Wind Farm
Background/History on the Wind Power Industry
The wind power industry first developed in Iran around 200 B.C. The first windmills were vertical axis wind turbines, which were used for pumping water and grinding whole grains for food consumption. The Chinese, Romans and Afghans all used windmills around this time for similar use. In the 13th century Holland started developing large horizontal axis windmills. These four-blade windmills were larger, carried more torque and wind speed and could do more work than other windmills previously designed. These windmills were also used for grinding and pumping water, but on a more productive level.
The first windmill in the world built for electrical production was in 1887 in Scotland built by Professor James Blyth. A year later in 1888 in the U. S. Charles Brush of Cleveland, Ohio built a large wind turbine used to generate electricity. By the late 1920's farms across the US were using small wind turbines to generate electricity for farmhouses, irrigation and other reasons since the electrical grid was slow in reaching many locations.
In 1927 the brothers Joe Jacobs and Marcellus Jacobs opened a factory, Jacobs Wind in Minneapolis to produce wind turbine generators for farm use. These would typically be used for lighting or battery charging, on farms out of reach of central-station electricity and distribution lines. In this period, high tensile steel was cheap, and windmills were placed atop prefabricated open steel lattice towers. By the 1970s many people began to desire a self-sufficient life-style. Solar cells were too expensive for small-scale electrical generation, so some turned to windmills. From the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's the United States government worked with industry to advance the technology and enable large commercial wind turbines. This effort was led by NASA at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was an extraordinarily successful government research and development activity.
The wind power industry first developed in Iran around 200 B.C. The first windmills were vertical axis wind turbines, which were used for pumping water and grinding whole grains for food consumption. The Chinese, Romans and Afghans all used windmills around this time for similar use. In the 13th century Holland started developing large horizontal axis windmills. These four-blade windmills were larger, carried more torque and wind speed and could do more work than other windmills previously designed. These windmills were also used for grinding and pumping water, but on a more productive level.
The first windmill in the world built for electrical production was in 1887 in Scotland built by Professor James Blyth. A year later in 1888 in the U. S. Charles Brush of Cleveland, Ohio built a large wind turbine used to generate electricity. By the late 1920's farms across the US were using small wind turbines to generate electricity for farmhouses, irrigation and other reasons since the electrical grid was slow in reaching many locations.
In 1927 the brothers Joe Jacobs and Marcellus Jacobs opened a factory, Jacobs Wind in Minneapolis to produce wind turbine generators for farm use. These would typically be used for lighting or battery charging, on farms out of reach of central-station electricity and distribution lines. In this period, high tensile steel was cheap, and windmills were placed atop prefabricated open steel lattice towers. By the 1970s many people began to desire a self-sufficient life-style. Solar cells were too expensive for small-scale electrical generation, so some turned to windmills. From the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's the United States government worked with industry to advance the technology and enable large commercial wind turbines. This effort was led by NASA at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was an extraordinarily successful government research and development activity.