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Aermotor Windmill Lives

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The Aermotor windmill is probably the oldest iconic windmill In the United States today. We bought one that was very old at a seller's booth at the Round Top antique market. This was back in the late 1900s. So that makes it 20 years ago or so. We first erected this windmill In Fulshear in the backyard. We had to get Architectural Control Committee approval to do this. Because some of our neighbors may have some bad experiences with a neighboring windmill, we had to assure them that we would not let the brake slide and provide that nasty shrieking noise.  Other than that, there was no objection to looking at a windmill. 

We erected the windmill in Fulshear.  It was quite a chore for us as we had no idea where all the parts fit together and how they were arranged.  For example, we learned that the sail wheel with its struts is built with the same concept as a bicycle wheel with its spokes.  After much head scratching and consulting the internet we had it to the point where we could hire a local boom truck to lift the motor and its last section of tower on top of the tower that I had already built.  We got it up and running.  We planted an antique rose in its base and within a few years, the rosebush nearly swallowed the lower section of the tower. Keep in mind this windmill does not do any work.  It just sits there for our visual enjoyment. It lasted in Fulshear for several years until we decided to sell the house.  We decided we could not leave the windmill behind, so we disassembled it and moved it to the ranch in Medina.   Medina is about 4 hours away from Fulshear.   It took a couple years to get the tower set in concrete and ready for the upper section, but wheel and sails were not reassembled yet, so it just sat in the barn at Medina.
In Medina we poured the concrete footings, erected the tower and that's as far as we got. The motor, the blades and the upper structure of the tower all set in the barn for several years because we just never got around to putting the motor on top of the tower. In some of the last steps in erecting the tower, we even had some help from Don when we hoisted him up in the bucket of the tractor to tighten the bolts on the top part of the tower. 

 Time finally ran out on us in Medina, so we had the task of taking down the tower and moving it back eastward in Texas to our new place in Hays County.  At least we did not have to hire a boom truck to take the motor off the top of the tower as we never got around to hoisting it to the top of the tower in Medina.

 In Hays County, guess what.  The tower, unassembled, rested on a couple sawhorses in the back yard for a couple years.  One of the reasons for delay, besides priority of other tasks, was that it is very difficult to dig holes for the concrete pilings due to all the limestone rock we have here.  But after a few years of groaning over the task we did it.  We erected the tower so that we could see it from the back windows of the house.  Next, I had to assemble the wheel on the motor.   Since I was now somewhat of an experienced windmill assembler, that went on schedule.  Now to find someone to hoist the sail assembly up onto the top of the tower.  

 We finally got Kutscher (Walt) to bring his boom truck and lift it up.  It went quite smoothly and so now we have a brand new old antique windmill.  Its about a 1930 model Aermotor.  One of the tower legs has a Kansas dealer's name painted on it.

 Here is the beauty ready to be lifted up:

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