Adjustable vane windmills

In a windmill comprising a tower and a plurality of airfoil blades, means for controllably adjusting the pitch of the airfoil blades from a feathered position to any run position relative to the direction of the wind, said means comprising:

• an elongated sleeve member,
• an actuator shaft coaxially extending through said sleeve, said shaft rotatable with said sleeve and longitudinally moveable relative to said sleeve,
• hub means coupled to said sleeve for rotation therewith,
• a plurality of elongated spar members equal in number to the number of airfoil blades, each of said spar members having a central portion rotatively in fixed spatial relation to and rotatably supported on said hub at an angle to the axis of said actuator shaft and a peripheral portion angularly extending from said central portion and fixedly connected to one of the blades, said blades extending rearwardly and radially from said hub, said hub located rearward of said tower
• collar means mounted for rotation with said actuator shaft,
• elongated rigid strut means pivotally connected at each end respectively to said collar means and to the airfoil blade intermediate its ends, and
• control means operatively coupled to said actuator shaft for longitudinally moving said shaft and, through said strut means, rotating each of the blades beween and including the feathered position and any run position and moving each of the blades in an arcuate path for changing the dihedral angle of the blades, and spar synchronization means connected between the central portion of each of said spars and said actuator shaft whereby to maintain the same angular relations between each of said spar members.