Things I Learned in the Farm Room (Part 2)

Unlike my last such post, this one could be called "Things I Just Never Thought About Before."

I never thought about how we went from windmills like this:


(Click on images to enlarge)
Illustration by G.A. Harker, from James Baldwin, Stories of Don Quixote Written Anew for Young People (American Book Company: 1910), via Wikimedia Commons.

… to windmills like this:



Apparently the change started in 1854 with a guy named Daniel Halladay who patented a "self-governing windmill" that was not only lower-maintenance than the Don Quixote type, but also cheaper to build and easier to ship to faraway locations. Later inventors added refinements such as (in 1870) the change from wooden blades to steel (more durable, and able to be molded into more efficient shapes).

That, at least, is what my hasty research has taught me.