INDEX     (A-B) / (C-E) / (F-I) / (J-M) / (N-R) / (S) / (T) / (U-Z)

AUSTRALIAN WINDMILL MANUFACTURERS - N - R

N / O / P / Q / R

NELSON

    After the closure of the "J. Prowse & Sons" manufacturing works in Beeac, Victoria in 1940, production carried on for a short time with a windmill called a Nelson being produced. The particulars of the manufacturer are not known, but the name of the windmill is very likely a good indicator. A clearing sale was held in the next one or two years and the factory was purchased by Stan STARES, the Cressy policeman, and removed. The Masonic Lodge now stands on the site. Another smaller shed was bought by Bert SALMON and moved out to his farm. The brick corner shop lay idle until 1946 when George COPS bought it and started a grocery business. The building was later sold to Mr. A. Turner. The name still remains on the old building in 2007.

NO - OIL WINDMILL

   - see - (T) THOMPSON, H. C.

NORMAN & CO.

   Norman and Co. of Adelaide, South Australia took on the agency for the Butler Company of Butler, Indiana, USA in 1910. They sold the Butler steel windmill between 1910 and 1914.

NORTHERN FIBREGLASS PRODUCTS PTY. LTD.

    This business was on the Chapman Valley Road, Waggrakine near Geraldton, Western Australia and specialised in fibreglass products.

• FERI WINDMILL    This windmill had a horizontal wind wheel made with buckets instead of blades to catch the wind.The design was in development for about 5 years and appears to have been released in 1981. Designed by Feri KOCSIS. It used moulded fibreglass paddles on a vertical axis. The paddles were fitted with flaps which opened and shut with wind pressure to decrease resistance to the wind as each paddle was moving back into position to catch the wind. Sets of three paddles could be added in stacks depending on the power required. A cam at the bottom of the stack operated a lever at each turn to provide a conventional up and down pumping motion. 2.8 metres in diameter. Available also in 1982.

NU - OIL WINDMILL

   - see -(J-M) METTERS LTD.
TOP

O'CALLAGHAN

   Early Australian Manufacturer.

O'SHEA

   Mr O'Shea of Kingston (either South Australia or Victoria) showed his self acting safety windmill at the Kingston Show in October 1893.

OSBOURNE, W. F.

    -see- (A-B) ABRAHAM, John

OVERALL, McCRAY LTD.

    Company who specialised in water boring as well as being merchants, blacksmiths, boilermakers & general engineers, based in Sydney, Baldrock and Balmain, NSW. Their 1913 catalogue showed them as agents for the Stover Samson windmill.
    - see - (S) STOVER MANUFACTURING AND ENGINE CO.

OZARK PUMP COMPANY

    The creation of Bob RODEN of Chapman Valley Road, Waggrakine, Western Australia, who started working with air operated water pumps about 1984. Mainly interested in the pumps but did build a windmill using a twin cylinder air compressor from about 1989. Ten of these units were sold to the Main Roads Department of the State Government for use in remote areas, and others were sold to pastoralists etc.
TOP

PATCO WINDMILL

   Rebadged Metters K windmill.

PATERSON AND CO. LTD.

    Fremantle and 641 - 643 Wellington St, Perth from circa 1906 to circa 1971.
    Sold the Patco windmill, which was a rebadged Metters K windmill, between 1938 - 1941 in W.A.

PATERNOSTER, Edmund John

    Edmund John PATERNOSTER was born in Waltham, England in 1846. He came to Gawler, South Australia to live in 1858 and opened a gunsmith and sewing machine repair shop there in 1873. In 1877 he leased the business to his brother and moved to Smithfield for a year. In 1878 he moved to Salisbury and established an agricultural machinery business. He applied for a windmill patent in 1884. In later years he added a brass and iron foundry and a windmill, boiler and engineering works under the new name of E. PATERNOSTER's LITTLE GEM WINDMILL FACTORY. Apparently ceased production in 1927. He moved back to Gawler in 1933 and died there in 1943. In c1909 his son Henry George assisted in management and his second son E.J. was chief engineer. Henry George PATERNOSTER managed the business in later years.

• LITTLE GEM     Invented by and patented by the manufacturer c1886. Varied the pitch of the fan blades by moving the inner and outer fan rings in different directions. Sold into the Eastern States and Western Australia.
• TRIUMPH WINDMILL     It was a single geared, open back, forged head. May not have been designed by PATERNOSTER and may even have been a mill previously made by another person.
• NEW TRIUMPH OIL MILL

PEL

    - see - NEW ZEALAND WINDMILLS

PERKINS WINDMILL Co

    Of Mishawaka, Indiana, USA.

