Speed governing hub for windmill

Claim 1

An improved windmill speed governor for controlling the speed at which a plurality of wind driven blades rotates a drive shaft comprising a support plate mounted to rotate said drive shaft, a plurality of blade shafts each attached to a separate blade, means rotatably mounting said blade shafts on said support plate with said blade shafts spaced about said drive shaft and each extending generally perpendicular to a radius from said drive shaft, a separate control rod having an end attached to each blade shaft to extend coplanar with the axis of said drive shaft, each of said control rods having a second end extending toward said shaft and terminating at a head, a governor hub positioned to slide axially on said drive shaft towards and away from said support plate, said hub including first and second spaced apart plates, spring means biasing said governor hub towards said support plate, said control rod heads being positioned in the region between said spaced apart plates, such region extending parallel with said support plate, means for maintaining said control rod heads in position in the region between said spaced apart plates, release means in one of said spaced apart plates for passing said control rods as said governor hub slides axially on said drive shaft, said spring means simultaneously biasing said control rod heads to a first position wherein said blades assume a predetermined pitch, said governor hub simultaneously moving said heads to simultaneously rotate said blade shafts in response to a predetermined force upon said blades to modify said predetermined pitch whereby the maximum speed at which said blades rotate said drive shaft is controlled.