Parris-Dunn Wind charger

[Shadow]

Here is a neat little 12 volt Wind charger from the 1940's.

They are designed to tilt back up out of the wind. I found this one on top of an old barn, complete except for the prop.

Amazingly it wasn't seized and took very little to get it operating again. Two new bearings and some cleaning. I was amazed when I opened it up to find everything still functional.

I tried to keep it as original as I could right down to the original screws. However the prop is just one I've had hanging around for years, it just kinda suited it. The tail should have the Parris-Dunn logo on it too.

The most amazing thing I think is the tower legs are all aluminum, light as a feather yet after 60 years still not a crack or bend in them!

I was getting good voltage by hand, but noticed one set of brushes is cracked right through so will change those, otherwise it motors up with a battery. More info can be found here:http://www.geocities.com/jdd47/

[hiker]

nice old wincharger..

check out --wincharger.com-- for even more info..

[Bruce S]

Now that is a beauty!!

Looks like the old adage of put up a windmill and the wind will stop

still holds true.

Any wind speeds on this yet?

Bruce S

[redeyecow]

   That's a sweet little unit.........Great to see the care and respect you have for for an old

tryied and true design.   I"ve got the same basic machine without the generator o prop.  My dad used it in the late forties early fiftys to supply lights to our house and our neighbors.  I remember he had clear 2-volt bats.  I don't know what happened to the gen. and prop. But he welded on an old waterpump for bearings and just ran the 6 blade engine fan as an ornimental windmill. I scraped off the last coat of paint on the tail to reveal "ASHDOWN" above and "FREE LIGHT" below.   From what I've read the Free Light  name was used up in Can.  The other name was usually the hardware  store that  sold the unit..

   The stub tower on mine is exactly the same but made of iron.  Right now I'm trying to dream up  a PM alternator that is small enough to function on the original  furling system and still produce  reasonable lowspeed power.   This l ittle machine is still whirling away just stand ing on the lawn waiting for some serious action.

    Thanks for the pics---very inspiring