Dempsters was a privately held American company that over time produced submersible pumps, windmills and wind energy systems, water systems, recycling trailers, fertilizer equipment, and accessories. Originally named the Dempster Company and then the Dempster Wind Mill Company, it was incorporated under the laws of Nebraska in 1886 as Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company. [1] The name was later changed to Dempster Industries and again to Dempsters LLC; the company was headquartered in Beatrice, Nebraska.
Founded in 1878 by Charles B. Dempster in Beatrice, Nebraska, the Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company was established to design and produce windmills, hand pumps, water well products, and agricultural equipment. [2] [3] [4] The anticipated market included families headed west to begin a new life on homestead land offered by the U.S. government.(See Homestead Acts.) The Dempster Co. was originally located at the corner of Fourth and Court Streets. In 1884 brother A. R. Dempster joined the firm and in 1886 it moved to a new location on West Court Street, but frequent flooding from the Blue River necessitated a move in 1889 to a location at 711 South Sixth Street. [5] At its high point in 1918 the company had 500 employees.
In 1950 the company facility was enlarged, remodeled and its exterior updated, and in 1960 Dempsters was purchased by Warren Buffett. It was then sold in 1963 to a group of investors and its name changed to Dempster Industries Incorporated. [5]
In 1985 the company became privately owned with its purchase by Don Clark. In 2008 Wallace and Felicia Davis purchased the company; however, it was closed in 2011. [6] In the summer of 2013, Ryan Mitchell and his company purchased the assets of the company with operations in Beatrice under Dempsters LLC. [5] [7] Long known for its windmills, pumps and associated equipment, the company included the manufacturing and distributing of recycling trailers as well as agricultural spreaders. [8] [9] [10] [11]
See also Homestead National Monument of America. [12]
Dempsters operations were divided between the Pump Division, the Recycling Division and the Agriculture division. Products offered under this company structure included a wide variety of windmills (windpumps), pumps, pump motors, recycling trailers, and fertilizer spreaders.
Because of their prominence on the farms and ranches in the United States countryside, Dempster windmills may be the company's most recognized product. In 1885 Dempsters produced its first pumping windmill, the Original Dempster Solid Wheel Mill. [1] [13] This wooden wheel mill was produced in both 10 and 12 foot diameter models. In 1892 the Beatrice company began to produce and market its first all steel mill, the Queen City. Over the next 50 years it produced a number of mill design variations which incorporated a guiding vane to orient the mill wheel with respect to the direction of the prevailing wind. These included the Original Solid Wheel, the Queen City, the Improved Queen City, the Dempster Steel Mill, the Improved Dempster Steel Mill, the Dempster No. 6, the Dempster No. 7, the Arrow Steel, the Dempster No. 8, the Dempster No. 9, the Dempster No. 10, the Dempster No. 11, and the Dempster No. 12. (See reference 2) These mills are summarized in the table below.
Date | Name | Wheel Diameter, ft. | Material |
---|---|---|---|
1885 | Original Solid | 10, 12 | Wood |
1892 | Queen City | 8 | Steel |
1895 | Improved Queen City | 8, 9, 10 | Steel |
1896 | Dempster Steel | 8, 10 | Steel |
1899 | Improved Dempster Steel | 8, 10 | Steel |
1903 | Dempster No. 6 Steel | 6, 8, 10, 12 | Steel |
1903 | Dempster No. 7 Steel | 6, 8, 10, 12 | Steel |
1906 | Arrow | 8 | Steel |
1907 | Dempster No. 8 Steel | 6, 8, 10, 12 | Steel |
1908 | Dempster No. 9 Solid | 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 | Wood |
1914 | Dempster No. 10 | 6, 8, 10, 12 | Steel |
1922 | Dempster No. 11 Self-Oiling | 10, 12, 14 | Wood or Steel |
1925 | Dempster No. 12 Annu-Oiled | 6, 8, 10 | Steel |
1922 | Dempster No. 12 Annu-Oiled | 8, 10 | Steel |
1929 | Dempster No. 12 Annu-Oiled | 6, 8, 10 | Steel |
In 1981 Dempsters replaced the arrow-shaped vane on the No. 12 mill with a diamond-shaped vane patterned after the company logo which was "Dempsters" superposed on a diamond-shaped background. After two years it was determined in the field that the new vane did not function as effectively as the old one, and the diamond-shaped vane was dropped in 1983. [14]
In addition to these many mill designs that included a vane for direction control, the company designed, produced and marketed five different vaneless windmills between 1892 and 1941, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and No. 14. [1]
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers 100.4 square miles (260.035 km2) with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the state called the Lincoln Metropolitan and Lincoln-Beatrice Combined Statistical Areas. The statistical area is home to 361,921 people, making it the 104th-largest combined statistical area in the United States.
