Unknown Windmill 4
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This interesting little windmill remnant badly needs a name. This is only a small machine, measuring just 27 centimetres from the top to the bottom of the main casting.
It was one of a pair collected from Melangata Station, north of Yalgoo, Western Australia. The hub and pinion gear are a single casting, which turn on a fixed hub shaft. There appears to have originally been a grease cup for the shaft and a cover bolted onto the front of the hub to protect the shaft from water and dust. The hub discs are set up for three flat bar wind wheel spokes. This is a single gear, double pitman arm mill, although the pin on the main gear and the slave casting and pin are well out of alignment. There is a cylindrical oil well in the main casting to lubricate this shaft. Only one pump stroke is possible. The cylindrical sockets, either side of the pump rod tube at the top of the main casting held crosshead guide rods, that were held in position by bolts through tapped holes in the casting. No remnants of the crosshead running on the guide rods remains. The tail folded to the left, but no traces are left of its attachment point or operating system apart from the snapped reefing arm. Some parts numbers are incised into the castings including L4 for the slave, and L5 for the main gear. |
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This photo of an unknown windmill sent in by a Windmill Journal reader shows a similar type of gearbox. There are differences but it is wondered whether the two mills are related. Any information would be welcome. |