OSCILLATING WINDMILL
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/947,049 filed on June 29, 2007 herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wind mills or wind motors on a vertical axis have been known for a long time, see GRACEY U.S. Patent 1 ,352,952, and MOORE 1 ,915,689. Means moving vanes or panels from a position substantially at right angles to the direction of the wind, to a position at which they are substantially parallel to the wind are well known; see MOORE, supra, and BAIR 4,303,835. The object in the various prior art references has been to provide continuous rotation of a shaft, see LINDHORN 6,619,921 , even when the windmill itself is capable of being driven in a reverse direction, see OUELLET 5,126,584. In the windmill of the present invention, the vanes, panels or paddles are designed to oscillate, going through on the order of 120° for a hinged type to 80 degrees for a non-hinged type with flaps, and reversing, occupying a great deal less space than the conventional windmill. The windmill of this invention can be used in combination with the usual windmill of the lift type, which rotates on a horizontal axis, the sort of windmill now used extensively in windmill farms, for the generation of electricity. The latter windmills occupy a large amount of space. The panels or rotors of these windmills commonly describe a circle hundreds of feet in diameter, and the closest placement of adjacent windmills or turbines is recommended to be the length of at least five times the diameter of the wind turbine's rotor, the adjacent wind turbines in the array are often placed at a distance of a quarter of a mile to half a mile, so that the air stream has time "to recover". BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention generally stated, an oscillating windmill is provided that, in its most elementary form, consists of vanes or panels positioned at opposite ends of horizontal rods connected to a vertical shaft driven by the panels alternately clockwise and counterclockwise. The panel on one end of a rod is oriented to catch wind while the panel on the other end is oriented to present the least surface to the wind, and means are provided for reversing the orientation of the panels so that the rod is driven in the other direction when it has rotated through an arc sufficient to rotate the vertical shaft enough to accomplish useful work, but not through a full 180° if the windmill is to operate efficiently. Preferably, the vanes move the rod through no more than 120°, that is, 60° from a centerline. The vanes of the present invention are preferably either hinged, so as to present their maximum drag force through the entire range of oscillation, or unhinged, with flaps, so as to present a large drag force at close to its maximum negative angle.
In any case, including the construction in which a flat non-hinged wind paddle is used, the oscillating arms drive a plurality of generators, through a system of gears increasing the speed of rotation of the generators.
In a preferred embodiment, the oscillating windmill just described, can be combined with a windmill of the lift type rotating on a horizontal axis, the shaft of the oscillating windmill being mechanically connected with a generator connected electrically to the generator of the lift type windmill. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings which form part of the specification: Figure 1 is a series of views in plan of one embodiment of oscillating windmill of this invention, illustrating its operation; Figure 2 is a series of views in side elevation of the embodiment of oscillating windmill of this invention shown in figure 1 , illustrating its operation. Figure 3 is a series of views in plan of two embodiments of oscillating windmill of this invention, illustrating their operations, as compared with a non- hinged wind panel such as is the subject of my provisional application serial no. 60/866,127, filed November 16, 2006; Figure 4 is a series of views illustrating the use of oscillating windmills to drive a plurality of generators;
Figure 5 is an enlarged view in perspective of one of the generating systems shown in Fig. 4; Figures 6-10 are views of variations of construction, using belts or chains, and explanations of their operations, of devices shown in figures 1 -5; and
Figures 1 1 -14 are views of devices shown in Figures 4-10 in use with various types of paddles or vanes. Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example and not by way of limitation. The description clearly enables one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives, and uses of the invention, including what is presently believed to be the best mode of carrying out the invention.
As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
Referring now to Figure 1 for one illustrative embodiment of this invention, Reference No. 1 indicates one of two oppositely disposed hinged panels. The opposite hinged panel indicated by the Reference No. 2 also has a hinge 3, carried by a rod 4 journaled in a tube 6 and connected to a flipping mechanism 8 carried by a vertical shaft 10. The shaft 10 can be part of a system described in my provisional application Serial No. 60/866,127. In the present embodiment, shaft 10 carries arms 15, as shown in Figs. 4-1 1 , 14 -A-
and 15. The arms 15 in turn carry cog wheel segments 20 that mesh with drive gears 23.
The arm 15 can be driven by non-hinged wind panels as well as the hinged panels. Figure 3 illustrates thus use. The drive gear 23 is connected to drive either a gear wheel 25 in the embodiment shown in 4 and 5 or a sheave 26 as shown in Figs. 6-1 1 , 14 and 15.
In the embodiment shown in figures 4 and 5, the gear wheel 25 drives a smaller gear 28 connected to power a generator 30, through a clutch, to ensure that the generator is always driven in the same direction. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 6-1 1 , 14 and 15, the drive gear is connected to a drive sheave 35, which drives a belt or chain 37, which in turn drives one or more generators, through a clutch.