Deserves its own post - I LOVED this place.
So, we enter with me thinking this is going to be a ton of windmills. It is, BUT . . . there is also a wonderful train exhibit that gives me perma grin. I do so love trains. This spiral helix allows the trains to run along the inside walls of the building on a double track support that is 13 feet above the floor. To get trains to that height requires a very special spiral helix. The trains run along a double track that is set at a 2% constant grade. Ten and a half loops are needed around a 15' diameter structure.
Not all trains enter the helix as they are sometimes programmed to follow the track under it.
Behind me, as I watch the spiral, are more trains.
The one in the helix has reached the top and started it's journey around the building.
However, back on my level --- trains, trains, and more trains. The area is well landscaped and so much attention to detail is taking place.
Behind the trains - some of the windmills awaiting my attention. But right now --- TRAINS!
Trains carrying generator windmill parts. Super appropriate here. Love it.
Circus train and Military train and supply train. Multiple tracks here.
Double stacked container trains. So cool.
Lubbock is at the end of the "U". Detail, detail, detail.
Better view of the Circus train. Okay, that's it. Onto windmills.
Mister, moving through them and learning. What is that in front of him? It looks like more cases.
OMG - it is and they are filled with miniatures. I am NOT going to take pictures of all of them but am in love. I would dearly like to try this some day. I will share this greenhouse though.
Okay, okay - windmills. Just look around. They are in all sizes and shapes.
These are in the same room, only down on lower ground as they are so tall.
I'll share a few odd ones with you - This is called the Honeywell and is a Windtronics Wind Turbine (2012). Fancy name, right? It was an attempt to build a small 1500 watt wind turbine. The literature said, ". . . is is a novel electric generator with a central wheel make of aluminum and steel spokes driving a large permanent magnet generator." The "ears" mounted on the edge of the generator direct the wheel into the wind. Speed control is performed with electronic braking. While this probably worked, the control system was a complete failure. This machine never produced a single wat of electricity and the Windtronics Division of Honeywell is now out-of-business. HAHAHAHA
Here is another interesting one. The WINDSPIRE is a vertical axis turbine that was supposed to general 1.1 KW of electricity, if the wind was blowing at 30 mph. The spinning aluminum rotor is 13' tall and 4' in diameter and could spin up to 400 rpm. The rotor turns a brushless permanent magnet generator and has a grid tie synchronous inverter. (Do YOU know what that means, cos I sure don't, but I'm sharing it.) It was sold as being " . . .very quiet when running and most efficient in its operation." When the turbine was installed on the museum's grounds, it never worked. A combination of faulty concept design and poor electronic controls made this machine stand idle in any wind. The company is now bankrupt.
The Sunflower -
At this point, Mister calls to me and leads me into another room. I thought we had seen it all and was already impressed. THIS room is full of grist mill stones and sooooo cool. These were donated to the museum along with the funds to care for them while here. That's the way to donate something. The stones in front were used for Paint Pigments.
This one was for apple cider. The basin stone was hewn out of a solid piece of salmon colored sandstone. A vertical edge roller stone was drive around crushing apples into a juice which then was made into apple cider. It would have been mounted at a slant so that the juice would pass out the hole in the bottom.
Animal bones would be ground up in a pair of stones and the "flour" used for fertilizers. This was a bone stone which could have been used to crush gypsum.
Following Mister, we move into another room. OMG --- Windmills - so many windmills. This is crazy. Just look how small Mister is compared to these.
There's even a covered wagon in here. Again, so many details covered.
This next one, the IRON TURBINE (1876 - 1898), was the first successful all metal American windmill. This windmill had a profound impact on the design and manufacture of the American windmill. It proved that an all metal mill could do the work of a wooden mill and that a metal mill could withstand severe winds. The IRON TURBINE could be repaired without the difficulties that many users expected. It is one of the most unusual looking mills with its bucket-shaped blades.
More to see -
Another cool one (1889-1893) - Why should you spend $75 or $100 for a windmill, when you can build your own at an expense of less than $20? So advertised Edward Frederic Haberlein in promoting his windmill, for which he had received a U.S. patent in September, 1889. Unlike most North American windmill companies, Haberlein sold constructions plans and formal permission for private individuals to erect their own copies of his patented designs. In a manner perhaps influenced by the "single tax" movement of the late nineteenth century in which it was proposed that all taxes be based on land ,customers paid not for the number of wind machines they proposed to erect but rather for the number of acres the machines were expected to serve. A $10 fee paid for use on a quarter section, while $15 proved for a half section, "if in one body". Even though building one of Haberlein's windmills without permission infringed on his legally protected patent rights, the inventor himself admitted that their construction "requires no skilled mechanic" and that "every many can put it up". Today not one of Haberlein's patent windmills is known to survive in the field, but his trade literature does continue to tell us of his innovative approach toward machine marketing.
The Smockmill! During the 1300's, one millwright realized that he didn't need to turn the entire postmill when the wind changed directions. The sails, attached to the roof or cap of the mill, could revolve on an outdoor track. The miller turned only the cap to face the sails into the wind. The rest of the building remained fixed to the ground. These mills remind people of the long shirts or "smocks", that farmers wore, so they called them smockmills.
It's time to go outside and check out the grounds.
Even the front door is fun.
We are off and walking - first stop is at one of the crazy big generators that we all see along the roads. I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of these, because I certainly do have an opinion, but rather just share their crazy size. Jen and I are standing next to this one.
So cool, but I wanted to go inside it.
Over the hill are blades and parts on the ground. Oh WOW!
Standing at the tip of the blade.
Mister sent me down to the center of the blades. Can you see me?
A little fun and showing the size of these blades.
It's time to head back. The museum closes at 5 and Jen and Louis still wish to drive back to Abilene tonight. As we are walking back to the cars, the sun helps with final pics.
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