PHELPS & BIGELOW WIND MILL COMPANY

    This is one of two possible suppliers of the IXL windmill which was imported into Australia in the mid 1880's. The other possible firm was Springer and Gregory of Rockford, Illinois, USA who made IXL windmills under licence in that period.
    The woodwork for an IXL windmill was in the collection of the Old Talem Town museum in South Australia in 2003. To date, only one advertisement, in May 1885 by the Western Australian company William Sandover, has been collected for what is assumed to be this mill. It was not illustrated. Another advertisement in September 1884 for Sandover & Mayhew, which was succeeded by William Sandover, lists an unidentified windmill for sale.
    Based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, the original partnership between Horace PHELPS & M. J. BIGELOW came into being in 1873, operating as PHELPS & BIGELOW until about 1877 when the firm was incorporated as the PHELPS & BIGELOW WIND MILL COMPANY. This firm continued to manufacture windmills until about 1918 when it became the Phelps-Bigelow Windmill and Manufacturing Company. By 1919 it had been reorganized as the Ihling-Doorenbos Company of Kalamazoo, but this format ceased to exist in about 1920 when both it and the Smith and Pomeroy Windmill Company of Kalamazoo were purchased and formed into the I.X.L Windmill Company. This existed into the 1930's.

• IXL WINDMILL     Usually made in 8, 10, 12 and 14 foot sizes. This model was produced from at least 1881 until sometime after 1892. It employed a wooden vane and wind wheel. Drive was via a plate fixed to the back of the hub shaft which was attached to the pitman arm by a wrist pin. Guides in the main casting centralised the pump rod connection. Regulation was assisted by a weighted lever. 1885 is an interesting turning point in the design of the IXL windwheel - so perhaps either or both designs may be in Australia.

PHOENIX FORGE

    - see - (J-M) MORIESON, John.

PIELL

    This appears to be the earliest brand of windmill to have been recorded in Australia. It is assumed to be a product of Mr PIELL of New Park Street, Southwark, England, who is recorded in 1868 as manufacturing a self regulating windmill which could be used to pump water, grind corn, crush oats, cut chaff and power other farm machinery. It required its bearings to be oiled weekly and cost about �50 "per nominal horse-power."

PIELL'S PATENT WIND ENGINE

    One of these machines was advertised for public competition at the Mart, complete with gunmetal pumps, shafts, pump rods etc., (presumably in Adelaide), by Green, Parr & Luxmoore in March 1860. The event was supposed to have occurred on the 14th of March, but may have been cancelled as another offer was advertised for the 21st. The results are unknown.

PORRITT & CO.

    Changed from PORRITT & FILSHIE in 1883. In 1891 the company was purchased by the TOOWOOMBA FOUNDRY COMPANY.

PORRITT & FILSHIE

    Operated in Toowoomba, Queensland. In 1883 the company name changed to PORRITT & Co.

• RELIANCE WINDMILL    Manufactured from c1882 to c1893. There was a patent application for this windmill in 1885.

PORT WEBER

    A division of D. E. C. WEBER PTY. LTD.

• ALSTON PATTERN WINDMILL MODEL C    A double geared oilbath windmill offered in 6, 8, 10 and 12 foot. Available at 114 Princess Highway, Beaconsfield, Victoria in 1981 at least.

