Everyone's heard of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a fair few could probably tell you that the same Gustave Alexandre Eiffel built the
framework for New York's Statue of Liberty, yet very few would expect that Eiffel also designed something as mundane as a wind engine.
A surviving example of the Eiffel wind engine is to be found in
San Esteban, Cordoba, Argentina.
I was alerted to this by these creative commons licenced pictures on flickr by
John.
This
page in Spanish, when translated notes that:
Dolores Mill: By the testimony of the descendants of the Olmos family, longtime local residents,
and descendants of Doña Maria Arislao de Olmos, we know that this mill of French construction
designed by the French engineer Alexandre Eiffel, entered the country for the Rural Exhibition of the turn of the century (1900)
together with another identically constructed from the same origin, and that both were
acquired by Mrs. Maria Arislao de Olmos who placed one on her estate of Dolores and the other on the estate
"El Duraznillo" in Rio Cuarto. From the same sources, we learn the other unit was dismantled, leaving this as the sole
surviver in the country and perhaps in South America (the dismantled unit was sent to Paraquay). Even today, the mill
continues to supply water to the settlers.
Corrections to my translation are welcomed!
The same site has a few more images:
I think it's fair to say that it not in working order anymore, but a very impressive survivor none the less.
The Eiffel Wind Engine
