2008-7-26 03:31:00
by Ted Dewey
Henry took Thomas to the local airport. From there he would go to Phoenix, then on to New York.
From the airport it was only a short distance to the ranch. "Might just as well drop by there and write that paper that Thomas had suggested," he told himself. "It will be nice and quiet and no one to bother me."
An hour later he seated himself at the table and stared down at the paper in front of him. It had been a long time since he had attempted something like this, but he had made a promise and he would do has best to keep it. He picked up the pen and slowly began to write.
He filled several pages telling about those three days and nights that he spent in that lifeboat. When he finished with this, he told about different jobs that he had worked on in his younger days such as the Hoover Dam on the Colorado, and the Glen Canyon Project.
These huge projects which cost billions of dollars, furnished irrigation water and electric power for the valleys below.
"Without these dams," he wrote, "the rivers are worthless, at least as far as irrigation and power is concerned."
Henry paused and reached for a soft sheet of Kleenex. He mopped his damp brow and continued.
These dams, the canals, and the power plants are a great asset to our country and we could sure use a lot more of them. But now the rivers have all been dammed off. Human ingenuity has built dams about everywhere it is feasible. I guess that is what started a lot of us to search for another source of power.
Ever since I spent those three hectic days and nights on that life boat, I have tried to think up a way to put a harness on that wild wind. Surely, there was a way. I studied those giant wind mills that they use in Holland. Those huge things powered by the wind still keep the mighty ocean from flooding their country. And, they have been changed very little in the last several hundred years.
Even in our own country before we built all these big dams, the windmill was standard equipment on most farms. They were built on high towers to get above the tree tops, and they pumped water for man and beast as well as water to irrigate the garden. Without them, the early settlers would never have survived.
Let us also look back at the days of the sail boat and the mighty ships that sailed the ocean. For thousands of years their only source of power was the wind. It took them whereever they wanted to go, and with no charge for services rendered.
Then a guy by the name of Fulton invented the steamboat. This was the beginning of the end of wind power. Then along came the automobile. Gasoline and diesel powered rigs took over. Even the mighty locomotive, which would burn most anything, switched over to oil. Everyone had gone oil crazy. As time passed, huge gas and oil fired electric generators came into being. The wind was almost forgotten.
It wasn't until back in the early thirties, right in the middle of The Great Depression, that some of us made use of a few of those big windmills that were still standing.
There was one on the place where we lived at the time. I took a six-volt generator from an old car, some pulleys and a fan belt, and built my first electric power plant. I used a couple of car batteries for storage, and that was first electric generator.
It generated enough power to furnish us in lights and run our radio. It was trouble free.
Then times were really getting tough. Many banks were going broke and many companys were going out of business.
About that time, some companies come out with a product that was called a "Wind Charger" copied from the ones we used on the old windmills.
They were a little two-bladed affair, and mounted on front was a six volt generator. Also it had a small tower that could be mounted on the rooftop. A lot of them sprung up in the rural areas where there was no power line.
Soon the power companies realized that they were "missing the bus." Financed by the government, they went all out to supply power to the rural areas.
Lots of new electric equipment came on the market which could only be used on a hundred and ten-volt line.
Everyone was buying new refrigerators, stoves, and washing machines. Soon the "Wind Charger" became obsolete; and, as time passed, it was almost forgotten.
Now the power companies had complete control. Their prices began to go up and up, higher and higher.
Then came the population explosion. More and more power was needed and the rivers were all dammed off.
To solve this problem the power companies joined forces with the oil barons. Oil and gas fired generators were the only answer, they said.
Then they created an oil shortage, which we know now that did not exist -- and up went the prices again.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the wind. I think that the reason for this is because no one could figure out how to get a monopoly on it. It was most everywhere and the price was right: free, just for the taking.
To beat the high price of oil, some of them turned to coal which was now mostly owned by the oil companies.
I guess that using the wind as a source or power is too simple for most minds. The highly educated ones could see only one answer: atomic power.
It took a lot of brilliant guys to figure this one out, plus, billions of dollars. It just had to be good.
Now some of this might not be exactly the truth, but it is the way it appeared to me. A few years ago my father passed away and left me his machine shop and all the equipment in it. I was down in Central. America at the time and didn't hear of his death until I returned, which was several months later. I moved the equipment out to my shop, and began working on my idea of how to harness the wind and put it to use for everyone.
There is really nothing new in this invention. It is just the manner in which I assemble these different items that makes the thing work. And certainly there is nothing new about a large steel pipe which acts as a reservoir that can store any amount of compressed air. Wind machines will supply all the power we will ever need. And with the aid of my machines, the wind will create that power, and do it at a cost that everyone can afford.
Right now our steel mills are losing millions each year. Let's put them and thousands of people back to work.
At least that is what I had in mind when I was working on the thing. That was my big dream."
Henry got up from the table and glanced at his watch. To his amazement he had been sitting there for over two hours! He looked down at the several sheets of paper. That would have to do for now. He had better get going. Tonight, he had a date with Julie.
-- End Of Chapter Ten --
"This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably."
-- Barack Obama, Berlin July 24, 2008
Translation: We must redistribute the wealth through confiscation.
Word of the Day
Appellation: Noun; a name, title, or designation of a person or thing; the act of naming or calling by a name.
Copyright © 2008 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved