THE WINDMILL.
When our log cabin was completed we immediately transferred our camp
from the tent to the hut. But at the very outset we were confronted with
the problem of getting drinking water. We hadn't thought of that before.
It was easy enough to move the filter barrels, but when it came to
moving the water wheel we could find no suitable place for it anywhere
near the log cabin. The water of Lake Placid was too quiet, while the
mill-race and the rapids on the other side of Kite Island ran so swiftly
that we were afraid the water wheel would be swept away with its course.
The matter was carefully considered at a special meeting of the society.
It occurred to Bill that we might build a windmill in place of the water
wheel, and use it to pump water from a well which could be dug near the
hut.
"We wouldn't have to use a filter, then," he said.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Why, because the sand of the island will strain out all the dirt in the
water. You see, the water in the well will have to soak in from the
river, and by the time it gets through all the gravel and sand between
the river and the well it ought to be filtered pretty clear."
DIGGING THE WELL.
[Illustration: Fig. 282. Digging the Well.]
That sounded logical, and so we adopted the plan at once. We chose a
spot quite near the hut for our well. When we had dug down about 6 feet
we struck water, but continued excavating until the water lay 3 feet
deep in the well. While making the excavation we shored up the sides
with planks, to prevent the loose soil from falling in on us and
smothering us, as it so nearly did when we were digging our first cave.
By "shoring," I mean we lined the walls with planks, which were driven
into the ground with large wooden mallets. The planks were braced apart
with sticks at frequent intervals. As the well hole grew deeper we had
to rig up a bucket to haul the dirt out. Our bucket was a soap box
attached to a rope, which passed through a pulley at the top of the
well. The pulley was supported by a tripod made by firmly lashing
together the upper ends of three stout poles and spreading their lower
ends far enough apart to straddle the mouth of the well, as shown in
Fig. 282. After the well had been carried down to a sufficient depth, we
began laying the stone wall, which was to form the permanent lining. We
knew that the wooden walls would not do, because they would soon decay.
Our stone wall, which was built up of flat stones like the chimney of
the log house, was not very strong, I fear, and had not the soil around
it been pretty firm it would probably have caved in. However, if it
served no other purpose, it formed a fairly good finish for the well.
THE WINDMILL TOWER.
[Illustration: Fig. 283. Frame for the Tower.]
The mouth of the well was carefully covered with planks while we
constructed the windmill above it. For the tower of the windmill we
chose four long sticks. They must have measured about 16 feet in length,
and were from 4 to 6 inches in diameter. With them we made two frames of
the form given in Fig. 283, using slabs to brace them apart. These
frames were now set in position, with their lower ends firmly planted in
holes in the ground, and the tower was completed by nailing on a number
of diagonal braces. A couple of boards were nailed across the upper ends
at opposite sides, and holes were drilled through them to provide
bearings for the wind wheel shaft.
THE CRANK SHAFT.
[Illustration: Fig. 284. The Crank Shaft.]
The shaft was a piece of heavy iron rod which we procured from the
blacksmith at Lumberville. Under Bill's direction the blacksmith
hammered a U-shaped bend at the center of the shaft, so as to form a
crank, and then he flattened the rod near the ends (see Fig. 284). When
the shaft was set in its place these flat spots lay just outside of the
bearing boards, and then, to keep the shaft from sliding back and forth
in its bearings, we fastened on two clamps over these flattened parts.
The clamps were made of pairs of hardwood blocks bolted together in the
manner indicated in Fig. 285.
THE WIND WHEEL.
[Illustration: Fig. 285. A Clamp.]
[Illustration: Fig. 286. Wedge for Wind Wheel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 287. Spokes of Wind Wheel.]
[Illustration: Fig. 288. Wind Wheel Blade.]
