Windmill

Claim 1

A windmill comprising a support member, a vertically positioned support shaft means operatively and rotatably positioned on said support member, a plurality of elongated molded plastic vanes of arcuate shape and of uniform thickness in horizontal section operatively secured at one edge thereof to said support shaft means and extending outwardly therefrom, said vanes being equally spaced circumferentially about said shaft and being slightly flexible so winds engaging the concave surface of said vanes will urge said vanes to a flatter shape and will make the arc of other vanes tighter by engaging the convex surfaces of such other vanes to provide rotational forces on said vanes and provide an automatic feathering of the vanes, and generator means positioned on said support member and operatively connected to said shaft means to provide power therefrom on rotation of said shaft means, said vanes being semi-rigid and being deflected varied amounts by winds of different velocities whereby a variable feathering action is provided in said vanes, which have no moving parts, dependent upon the prevailing velocity, said vanes being more resistant to deflection by fluid forces engaging their concave surfaces than by fluid forces engaging their convex surfaces.