Thomas O. Perry
Encyclopedia
Thomas Osborn Perry was a mechanical engineer, designer, and the original innovator of the all-metal windmill. Perry made significant contributions to the field of wind powered turbines and was an early pioneer of modern wind power technology.

History

Thomas Osborn Perry was born in Franklin
Franklin, Michigan
Franklin is a village in Southfield Township, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,150 at the 2010 census. The community is known for large, estate-style homes situated on ravines, as well as its vintage downtown and cider mill....

, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 on February 28, 1847.
In 1882 and 1883, while working for the U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company, Perry conducted a series of over five thousand experiments on windmill rotors and rotor blades. His experiments resulted in a windmill design that was 87% more efficient than other windmills manufactured at that time. Perry's main improvements were the use of concave windmill blades made from steel, rather than flat wooden blades. In order to conduct his experiments, Perry had designed and built an enclosed wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...

, a research tool that was not in common use at this time.

In 1888, Thomas Perry and LaVerne Noyes started the Aermotor Windmill Company
Aermotor Windmill Company
Aermotor Windmill Company is the only windmill manufacturer in the United States. The company was established in 1888.-History:La Verne Noyes, founder of Aermotor Windmill Company, had hired engineer Thomas_O._Perry for a different job but saw the potential of the all-metal windpump developed by...

and began manufacturing Aermotor windmills. The Aermotor was used for pumping water for livestock and became indispensable to midwestern farmers and ranchers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Selling only 45 windmills in its first year, Aermotor sales increased rapidly and by the turn of the century had sold hundreds of thousands of windmills.

Perry also made many other refinements to windmill designs and published several windmill design patents pertaining to maintainability and efficiency.

External links

  • http://www.ironmanwindmill.com/windmill%20history.htm
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