Wincharger electric generator
From RetroTech, the online museum of 20th century technology.
In the 1920s, the Wincharger was a popular piece of equipment on farms throughout America. Winchargers were wind-powered electric generators made by the Wincharger Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa. They were used to recharge 6-volt batteries that were in turn used to power farm radios.
Wincharger Corporation teamed with Zenith Radio to provide hundreds of thousands of these wind-powered devices that were soon used to provide lighting and to power other household appliances. The purchase price of a typical Wincharger was about $35, but Zenith offered a coupon with the purchase of their radios that allowed the customer to buy one for only $10 during the Great Depression.
The passing of the Rural Electrification Act in the 1930s provided electrical power to the home and eliminated the need for Winchargers.
External links
- Wincharger.com
- How it all began, a history of wind generator use in the U.S., by Mick Sagrillo, Wind Power magazine, 1992