PROWSE, James

    James PROWSE was born in 1861 at Paraparap about fourteen kilometres South West of Geelong, in the Modewarre area, Victoria to John PROWSE and Agnes (nee HOWE). He moved with his family to Ondit (renamed Beeac), Victoria in 1873, where his father commenced farming land to the North East of the town.
James married Drucilla WOODS in 1882, and by 1883 he was leasing farm land in the local Beeac area in his own name. Around 1890 James leased farm land adjoining James CORBETT, who also appears in records as a Beeac windmill manufacturer. He bought this property a few years later.
Sometime between November 1899 and January 4th 1900 he took over both the Lang Street, Beeac premises and the business of carpenter, blacksmith and windmill maker Robert BROWN.
James' oldest son James Edward (Ted) Potter Prowse [1885 - 1937] later worked with their father, along with the other two sons, John William (Jack) PROWSE [1899 - 1940] and William Oliver (Oliver or Ollie) PROWSE [1890 - 1968], when they became old enough. This probably commenced within the first few years of the business's operation, but the earliest known advertisement for "J. PROWSE & Sons" is 1928. At a relatively early date, possibly as soon as 1910, James Prowse acquired the north east corner block of the intersection of Lang Street with Main Street. A new brick shop was built there that mainly operated as hardware shop, with the Prowse Windmills being manufactured next door on Main Street in a large wooden building
The promotion of soldier settlement in the period following the First World War saw a very busy time for Prowse Windmills, with over thirty people employed. Windmills and accessories not only went to the closer soldier settlements such as Dreeite, but were also dispatched interstate to New South Wales and South Australia. They could be supplied with tanks, tank stands, and tin lined wooden troughs if required.
James PROWSE retired in 1928/29, leaving the business to his eldest son James (Ted) to run. Unfortunately Ted PROWSE died in 1937 and Jack PROWSE died early in 1940, so Oliver PROWSE, as the sole remaining partner, decided to close the business in March 1940. The shortage of manpower created by the commencement of the Second World War also contributed to the closure. After the closure the manufacturing works carried on for a short time with a windmill called a Nelson being produced. A clearing sale was held in the next one or two years and the factory was purchased by Stan STARES, the Cressy policeman, and removed. The Masonic Lodge now stands on the site. Another smaller shed was bought by Bert SALMON and moved out to his farm. The brick corner shop lay idle until 1946 when George COPS bought it and started a grocery business.

• PROWSE WINDMILL   All known windmills were open crank direct action. Sizes varied from small single crank with four spoked wheel of five feet diameter, to the largest of the double open crank models that had eight spoked wheels in excess of ten feet in diameter. A small three legged tower model was also available. This was a cheaper version and differed slightly in the castings to the 4 leg tower models. Cheaper again, they could be supplied just as a black iron tower or galvanized at extra cost. The black iron models were painted grey with the castings painted red. Several special features of the Prowse Windmill assist in their identification, the main ones being the piece of pipe as a balance weight on one of the wheel spokes, and the distinct shape of the tail. Numerous models survive in the local area, with a small number still in working condition in 2007.
• TYPE 1. This mill employed a strongly made cast head frame and mast pipe unit, and was available in at least two sizes. A crankshaft with grease cups either side, and another on the pump rod provided a single pump stroke choice. The hub was a two disc design. The inner one was a casting for pipe spokes, which grub screwed into it, and the smaller outer disc held brace rods fitted through holes in the face of the casting. A flat sheet tail vane on a pipe tail spar furled to the left of the head. The wheel was all metal and individual blades were riveted to flat iron braces, which fitted at each end to the inner and outer wind wheel rings. Known examples were fitted to four post steel towers.
• TYPE 2. There may have been another larger mill , which used a circular side vane. It used a straight shaft held by a clamped nose bearing.

PUMPING AERMOTOR

    - see - (A-B) AERMOTOR COMPANY.
TOP

Q

TOP

RACK WINDMILL

    - see - (S) STEVEN BROS.

RACK WINDMILL & ENGINEERING CO. PTY. LTD.

    Windmill manufacturer in Footscray, Victoria who produced windmills 1913 - 1915.

RAGLESS WINDMILL

   The RAGLESS windmill was built by Harry FIGG and George RAGLESS senior in circa 1865. It was used at Willackra Station, Mt. Ragless.

RAILROAD ECLIPSE WINDMILL

    - see - (F-I) FAIRBANKS MORSE & CO.

RAINDROP AGRICULTURAL

    Importers of the South African SOUTHERN CROSS windmills.
    Address    14 Riversdair Road, Rivervale, Western Australia.

• WINDPUMP IZ PATTERN WINDMILLS    Imported with 1.8, 2.5, 3, 3.7 and 4.3 metre windwheels.

RAMSEY, R. G. & CO.

    Of Mount Barker, South Australia. He began foundry operations in 1850 in a small business he bought from Walter PATERSON. The foundry grew to employ 50 men. Advertisements occur in 1893 for the sale of his estate.

RAPID RAIN PTY. LTD.

    Took over the COMET windmill manufacture from SIDNEY WILLIAMS. In 2002 COMET windmills was acquired by COMET PUMPS AUSTRALIA.

RELIANCE WINDMILL

    - see - PORRITT & FILSHIE.
    - see - (T) TOOWOOMBA FOUNDRY & RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK CO.

REEVES, W. C.

    Advertised as Shire Engineer and Surveyor of Metcalfe, Victoria.

• REEVES TURBINE WIND MOTOR    This design had no tail or turntable, the movement was carried on one upright shaft driving a horizontal pump direct or a rotary pump on the shaft itself . Advertised in 1906.

