We were watching “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” with my daughter (her first!) when I realized the windmill in which they lived turned at a good pace with no sails in the windmill blades. Is this possible, or a Hollywood oversight?
For those unfamilar to what I refer, I should add my question concerns the old-fashioned windmills, and not the more modern style windmills of today. Or, maybe they’re just windmills of my mind!
You mean like this? I’ve never seen one of those with sails.
Not sure what you’re getting at. Those are the sails.
Er, sails in this case are things made of substantial cloth that are mounted on the arms shown in the picture.
A windmill without sails spread could certainly turn - albeit not particularly fast - in a substantial wind. In an analogous way, a sailing ship can move under “bare poles” in a decent wind.
Found this photo of a traditional-style windmill with some jaunty red sails spread.
The windmills common in the UK used wooden sails, not cloth. The last working windmill I saw, in Suffolk, had slats on the sails a bit like a venetian blind, so the sail could be adjusted.
Edited to add link to photo: Windmill in Woodbridge, Suffolk
Looks to be a lot less work than cloth sails, at the cost of somewhat lower efficiency (due to more air leaking through).