Éolienne Bollée

The tower could be a standard pylon type, either of triangular or square plan, or a cast-iron column with an external spiral staircase.

A new device added to the 1885 patent was a funnel affixed to the stator, enabling the éolienne to capture wind from a larger area than the rotor, and increasing its speed through the turbine.

A small fantail operated upwind of the rotor, and through a system of gears turned the turbine to face the wind.

The Éolienne Bollée is the only wind-powered turbine where the wind passes through a set of fixed blades (stator) before driving the windmill itself (rotor).

The rotor is turned by the wind, and through a bevel wheel drives a shaft inside the column (if used) or in the centre of the tower.

[1][4] Lebert built some very similar wind engines with a single rotor, and lacking the stator (thus they were not true turbines).

The wind catches a number of wheels and feathered vanes fixed to a shaft revolving in bearings inside the casings.

The Clarkson of which an illustration survives (1919) was erected by the Air Power Co. of Prestwich, Cheshire on the estate of Lord Derby.

[7] In the early years, under the Bollée family, the vast majority of purchasers were aristocrats and gentry, only six éoliennes being sold to municipalities by 1888.

After Lebert took over, the pattern of sales changed, with more éoliennes being sold for communal water supply, particularly in Indre-et-Loire and Sarthe .

The is an éolienne Bollée in the Parc de Clairbaudieres, Chateau Clerbaud in Paizay le Sec, Vienne.