> I've lost the article for the moment, but ATA magazine 
> wobbled on about a US manufacturer who has nicked my 
> brilliant idea of making whirlygig thingies into a 
> Savonius motor as well as still extracting air.

> They were looking for agents.

There they go again - people are always doing that ! 
Stealing my ideas before I think of them. Actually, in this 
case, the idea is obvious and I've had it for decades, but 
I'm finally actually trying it.

I've never heard of ATA magazine, but my whirlygig thingy, 
aka an erstwhile and again future chimney top  smoke 
extractor, that has sat for 20+ years on top of my chimney 
and spun happily for most of that while after having the 
"bearing" greased once, has for the last while been sitting 
in my rear yard with a ring of magnets gracing the bottom of 
it's rotor. No coil(s) has/have yet been added. That's not a 
major focus of anything I'm doing but it seemed worthwhile 
to see what sort of power could be extracted from it. Not 
much, according to my calculations, but it should be able to 
illuminate itself, FWIW.

Such rotors essentially are Savonius rotors as they are 
largely drag based. A case could be made that there may be 
SOME airflow in the upwind side and out the downwind, making 
them something like a Mitchell runner / Banki turbine. But I 
think pure drag Savonius is close enough.

Thanks for the reference.


        Russell

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