On Thu, 1 Nov 2012 07:31:32 -0700 (PDT), Harry K wrote:


Wrong. The old windmills were a piston pump, Operated by a "sucker
rod" that
when up and own run by the gear head on top of the tower. there was
no rotation other than the axle the fan was attached to. If there was
a way to make it work with horses, I never heard of
it. I suppose it wouild be possible but highly unlikely.

Harry K

You're right about the sucker rod and all of that.
Some also had a handle that you just hand pumped.
However, there were geared devices that would raise and lower it. I saw
such a thing at an antique machinery museum. This device could be run
by any rotating shaft, meaning a tractor PTO, any motor or engine, a
water wheel, and yes, a horse ring.

A horse ring looked similar to the pony rings used at carnivals where
the ponies go around in a circle. But it was for larger horses, as well
as donkeys, oxen, etc. They went in a circle, and the vertical shaft in
the middle of the ring was connected to a horizontal shaft via gears.
That shaft went outside of the ring and was connected to whatever needed
power from a rotating shaft. One drawback was that the horses had to
step over this horizontal shaft on every rotation. That took some
training. If I recall, the later versions ran the shaft underground or
overhead.

Look at these sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_mill

http://www.stubert.info/horse.html

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/4/34...ill_Nadole.jpg
(photo)

http://www.akvo.org/wiki/index.php/H..._powered_pumps

To search for mo
Google these two lines.

horse driven mill

horse driven pump


Here's a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjzwDjEU9rQ