Early 20th century wind power generator manufactured by Wincharger and used to charge 6 volt batteries for tube radios. Late these wind generators would run lights and appliances.
In 1927, John and Gerhard Albers started experimenting with wind driven generators eventually becoming the Albers Propeller Co. in Cherokee, Iowa. They developed a small wind generator called the “Wincharger” to charge 6 volt radio batteries. The Wincharger was a local hit and the company grew to three employees and production increased to 6 units per day.
In December, 1934 the Albers brothers together with Cecil Parris, and Ernest Arndt formed the Wincharger Corporation to manufacture their wind chargers at the Old Hawkeye Truck plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Later that year, executives from tCorporation visited Wincharger unannounced, placed an order for 50,000 Winchargers, and took a 51 percent stake in the company. The small Wincharger radio unit would become the most produced wind generator over the next 60 years and the Wincharger name would immediately become an important force in the wind electric plant business. The new larger 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant had 52 full time employees, the product line was expanded to include larger full home units, and daily production increased to 200 units. Zenith bought the remaining 49 percent of WIncharger, and sales of radio and full homehe Zenith Radio power plants was maintained under the difficult market circumstances resulting from federal rural electrification.
The plant was destoryed in 1953 by fire.