Notwithstanding the age of this dialog, and the variety of involvements; this is the engineering concept regarding this topic as myself and several other in discussion over time had been considering it..
Not just dump load secondary implementation, but primary implementation. Put the Compressor right on the blades. USE a yaw that has a slip fitting for air instead of brushes for wires; resulting in the following difference in the system configuration:
THIS then Eliminates running heavy copper wire and the resistance losses. You Run Air lines. 3/8 compression line will work since the volume is slow and continuous. There's no lightning problem like with wire since it's just an air hose.
Storage: Use an old Large 2000 Gallon propane tank, and lots of little hundred pound and 25 lb. tanks for taking air along on a truck. The main tank is capable of sitting with 1000+ pounds of pressure.
USAGE: Run regulators and air lines to places where electric motors once worked. They can run hundreds of feet underground between buildings. Gone is the inflated cost of heavy gauge COPPER and the line resistance.
Which brings up this which was mentioned down the threadline:
"OH. I never really saw those kinda tools ran on air. Is there any real advantage to that, other than not needing electric that may not be available. I mean if you have a choice of using either type and Grid power, any good reason to use air instead?"
In the answer there are many excellent reasons. Air motors make more torque for the amount of small energy that's passing through them. They are optimized devices. And readily available at low costs. As also mentioned HIGH speed motors have lots of advantages. You can take an air grinder motor and adapt it right into a kitchen mixer. IT fits right to the gear box and is small enough to fit into the housing.
NOW in the kitchen and in other places in your buildings, you put air female connectors in the wall beside the electric sockets, and you plug the mixer into that. This can also be done with a vacuum cleaner - shop vac too. 10,000 RPM is perfect for that kind of motor design. Think Appliances. These are other than the shop appliances that are already out there that run on air. They have air powered drum pumps and many other kinds available readily now.
How about a washing machine ? No one does wash all day. The wash cycle can use some of the air in a giant tank. Maybe 2% of it. An air motor can adapt to that nice and easy in the frame. Instead of hearing humming sounds as it agitates, you will hear whirring sounds going up and down.
You place secondary tanks in the destination house and buildings that are about 50 Gallons that is connected to the main tank outside, so that the air can release close to the usage location with regular size air line and carry CFM pressure. The secondary (buffer) tanks are fed by a small lines that run between the tanks. Sort of an AIR GRID if you will..
As for the compressor on the gennie, Think of a Wankel engine, with a rotor piston, that would make an ideal compressor with less drag and low torque. Also, gearing down is not wrong, but ideal, since it gives torque required.
Regarding turning compressors at slow speed: I once checked out an OLD compressor which then sold on a prairie farm sale about 14 yrs ago that was made from what looked like an old ammonia refrigeration compressor from the late 1800's and it ran on a flat belt from a little 2 Amp 1/8 hp iron frame shunt motor from the teens. It went from a 2 inch sheave to a 24 inch sheave (flat belt pulley), so it only turned around 100 RPM. It took an hour to build 80Lbs of pressure into a large tank and it sat on a set of 400 pound iron trucks. Beautiful Antique. It barely even got hot. It had run in that farm shop for 3 generations. The grandfather had a light plant and glass case batteries back in 1926 with a complete 36 V DC system. That compressor ran on that with a 36 V motor at one time, and then had a 117V motor put on in the 40's when the REA brought in light poles.
Configuring a compressor that can be worked like this that is geared down from blades is a good thing to do. It can turn nice and slow, at 100 RPM and when the wind is blowing all night and day it will accumulate pressure into the large tank. No different than the old water pumpers drawing up a pint at a time out of the ground, which filled large water tanks as it ran.
That is the essence of the concept. IT's not meant to replace an electrical system, but to work as an additional system.
As far as the comment about modifying a Briggs engine to having reed one way valves and making it into a compressor; there are lots of articles in old pop sci and pop mechanics from the 50's and 60's where that project was done in a number of ways. It is extremely viable. Some of the changeover projects made compressors that had very little resistance, since the engines had short strokes and wide bores.
Also, regarding using engines for compressors: Several years ago, I scrapped a 1934 Model A motor that had the middle 2 cylinders modified to be a compressor which would fill large tanks used for jackhammers back then. THAT was the predecessor to the Ingersol Rand industrial trailer units that are used today which tow on Pindle hooks behind utility work trucks.. It was a standard adaptor package that one could buy off the shelf back then. It only used fuel in the 2 outer cylinders and the 2 inner cylinders became the compressor. The crankshaft was perfect for running the engine on 2 of the cylinders smoothly and performing this function.
