In July 1887 James Blyth raised a cloth-sailed horizontal wind turbine in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk, Scotland, and used it to charge accumulators that lit the cottage: the first known electricity from wind. The American Charles F. Brush built his larger and better-known Cleveland machine several months later and is still often mistakenly credited with the first; the Scottish claim is documented by the university Blyth taught for.
Facts
Partially Attested
Milestone DateOnly July 1887 is documented for when Blyth built the turbine at Marykirk; no source gives a day. The stored date is a placeholder for the first of that month, not an attested day. Milestone Year LocationMarykirk, Kincardineshire, Scotland 1 Connections
Associated With
Source University of Strathclyde Science on the Streets
Source University of Strathclyde Science on the Streets
Credited To
Source University of Strathclyde Science on the Streets
Open Questions
Source Wikipedia: James Blyth (engineer)
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Sources
1. University of Strathclyde Science on the Streets
University of StrathclydeScience on the Streets, James BlythQuote, Science on the Streets, James Blyth
Born: 1839 in Marykirk, Scotland
2. Wikipedia: James Blyth (engineer)
James Blyth, Marykirk wind turbine, July 1887
In July 1887 Blyth built a cloth-sailed wind turbine (or "windmill") in the garden of his holiday cottage in Marykirk and used the electricity it produced to charge accumulators
- Open Questions: What exact date in July 1887 did James Blyth's wind turbine at Marykirk first generate electricity?
View the SourceOpen Questions (2 open questions)
What exact date in July 1887 did James Blyth's wind turbine at Marykirk first generate electricity?
Sources agree Blyth built and ran his cloth-sailed wind turbine at Marykirk in July 1887, but no source consulted gives the specific day.
What would resolve this Blyth's own notebooks or a contemporary newspaper account naming the exact day the turbine first charged the accumulators.
History of technologyWikipedia: James Blyth (engineer)
What was the exact date in July 1887 that Blyth first ran his wind turbine at Marykirk?
Wikipedia's "James Blyth (engineer)" article and the American Physical Society's history piece both date the turbine only to July 1887; neither names the specific day within that month.
What would resolve this Blyth's own notebook, a dated letter, or a contemporary newspaper account naming the day the turbine first charged the accumulators.
Wikipedia
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