R. G. WARNER & CO.

    Address in 1883 - 1894 was 1 Lord's Place, Elizabeth Street, Hobart, Tasmania. Imported windmills, pumps and other goods manufactured by John Warner & Sons Ltd of England.

RICHARD, Roland Rolf

    Roland Rolf RICHARD of Kynuna, Queensland was granted US patent 1,449,192 for a very complex horizontal windmill design on March 20 1923. The design allowed the weight of the wheel to be supported hydraulically.

RIDDLE, George Henry

    George Henry RIDDLE was born in Battle, Sussex, England in 1847. He emigrated to Port Adelaide, South Australia with his brother William (born 1854) and parents on the ship Nimrod on 31 December 1855. RIDDLE was apprenticed to Mr CULYER in Darlington, South Australia and started business in Brighton as a blacksmith and wheelwright in c1868. He began building wooden framed windmills and these were further developed by his son Henry Percival RIDDLE (born 1871). The RIDDLE windmills were well-known throughout South Australia and Henry later won a prize at the Adelaide Show for the perfect windmill. George RIDDLE died at home in Brighton, South Australia on the 19 April 1928. His brother William RIDDLE was also a windmill manufacturer in South Australia. A January 1899 advert in "Garden & Field", Adelaide offered G. H. RIDDLE's windmills in either iron or steel, direct action or geared.

• DIRECT ACTION WINDMILL   

RIDDLE, William

    William RIDDLE was born in Battle, Sussex, England in 1854 and came out to South Australia on the "NIMROD" with his parents in 1855. In 1877 he became manager of the ironmongery business of PADMAN & CO at Yorktown, South Australia which he bought out in 1880. His windmills were sold throughout South Australia and into Western Australia. Amongst other trades he also operated as a undertaker. He died in 1915. Gordon RIDDLE followed William as a hardware shop.

• RIDDLE WINDMILL    The only windmill so far identified has a solid wooden wheel and slatted wooden tail. It was approximately 10ft in size and there may have been another size as well.

ROBERTSON, Robert

    Listed as a manufacturer in Camperdown, Victoria in 1905, 1906, 1907.

ROBINS AND GRIEVE

    Victorian windmill manufacturer. One partner Harold ROBINS was the father of Roy ROBINS.

• EUREKA WINDMILL

ROBINS, Roy

    Australian manufacturer of Allan St, Essendon,. As well as the EUREKA he made, he also claimed to have designed the YARRA sold by H CARPENTER, the DEFIANCE sold by HARRIS SCARFE SANDOVER's in Perth and the SKY. He died c1972.

• EUREKA WINDMILL    (c1937 - c1972). Fabricated arc welded head. Made in 6, 8 and 10 ft.

ROBINSON, T. & CO.

    Advertised a self regulating windmill in 1866.

ROBISON BROS.

    Listed as manufacturers in 1900. Address was South Melbourne. - see - (A-B) AERMOTOR.

ROB'S WATER SYSTEMS

    Of Port Lincoln, South Australia. Took over the manufacture of the FABRO windmill from BORMANN ENGINEERING.

ROGERS & WORLAND

    Windmill manufacturer of Warnambool (?), Victoria c1883. Exported to Queensland and to other colonies.

ROSS, E. J.

    Windmill manufacturer of Cobram, Victoria who produced windmills in 1903.

ROSS, R.

    Windmill manufacturer in Namurkah?, Victoria who produced windmills in 1930.

ROSSER, A. G.

   Addresses

1. Fremantle, Western Australia. [1885]
2. Manning Hall, Fremantle Western Australia. [1887]
3. Melbourne. [1885]

    - see - (U-Z) US WIND ENGINE AND PUMP CO.

ROSSER - HUNTER & CO.

    Formerly A. G. ROSSER - appear to have name change about July 1887. Still trading under that name, December 1887 but reverted to A. G. ROSSER by October 1888 trading as a general merchant. Unknown if actually sold windmills as ROSSER - HUNTER.

RUNWELL WINDMILL

    Rebadged Metters K sold by J. & W. Bateman in Perth Western Australia 1936-1952.    - see - (A-B) BATEMAN, J. & W. LTD.

RUWOLT, Charles & CO.

    Established a foundry and engineering works at Wangaratta, Victoria in 1902. Listed at Parfitt Rd, Wangaratta in 1903. They produced windmills circa 1903 - 1911. The company took on the above name in 1911. In 1913 the firm moved to Melbourne. It was acquired by VICKERS LTD. in 1948 and became VICKERS RUWOLT PTY. LTD.
TOP