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Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:20 pm
by mattshup
Stumbled across this in my windmill hunting journeys. Comparing images and what not I think this is a Duplex “Andrew” model ? Any thing special to these? Fun facts? I didn’t see a whole lot about them on the internet.
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:30 pm
by Windcatcher530 Dan
I do believe it's a duplex Andrew. That's all I can tell you.
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:40 pm
by windybob
You can see the faint circle on the vane sheet.
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:07 am
by Challenge 27
The profile of the vane sheet, and the vane stem or tailbone, appear to be 100% Andrew. Baker has a good photo of one in his Field Guide. And as Windybob posted, you can still see vestiges of the circle on the vane sheet.
And then there is the wheel hub. Baker said the hub was actually made of two pieces. One piece was permanently attached to the wheel shaft; the other was a large cone-like casting to which the rest of the wheel was bolted. The idea was you could assemble the wheel on the ground around the cone-like casting, and then hoist the whole wheel up and try to jockey it onto the wheel shaft and fasten it to the first part that was permanently fastened to the wheel shaft. Not sure I would like to do that on a windy day, but what do the experts say? In any event, the hub (to me at least) is a visually distinctive feature of the Andrew.
Challenge 27
P.S. I believe the windmill park at Shattuck has a restored Andrew, but I might be wrong about that. Those of you who are going to Poteet this fall and will be near or going through Shattuck might want to stop and have a look at it. (Any excuse to go to Shattuck is a good one.)
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 1:12 am
by hwy8
It's definitely an Andrew. In the 1970's, I had one on my "back to the land" homestead near Superior, Wisconsin. The Duplex factory was in South Superior and the Andrew family had pretty active sales reps within about a 35-40 mile radius. While I was going to college at UW Superior, I was harvesting Duplex open wheel machines and an Andrew like this one that were still on towers all over the area. I took every independent study course possible and was restoring them in the Art Dept. which had a bronze foundry, great brazing and welding equipment, a woodworking shop loaded with tools, and the best looking girls on campus. I applied for grants and student loans and then took the money and bought bee-keeping equipment, a chain saw to cut firewood, glass for windows in my old log house, and a barn-find, Allis-Chalmers tractor for gardening and snow plowing.........hmmm, does this have something to do with why I didn't get my degree? I do have to say, it was probably the best time in my life....
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 7:09 am
by mtblah
In the 70' I attended the Univ of Houston , they also has a well supplied machine shop & wood working shop . I believe after WW 2 a lot of educational institutions helped train returining soldiers a skill so they purchased the best equipment available . I would love to know where all that equipment went ?
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 8:19 am
by Wayne
I don't know sounds like you got a degree just not one from a university. A home spun one.
Re: Duplex Andrew ??
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 9:11 am
by Windcatcher530 Dan
In most cases common sense over rules book sense !!