Line shaft and belt driven wood shop.! As they worked wood Back-In-The-Day: loose belts and no guards, Babbitt bearings, graceful cast iron machines, etc. Video loads very slowly.

MotC: Bob Berghorst?s Vintage Line-Shaft Woodshop - FineWoodworking

 

I can remember the belt driven machinery in a local museum that was and still is a boat building factory today.  I remember one main belt that was probably 8"-10" wide that  drove shafts to operate machinery on two floors. Everywhere you looked there were belts flopping around, no guards anywhere. The factory has been in operation since 1799 if I remember correctly. Today, all the belts are gone, probably OSHA requirements, but a lot of  old machinery , especially the large band saws are still in use. I'm sure the insurance company shutters when they see the old pot bellied stove which stands probably 5" tall and must be at least 30" in diameter, still being  used today to help heat the shop and to dispose of wood scraps

That's really cool. Stick, Thanks!

2 hours ago, It Was Al B said:

I can remember the belt driven machinery

I remember working in one from 7~10 years old......

twin shafts powered by water wheels...

it was my Grandfathers shop...

1 hour ago, lew said:

That's really cool. Stick, Thanks!

yur more than welcome..

Five minutes down the road there's an old mill, water-powered, restored to process lumber. The upper two floors still have all the old machinery, line shafts, belts... just like it was 100 years ago. LOML worked there about 20 years ago, so I got to look around. Should have taken pictures!

John

18 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

Should have taken pictures!

maybe you still can...

Love this old stuff!!!

It all has so much character and pride of workmanship... 

Edited February 18, 20179 yr by dsbender

Almost 3 years ago, on my 50th birthday, My wife and I had an opportunity to swing by the property where my grandparents had lived when I was very young until I was about 16 years old. The house that grandfather had built in the late 40's was in a sorry state as the later owners of the place apparently had not been too keen on the whole maintainance thing. 

An amish familynow resided there and there was a much newer home sitting where granddads garage once was. and a very large out building not too far from that. 

Since it was a trip down memory lane, we decided to stop in. 

 

As we got out of the car I discovered that the out building was HUMMING. 

 

The owner of the property, Mahlon, as I recall, came out to greet us. Though a bit standoffish at first, he warmed up a bit as I explained my history with the place, It really got his attention when I said the hand operated well pump was "about over there" He opened a door on the out building and it still was. 

He showed us around and everything in the place though mostly modern had it's motor removed and was connected to a line shaft system powered by a single large electric motor.  

He shut the shaft down the building quieted down and he spent the better part of the next hour chatting with us, showing us the shop and how it worked and some of what he was producing for sale to retailers in the twin cties (MN). I bought my own birthday present,

which is very special to me since the table saw it was cut upon sits in the exact spot where the wood shed i was taken to as a misbehaving child once sat. 

I was also able to go through grandmas house one last time before it was to be demolished in the summer of 2014. 

It was a great 50th birthday to be sure...