manwithwrench-putnamAs electrification swept across America, it pushed the nation’s long-turning windmills out of commission. Though hundreds of thousands still operated through the 50s and 60s, most farmers opted for the ease and stability of grid power.

But there were holdouts, like Joh Lorenzen of Iowa. A 1975 National Geographic feature by Roger Hamilton,  “Can We Harness the Wind?” tells the story of his tilting for windmills.

Not so many years ago thousands like Mr. Lorenzen generated their own power. Then, during the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Rural Electrification Administration crisscrossed the nation’s farmlands with power lines; the West became a windmill graveyeard.

But not on John Lorenzen’s farm. He pointed down his driveway, where overhead lines bypass his cluster of tidy buildings:

“They tried to get me to hook up, all right,” he said, laughing. “But I wouldn’t. There was nothing wrong with wind machines that I could see.”

And sure enough, no matter what electrical gadgetry came along-vaccum cleaner, dishwasher, TV-his wind generator powered it. When the wind does slacken, generally during August, he’s ready with banks of storage batteries.

Not exactly your typical off-grid hippie, right?

Like many of the popular press articles from the mid-70s, it feels more contemporary than it should. They invoke NASA research the same way we reporters do now, to denote that we are entering cutting edge territory.

NASA’s prototype for the future is the 100kW Experimental Wind-Turbine Generator at the Plum Brook test area in Ohio. Its two slender blades span 125 feet, and turn a 100-kilowatt generator. Perhaps 30 homes could depend on it for power.

Although it dwarfs John Lorenzen’s wind generators, the 100kW doesn’t set a record for size. Dr. Joseph M. Savino, a founder of NASA’s wind program, waved to shelves of yellowed books and papers, and told me of wind power’s largely forgotten history in the Soviet Union, Denmark, France, England, and Germany.

In the United States, during the war years of 1941 to 1945, the biggest wind machine in history towered over Grandpa’s Knob, a mountain near Rutland, Vermont. Its two eight-ton blades stretched 175 feet from tip to tip.

What I want to know is: where are all those yellowed books and papers? And are they available as PDFs?

At least some of them are. Take, for example, this typographically fabulous old document from the NASA archives on the motion picture history of the Grandpa’s Knob wind turbines [pdf]. You can even check out a video of its operation.

Image: A man holding a big wrench during the construction of the Smith-Putnam turbine for Grandpa’s Knob. Wind-works.org

A 1975 National Geographic via Get Solar