Whirligig
Whirligig is the American name for a wind turbine, combined with wind power via a mechanism figures or objects in motion and which serves as a work of art, for ornament and decoration, or as a figurehead. Whirligigs seen in gardens, on rooftops and in parks or open spaces in a prominent place, wherever they can be set by the wind in motion. As an art object or decorative object, the Whirligig done otherwise no useful work, and produces no energy in terms of a windmill or wind turbine. A whirligig is an object that is rotated or at which at least a part turn in the wind.
History
The word Whirligig, the whirl is derived from the verb to be, occupied since 1440; it was applied for different variants of rotating toys. Thereafter, the term Whirligig was unchanged for rotating toy for rotating in and with the wind wind chimes from the general designation of the same word. So the United States of America awarded in 1866 a patent for a toy resembling the yo-yo, which was referred to in the patent as a whirligig.
Production
The production of whirligigs usually happens in the hobbyist 's workshop, but there are some artisans who specialize in such work or even customize these on the side. This is done by hand, can be used in inventive creativity always come up with new variations, but there are also templates for reproduction, which are then copied. Even artists have adopted the theme and created objects, which are displaced by the wind turning over motion.
Applications
Whirligigs are often used as a showcase for other professions or affiliations, in which case a typical plot and corresponding objects are combined in the pictorial compilation of such a motion game. For example, a blacksmith on the anvil swing a hammer or ships sailing around on the roof of the captain cottage in a circle.
Decoration
Even as pure ornament without advertising for a profession, a profession or a business activity, a whirligig is often used, for example, to beautify the home or garden. So you can see wild geese whose wings beat up and down, giving the impression that they really fly. This is accomplished by a small wind turbine and an almost invisible mechanism that moves the wings. It can also be a character who pumping air into a bicycle tire or a gardener who boosts a grindstone while his wife anschleift the spade. Although it looks as if turned to the man at the crank the grindstone or - depending on - as he used the bicycle eagerly the pump, are these moving scenes in reality the wind over a small wind turbine angular momentum and the linear motion is then transmit a connecting rod connecting rod with the figure.
Use as a weather vane
Except for purely decorative purposes, you can use a whirligig as a weather vane, by treating it with trim designed by a guide surface on a vertical axis of rotation to the wind direction. This can be a weather vane with a windmill where his wings are. At the same rapid rotation you can not see whether it is the wing or if it's just a wind turbine, the buzzing moves in the wind. Even an airplane, rotatably mounted on a pole, so can show the wind direction. This is done with the tail fin as a guide surface that aligns the model to the wind. At the same time you can also give the impression that with his running in the wind propellers it fly like a real airplane, but just on the spot. In the design of whirligigs of fantasy are thematically few limits and there are many ways to get by special mechanics motion in a scene asked.