General view from W. Copy of 35 mm colour transparency.

Description General view from W. Copy of 35 mm colour transparency.

Date 22/5/1981

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 867553

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Windpump, Tankerness, Orkney This is an unusual example of an 'American Farm windpump'. This type of wind pump was developed in the USA in the late 19th century and was installed in large numbers on Scottish farms in the first half of the 20th century. Most were used for pumping water for domestic supply, but some supplied water for livestock. This view shows a 'Climax' windpump. Its construction is typical, with a ring of galvanised-steel aerofoil-section blades on a steel frame, which was geared to a crank working a pump in the flagstone-roofed pumphouse below the short steel tower. The exposed location is evident. Windpumps were common until the 1970s. This photograph was taken by Graham Douglas in 1981 as part of a survey of wind power in Scotland. Many of the pumps he recorded have since disappeared. A Dickie pump will be erected at the National Museums Scotland Museum of Rural Life in March 2007. That can be found at Kittochside, East Kilbride. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap