzy said...

Wow! We'll be waiting to hear how much electricity it generates for you!