Our next task was to construct the wind wheel. First we procured three
boards, each 3 inches wide and 3-1/2 feet long. A 1/2-inch hole was
drilled in the center of each board, and then, with these holes
coinciding, the boards were nailed together, with their ends projecting,
like spokes, equally distant from each other. Six wedges were now made
of the size indicated in Fig. 286. These were made of a 2 x 4-inch
scantling, sawed diagonally in two and then planed down to the given
dimensions. The wedges were now nailed firmly to the spokes, as shown in
Fig. 286. For the blades we used six thin boards, each about 4 feet
long. Each blade measured 10 inches in width at the outer end, and
tapered down to a width of 3 inches at the inner end, as illustrated in
Fig. 288. The blades were now securely nailed to the wedges, and their
outer ends were braced together by means of wires stretched from the
forward edge of each blade to the rear edge of the next one ahead. The
wheel was then fitted onto the shaft and nailed to one of the clamps. In
this way it was practically keyed to the shaft.
We did not make any vane for our windmill. It did not need any. The wind
nearly always blew either up or down the river, more often up the river,
for the prevailing summer winds in that part of the country are
southerly. But, aside from that, east and west winds could not very well
reach us on account of the hills on both sides of the river. The wheel
was set facing the north, because the strongest winds came from that
direction, and as an extra brace against these winds we stretched wires
from the projecting end of the shaft to the center of each blade.
A SIMPLE BREAK.
[Illustration: Fig. 289. The Wind Wheel.]
A brisk northerly wind was blowing when we set the wheel in place, and
it began to revolve at once, before we could nail it to the clamp. To
stop it we nailed a stick of wood to the tower, so that its end
projected in the path of the blades and kept the wheel from turning
around. This brake was swung up to the dotted position illustrated when
we were ready to have the wheel revolve, but it could be thrown down at
any time to stop it.
THE PUMP.
[Illustration: Fig. 290. Side View of the Wind Wheel, showing Brake.]
Our pump was made of a galvanized leader pipe; that is, a pipe used to
carry off rain water from the roof of the house. The pipe was only about
8 feet long, and so we had to piece it out with a long wooden box pipe.
A block closed the lower end of this box, and the leader pipe fitted
snugly into a hole in the block (Fig. 291). A spout was set into the
upper end of the box pipe to carry the water to the cask, which was to
serve as our water reservoir.
THE PUMP VALVES.
[Illustration: Fig. 291. The Box Pipe.]
[Illustration: Fig. 292. The Lower Valve.]
[Illustration: Fig. 293. The Piston Valve.]
We plugged the bottom of the leader pipe with a block of wood, in the
center of which a large hole was drilled. The hole was covered with a
piece of leather nailed at one side, so that it could lift up to let
water into the pipe. The piston was made of a disk of wood of slightly
smaller diameter than the inside of the pipe, and over it was fastened a
piece of leather just large enough to fit snugly against the walls of
the pipe. This piston was fastened to a wooden rod long enough to reach
from well within the pipe to the wind wheel shaft. A strip of brass was
bent over the crank, or U-shaped bend in the shaft, and its ends were
fastened to the rod.
[Illustration: The Old Windmill at Work on a Lumberville Farm.]
ACTION OF THE PUMP.
[Illustration: Fig. 294. Connection of Rod and Crank.]
It was rather a crude pump, but it did all the work we required of it.
As the wheel went around the crank shaft would move the piston up and
down. Whenever the piston went down, the air in the pipe would press up
the edges of the leather disk and squeeze past (see Fig. 295). Then when
the piston came up again, the leather disk, being backed by the wooden
disk beneath it, was kept flat, so that no air could force its way back
into the pipe. This made a partial vacuum in the pipe, and the water
from the well rushed up through the valve at the bottom to fill it (see
Fig. 296). When next the piston went down the bottom valve closed and
more air forced its way past the piston. Then on the next upward stroke
more water flowed into the pipe, until, after a number of strokes, all
the air was pumped out and the water which took its place began to force
its way up past the piston and eventually to flow out of the spout into
the cask.
Our old windmill was sold to a farmer near Lumberville when we broke
camp that fall. We carted it over and set it up for him. A number of
years later I saw it still faithfully at work pumping water for his
cattle. The original pump had been worn out and a new one substituted,
but otherwise the old windmill remained just as we had first rigged it
up.
[Illustration: Fig. 295. Fig. 296. Action of the Pump.]