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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 23, 2021 21:34:10 GMT 12
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 24, 2021 9:38:32 GMT 12
Given the it seems to show just two attachment screws I suspect it is not off an actual aircraft.
Factory-made wooden props, even from early days, carried much more information than just a four-figure serial number.
But then, I could be wrong.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 24, 2021 9:46:32 GMT 12
I thought the same thing, and so does Pete. But it is intriguing all the same.
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Post by davidd on Jan 24, 2021 11:41:44 GMT 12
Yes, somebody has gone to the trouble of rebating the brass leading edge strip into the wood (but used steel staples!, still I suppose they do the job), and the former presence of some kind of shaft mounting visible in 6th and 7th images seems to indicate that this was used at some time for creating a draught of some kind, but smallness of the shaft hole in comparison to diameter and thickness of the prop would indicate it was probably not run at high speeds. The screws employed to attach it to a wall seem rather small, which raises the question - how long is this thing? When I first looked at the last image, I thought that the staples were actually the slots of the flush-fitting (countersunk) screw heads, but the 3rd, 4th and 5th clearly show the true story! Also looks as though the prop is made from 2 slabs of wood, glued edge to edge (or the mating surfaces angled to some degree to increase glue surfaces?) But what is purpose of the two "acorn" pieces of metal just inboard of the brass l/e strips? Balancing? I think it is a commercially made fan for ventilation purposes (as a fairly slow speed), and perhaps quite a number were manufactured, which would explain the serial number, although exactly why this was thought to be important enough may be another story. Comments?
David D
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Post by McFly on Jan 24, 2021 14:04:52 GMT 12
Some sleuthing on Google suggests this ‘prop’ is actually off an early ‘Wind Charger/Generator’ dating from the 1930’s up to the 1950’s. "Identification of the wind gen props are very obvious because of the relatively flat pitch, non-laminated with a simple sheet of copper folded over the leading edge and stapled. They also incorporated a ‘wind brake’ assemblies to prevent over-speeding and this would account for the additional mounting holes. ‘Acorns’ are probably balance weights. It is estimated that the ‘Wincharger Corp’ ( www.wincharger.com ) made 750,000 machines with props like this. Lengths vary with generator size from 4' to 12'. Wind generators for providing electricity benefit from a low torque, high speed prop and most were made of light woods like Douglas Fir or Sitka Spruce. The props were also typically used in places like vineyards to circulate air over the vines when there is a threat of frost." 
Vineyard frost fan  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 24, 2021 16:41:30 GMT 12
Awesome, thanks Marty! You've cracked it.
Pete says, "Wow! That is PERFECT!
That will make Mark very happy.
He's a police officer in Hamilton and has been a friend since we were in Primary School!
Thanks so very much for doing the digging!
MAGIC!"
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