Editing Windmill (section)

=== Windpumps ===
{{Main|Windpump}}
[[File:Old Windmill.jpg|thumb|[[Aermotor Windmill Company|Aermotor]]-style windpump in [[South Dakota]], US]]
[[File:Windmill in far western NSW.jpg|thumb|Windpump in far western [[New South Wales]], Australia]]

Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now [[Afghanistan]], [[Iran]], and [[Pakistan]].<ref name="Lucas65">{{Cite book |last=Lucas |first=Adam |title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology |publisher=Brill Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=90-04-14649-0 |page=65}}</ref> The use of windpumps became widespread across the [[Muslim world]] and later spread to [[East Asia]] ([[China]]) and [[South Asia]] ([[Indian subcontinent|India]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Donald |title=Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East |date=May 1991 |journal=Scientific American |volume=264 |issue=5 |pages=64–69 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0591-100 |bibcode=1991SciAm.264e.100H |author-link=Donald Routledge Hill}} (cf. [[Donald Routledge Hill]], {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm|Mechanical Engineering}})</ref> Windmills were later used extensively in Europe, particularly in the [[Netherlands]] and the [[East Anglia]] area of [[Great Britain]], from the late [[Middle Ages]] onwards, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes.

The "American windmill", or "wind engine", was invented by [[Daniel Halladay]] in 1854<ref name="Clements" /> and was used mostly for lifting water from wells. Larger versions were also used for tasks such as sawing wood, chopping hay, and shelling and grinding grain.<ref name="Clements">{{Cite web |last=Clements |first=Elizabeth |date=2003-02-14 |title=Historic Turns in The Windmill City |url=http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/ferminews03-02-14/p4.html |access-date=2015-01-25 |website=Ferimi News |publisher=Office of Science/US Dept of Energy |volume=26 |number=3}}</ref> In early California and some other states, the windmill was part of a self-contained domestic water system which included a hand-dug well and a wooden water tower supporting a redwood tank enclosed by wooden siding known as a [[tankhouse]]. During the late 19th century, steel blades and towers replaced wooden construction. At their peak in 1930, an estimated 600,000 units were in use.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gipe |first=Paul |title=Wind Energy Comes of Age |publisher=John Wiley and Sons |year=1995 |isbn=0-471-10924-X |pages=123–127}}</ref> Firms such as U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company, Challenge Wind Mill and Feed Mill Company, Appleton Manufacturing Company, Star, [[Eclipse windmill|Eclipse]], [[Fairbanks-Morse]], [[Dempsters|Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company]], and [[Aermotor Windmill Company|Aermotor]] became the main suppliers in North and South America. These windpumps are used extensively on farms and ranches in the United States, Canada, Southern Africa, and Australia. They feature a large number of blades, so they turn slowly with considerable [[torque]] in low winds and are self-regulating in high winds. A tower-top [[Transmission (mechanics)|gearbox]] and [[crankshaft]] convert the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a rod to the pump cylinder below. Such mills pumped water and powered feed mills, sawmills, and agricultural machinery.

In Australia, the Griffiths Brothers at [[Toowoomba]] manufactured windmills of the American pattern from 1876, with the trade name Southern Cross Windmills in use from 1903. These became an icon of the Australian rural sector by utilizing the water of the [[Great Artesian Basin]].<ref name="BM">{{Cite web |last=Millet |first=Bruce |year=1984 |title=Triumph of the Griffiths Family |url=http://www.oocities.org/ozwindmills/SouthernCross.htm |access-date=2013-12-10}}</ref> Another well-known maker was [[Frederick Metters|Metters Ltd.]] of [[Adelaide]], [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] and [[Sydney]].