Horizontal multidirectional turbine windmill

Claim 1

A horizontal multidirectional windmill comprising a fixed housing and a rotor, the housing being constituted by upper and lower horizontally disposed members and a plurality of vertically disposed vanes extending between said members adjacent the periphery thereof and lying at an angle from radial, each adjacent pair of vanes and the horizontal member surfaces therebetween forming a funnel to direct air inwardly with a tangential component, and the rotor being constituted by upper and lower horizontally disposed members lying in the planes of said housing members, a vertical axle to which said rotor members are secured, a plurality of buckets mounted between said rotor members and extending inwardly from the periphery thereof, each said bucket comprising a flexible vertically disposed surface portion and supports for the inner and outer edges of said portions, and means for varying automatically the distance between said supports as a function of rotational speed of the rotor, each of the upper and lower rotor members comprising a central element and an outer annular element, said elements being relatively rotatable, the supports for the inner edges of the buckets being carried by said central element and the supports for the outer edges being carried by said annular element, the distance varying means comprising at least one lever pivotally connected to at least one of said elements, and a weighted body mounted on said lever, said means being adapted to cause relative rotational movement of said elements.