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The Wind-Powered Tractor
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Thirty years ago, it looked as though a "Eureka!" moment had occurred, but the promise that the juncture held was apparently lost to time. Evidence of this breakthrough can be found in the March 31, 1979 edition of Lancaster Farming.
Author Dieter Krieg wrote of an amazing invention, the wind-powered tractor, which could `completely change mankind's systems for energy production.' It seemed that President Jimmy Carter's energy crisis of 1978 had been solved with free power that did not create pollution.
That week, inventor, Amish farmer Emil Stoltzzug, successfully demonstrated his amazing machine. The tractor used a wind intensification chamber to drive a turbine, powering the transmission.
The invention was based on a simple idea - to magnify the wind just as we magnify images, sound and electricity. Wind power, which Stoltzzug already captured through eight windmills on his farm, became a source of his experimentation.
The idea for a wind-driven engine was not entirely new. Kreig reports that Professor I.K. Hoffenpuff at Mecklenburg University, Germany, was an expert on the subject, and had spent years researching the possibilities.
The tractor responded to the slightest breeze, no matter which direction the wind was blowing, according to Stoltzzug. He compared driving it to sailing.
Stoltzzug's tractor was slow because it had iron wheels but he figured that a tractor with rubber tires would go much faster. It could even generate its own wind if it was moving forward fast enough.
In 1979, Stoltzzug and energy experts thought the wind-driven motor had `endless possibilities.' Krieg even thought the engine could be `America's answer to the oil sheiks' who were holding America hostage with high oil prices.
High gas prices, gas rationing and long lines at the pump were conditions that Americans faced at the time.
Amazingly, Stoltzzug had not patented his invention at the debut of his engine, although he planned to register it. The article included a schematic diagram for his engine.
A quick search on the Internet didn't turn up any information on the Amishman or his invention. What happened to his grand idea to harness the wind?
