Some typical wind patents and reinventions concerning steerable vane windmills
(Click on Picture to Enlarge)

Angle gears used to maintain vane angle -1946

title = "Wind motor",
number = "260330",
author = "Charles A. King"
location="Mission, Texas",
year = "1946",
month = "July",

Angle gears used to maintain vane angle - today

Development and Analysis of a Novel Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Paul Cooper and Oliver Kennedy
School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering
University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522,
AUSTRALIA
E-mail: pcooper@uow.edu.au

Single vane with 2:1 chain drive used to maintain angle

title = "Wind motor",
number = "4097190",
author = "White, Herbert O. "
location="4242 E. Wilshire Dr., Phoenix, AZ, 85008",
year = "1978",
month = "June",
Four vane with 2:1 chain drive used to maintain angle (click to see enlarged, clear on orig.)

title = "Wind driven power generator",
number = "4178126",
author = "Weed, Gehres D.",
location="Edmonton, CA",
year = "1979",
month = "December",
3 vane with 2:1 chain drive and mechanical interconnect

title = "Wind power system",
number = "4282944",
author = "Trumpy, Walter J.",
location="14820 Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades, CA, 90272",
year = "1981",
month = "August",

4 vane chain drive with internal gearing to maintain 2:1 ratio and chain drive interconnect

title = "Installation operated with wind or water power",
number = "4380417",
author = "Fork, Werner ",
location="Heidenheim, DE",
year = "1983",
month = "April",

6 vane with gears and chain drive to maintain 2:1 ratio

title = "Wind wheel with rotationally faced plates",
number = "5855470",
author = "Holmes, Alan G.",
location="1610 Mercury St., Merritt Island, FL, 32953",
year = "1999",
month = "January",

3 vane with 2:1 chain drive on each vane

title = "Wind machine",
number = "4494007",
author = "Gaston, Everett E.",
location="Monroe, NE",
year = "1985",
month = "January",
3 vane with 2:1 chain drive on each vane

title = "Wind turbine",
number = "4979871",
author = "Reiner, Harold E.",
location="P.O. Box 107, Boston, NY, 14025",
year = "1990",
month = "December",
6 vane with 2:1 chain drive on each vane, carousel, and chain interconnect.

title = "Cylindrical wind turbine",
number = "20080019833",
author = "Martin, Douglas Claude",
location="La Crescenta, CA, US"
year = "2008",
month = "January",

Cog geared system for setting vane angle

title = "Vertical axis windmill with weather vane positioning",
number = "20090257874",
author = "Rice, Karl Marvin",
location="Young America, MN, US",
year = "2009",
month = "October",

Offset pivot similar to several earlier roller cam designs - I ran across roughly 8 similar designs. The art work is poor but it is an active patent!

title = "Peripherally pivoted oscillating vane machine",
number = "20090081061",
author = "Chomyszak, Stephen M. ", +others
location="ATTLEBORO, MA, US",
year = "2009",
month = "March",

Wind force causes gear rotation to orient vanes

title = "Windmill",
number = "2437346",
author = "Bourne, Raymond D.",
year = "1948",
month = "March",

Elegant gear controlled vane system with governor foldback based on generator power.

title = "Windmill",
number = "1416052",
author = "Clyde, Nolan",
year = "1922",
month = "May",

A very simple mechanical steering system

title = "Turbine having its rotating shaft transverse to the flow of the current",
number = "1835018",
author = "Marie, Darrieus Georges Jean",
year = "1931",
month = "December",