Book

Power from Wind: A History of Windmill Technology

1996

Synopsis

Richard Leslie Hills provides an exhaustive chronological exploration of how humanity has captured the kinetic energy of the air, beginning with the earliest known vertical-axis windmills in tenth-century Persia. These primitive machines, which utilized drag rather than lift, eventually gave way to the more familiar horizontal-axis post mills of medieval Europe. Hills meticulously details the transition from these timber-framed structures, which had to be manually rotated into the wind, to the more robust tower mills that featured movable caps. This evolution was driven by the necessity of grinding grain and later by the massive land-reclamation projects in the Low Countries, where the windmill became a vital tool for pumping water.

The narrative shifts toward the industrial era as Hills examines the sophisticated engineering refinements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He highlights the introduction of automated systems, such as the fantail, which allowed mills to track the wind without human intervention, and the development of patent sails that could adjust to varying wind speeds. The book captures a pivotal moment in technological history where the traditional windmill reached its mechanical peak just as the steam engine began to render it obsolete for large-scale milling. However, Hills argues that the legacy of these machines was not lost but rather transformed, as the aerodynamic principles and structural lessons learned from traditional mills laid the groundwork for the modern wind turbines used for electricity generation today.

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