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some parts of the English speaking world. The term wind engine is sometimes used to describe such devices.
Beatrice is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,459 at the 2010 census. Beatrice is located approximately 25 miles south of Lincoln on the Big Blue River and is surrounded by agricultural country.
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley 7 miles (11 km) southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United States. The population of Homestead was 2,884 at the 2020 census.
A windpump is a type of windmill which is used for pumping water.
Joseph Farwell Glidden was an American businessman and farmer. He was the inventor of the modern barbed wire. In 1898, he donated land for the Northern Illinois State Normal School in DeKalb, Illinois, which was renamed as Northern Illinois University in 1957.
Upminster Windmill is a Grade II* listed smock mill located in Upminster in the London Borough of Havering, England. It was formerly known as Abraham's Mill and was in Essex when built. It has been restored and is a museum open to the public at selected times.
Nucor Corporation is an American producer of steel and related products based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the largest steel producer in the United States, the largest "mini-mill" steelmaker, and the biggest recycler of scrap in North America.
The Standard Steel Car Company (SSC) was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock in the United States that existed between 1902 and 1934.
Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. For more than two millennia wind-powered machines have ground grain and pumped water. Wind power was widely available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of fuel. Wind-powered pumps drained the polders of the Netherlands, and in arid regions such as the American mid-west or the Australian outback, wind pumps provided water for livestock and steam engines.
Eakring is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire, England. Its population at the 2011 Census was 419. There was sizeable oil production there in the mid-20th century.
Jobbers Canyon Historic District was a large industrial and warehouse area comprising 24 buildings located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, US. It was roughly bound by Farnam Street on the north, South Eighth Street on the east, Jackson Street on the south, and South Tenth Street on the west. In 1989, all 24 buildings in Jobbers Canyon were demolished, representing the largest National Register historic district loss to date.
Billingford Windmill is a grade II* listed brick tower mill at Billingford near Diss, Norfolk, England which has been preserved and restored to working order. As of June 2009, the mill is under repair, with new sails being made.
The Éolienne Bollée is an unusual wind turbine, unique for having a stator and a rotor, as a water turbine has. The eponymous invention was first patented in 1868 by Ernest Sylvain Bollée in France. A further patent dated 1885 differed mainly in two ways: First, in how the turbine was turned to face the wind and second, in an improvement which increased the flow of wind through the turbine was added. The turbines built according to the 1885 patent were commercially successful.
Gladden Windmill is an historic windmill formerly located on Pigeon Valley Road in Napoli, Cattaraugus County, New York. The windmill was built in 1890 and is a well-preserved example of a vertical wind turbine built during the 19th century. Although no longer operational, the turbine is a rare example of wind power technology in the United States.
The Aermotor Windmill Company, or Aermotor Company, is an American manufacturer of wind-powered water pumps. The widespread use of their distinctive wind pumps on ranches throughout the arid plains and deserts of the United States has made their design a quintessential image of the American West.
Wilderness Park is a 1,472-acre (596 ha) mostly-public conservancy located in southwest Lincoln, Nebraska. The park is the largest in Lincoln and is separated into several branches. S 14th St, a north-south street dissects much of the south end of the park.
The Eclipse windmill was one of the more successful designs of windmill used to pump water in the nineteenth century United States. It was invented by Leonard Wheeler, a Presbyterian minister who was working among the Ojibwe on the south shore of Lake Superior. Wheeler perfected the device on his missionary homestead for nearly two decades, unknown to the larger technological world. In 1866 health issues forced him to move to Beloit, Wisconsin, then a bustling industrial city, where he was persuaded to patent the basic function of the device. Although Wheeler died before he could witness the success of his invention, his sons carried on the legacy. Some of the companies that succeeded the original Eclipse Windmill Company remain viable in the 21st century.
Jonz, Brass Era automobiles and trucks were built by the Jonz Automobile Company from 1908 through 1914 in Beatrice, Nebraska.
The Warren Motor Car Company Building, also known as Lincoln Motor Car Company Building, is a factory located at 1331 Holden Street in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
{{cite web}}
: |author=
has generic name (help)