My dad was born in 1917 in a small South Dakota farm town... real small! He grew up thru the depression and they didn't have any electricity on the farm at the time. He rigged up a windmill to an old auto generator from a junk car and ran two copper rods thru the roof to a bulb so thay had lights when ever the wind blew, and that's all the time in SD!
Only problem is when it blew too hard, the generator would over produce and burn out the bulb? His solution was to install a hinge in the back rails of the windmill and install a big coil extension spring in the front. If the wind blew too hard, the windmill would lean back and sluff off energy by becoming inefficient.. a primitive regulator...
They were the only ones in the county that had lights! I miss him.... best, til....lat'r....GT...
