Vol. LVI. No. 2483. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 28, 1897. 
*1.00 PER YEAR. 
THE NEBRASKA “GO-DEVIL” WINDMILL. 
INGENIOUS HOMEMADE CONTRIVANCE. 
Necessity Both Parents of Invention. 
[COPYRIGHTED BY ERWIN H. BARBOUR.] 
During the past two or three years, there has been 
a marked increase in the number of homemade wind¬ 
mills in Nebraska, especially in the southern and 
southeastern counties. These, though faulty in de¬ 
sign and poorly constructed oftentimes, are full of in¬ 
terest. Back of it all is a germ idea, which may, un¬ 
der proper conditions, grow until a product of great 
utility results. The one end to be attained in this 
matter is economy, and unless the homemade mill can 
be made cheaply, and largely from old lumber and 
supplies on the farm, its real utility is placed in doubt. 
These handmade mills, which are usually termed 
Jumbo mills or Go-Devil mills, are constructed at 
small expense to the owners, for the odds and ends of 
lumber, wire, burlap, 
etc., common to every 
farm, enter into their 
make-up, and little new 
material is needed. 
Even the abused self- 
binders and other ma¬ 
chinery, whose short 
life of sunshine is sel¬ 
dom shadowed by a 
roof, and which are so 
commonly weathered to 
death and rendered use¬ 
less on the prairie farm, 
are again turned to 
some account by supply¬ 
ing sprocket wheels and 
chains, journals, cogs 
and driving bars to the 
homemade mill. The 
past four years of 
drought which has 
affected the country 
generally,and Nebraska 
particularly,as her most 
loyal admirers can at¬ 
test, has stimulated 
many an inventive gen¬ 
ius, and out of his neces¬ 
sity, have sprung some 
creditable windmill de¬ 
vices. 
The average cost of 
material for the con¬ 
struction of such a mill 
is but about $6, yet I 
have seen market gar¬ 
deners using them to 
singular advantage. In 
fact, these same gardeners were burdened with such 
a superaoundance of riches from their five-acre lots, 
when well cultivated and irrigated, that they were 
embarrassed to find a market for it all. This looks 
very much like getting something for nothing, which 
is the one thing universally desired. I have seen 
Jumbo mills that cost nothing whatever for material, 
mills which were built in play by boys on the farm, 
which were put to work in earnest, and pumped the 
water for the stock. Here is something for nothing 
again, and we may well stop to consider if this mat¬ 
ter is not worthy of attention. 
But next to the mill which cost nothing, comes that 
remarkable Little Jumbo, designed and built by Mr. 
J. L. Brown, proprietor of the Midway Nurseries at 
Kearney, Neb., the total cost of which was $1 50. 
This is, undoubtedly, the most interesting of all the 
mills which have yet been visited, and it is well worth 
traveling 200 miles to see. I am unwilling to grant 
that it has an equal in any State. See Fig. 229. It is 
a light, strong, efficient little mill which entailed on 
its designer and projector a trifling cost of $1 50 for 
its gas-pipe axis ; the rest of the mill was built almost 
wholly of thin lumber from dry-goods boxes. If one 
can purchase so much for little or nothing, may not 
the subject be doubly worthy of consideration ! May 
not the crude Jumbo mill develop into a useful and 
inexpensive means of turning the wind to good ac¬ 
count ? I do not mean by this that a mill of home¬ 
made design can do the work of the well and accu¬ 
rately constructed shop-made mill, but I do mean 
that many a man who cannot yet afford a mill, may 
nevertheless, have one, and that many a man can 
afford more than one mill; all of which may add that 
much comfort to himself and his live stock, and thus 
further, to that degree, his material welfare. 
With this in view, then, I have designed on paper a 
number of mills suitable for construction on the farm. 
I will build mills and test the use of lumber, galvan¬ 
ized iron, common sheet iron, burlap, duck and vari¬ 
ous kinds of wood and iron work, hoping to arrive 
practically at some conclusion as to the most efficient 
mill for the money spent. It is necessary to deter¬ 
mine the most practicable size, the best number of 
fans, and the most simple yet efficient construction of 
parts. 
I purpose to build mills of various materials and of 
different sizes, and to test them for a given length of 
time, and then to publish the tests, accompanied by 
exact tables of expenses for materials, with diagrams 
giving working plans for the benefit of those who 
may, for reasons of economy, undertake to put up 
such mills. Could these plans be carried out to full 
realization, I believe that information, important 
to many, would certainly result, especially for the 
younger farmers and gardeners living in that great 
district where conditions are similar, such as Iowa, 
North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyom¬ 
ing, and part of Colorado. 
Probably the first to introduce and develop the 
Jumbo mill in Lancaster County, was Mr. E H Cush¬ 
man, owner and proprietor of the Cushman Park gar¬ 
dens. Although, as is commonly the case, the builder 
sees many improvements which might be made, yet 
his first attempt is a very creditable production, in 
which is displayed thought and ingenuity. All things 
considered, it has few, if any equals here. It is a 
large mill, carrying fans 18 feet long and G feet broad. 
The total dimensions of this mill are 20 feet long by 
13 feet high, by 13 feet broad. The lower half of the 
mill is boxed in solidly in order that the wind may 
strike the upper fans only. Two large counter¬ 
balanced cut-offs or guards are so arranged on either 
side as to cut off, more or less as may be desired, the 
full force of the wind, thus adapting the mill to winds 
of different velocities. See Fig. 227. The whole was 
well constructed, even 
though the material 
used was largely odds 
and ends drawn from 
the place. The cost of 
new material was but 
$6, which represented 
the entire outlay on a 
mill, which, in a fair 
wind, pumped from 15 
to 20 gallons of water 
per minute. The chief 
expense was for the 
large beam to which the 
fans were attached, and 
for the large iron bear¬ 
ings to the same. The 
cranks for driving the 
piston rods of the 
pumps, of which he had 
two—one at each end of 
the beam—were drawn 
from discarded ma¬ 
chinery. 
The weak point in 
many of these mills is 
the cross beam or axis, 
which is under heavy 
strain when spanning a 
distance of 18 feet from 
bearing to bearing, and 
supporting the weight 
of the fans, which are, 
generally, made of 
heavy lumber. This 
beam, in most cases, is 
still further imposed 
upon and weakened by 
having holes mortised 
in it for the support of the arms of the fans. See Fig. 
230. Thus we find many mills disabled by the break¬ 
ing of the beam at this weakened spot. This is a 
fault that is easily remedied, for it is not necessary 
to mortise at all. The arms may be applied to the 
beam tangentially, as in Fig. 232, or by simply strad¬ 
dling the beam with strong inch lumber or by two 
by fours, as in Fig. 231. The latter method would, 
doubtless, be more readily understood and more easily 
applied by the average farmer, and would have the 
additional advantage that it would not require any 
special size or thickness of lumber. Another method 
shown at Fig. 233 illustrates the use made of a wagon 
wheel. At the same time it would be strong, light 
and elastic. Four, six or eight fans could be used as 
preferred. Six fans are a good number for large 
mills, eight for email ones. 
The details of simple construction, though subject 
to unlimited variations, offer few, if any difficulties, 
LARGE JUMBO WINDMILL WITH CUT-OFF Fig. 227. 
Size of mill, 20 feet long, 13 feet high, 13 feet broad. Drives two large pumps. Capacity, In a moderate wind, about one-half 
barrel per minute. Cost for new material, $6. The counterbalanced cut-offs shown in cut make it a 
simple and easy matter to regulate this mill to wind of varying velocity. 
