| 摘要 |
A horizontal windmill includes a vertical tubular internal baffle member, a plurality of vanes responsive to the wind, mounted and positioned so that they revolve horizontally when the wind blows, partially rotating to resist the force of the wind in some positions during such revolution and being feathered with respect to it in other positions, and a vertical baffle located outside the path of rotation of the vanes, for increasing the wind speed as the wind is directed against the wind-resisting vanes. To secure the benefits of low cost of the structure for supporting such a windmill it is mounted on a building, with the vertical tubular member surrounding the building and being transparent to allow entry of light. In preferred embodiments of the invention various portions of the windmill are of light weight plastic material, such as the vanes and external baffles, and thin light weight tension members are employed to strengthen compression members and hold them in position. Also, to obtain most efficient wind trapping and spilling effects the vanes may be at least partially in the forms of horizontal channels or V's with the open side thereof facing the wind when the wind is in the direction the vane is moving and being of a coarser or rougher surface than the opposite side. A boat powered by such a windmill is also described.
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