Old adjustable pulley.

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I found this pulley yesterday at a club hunt. It appears to be made out of cooper or brass and is about six inches long and about one inch wide. On the back it says registered Feb 2 1877 and the other words and numbers look like it says No ???? (not sure) and the letters look like JC & S. Any help on identifying this would be appreciated. Thanks.

Eddie

 

[taz42o]

I think that might be a clothesline pulley.

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

That was my first thought also, but all the old clothesline pulleys that I saw on the internet didn't even come close to what this one looks like. I also thought it might be a window sash pulley, but it's only a guess. HH.

Eddie

 

[Musketeer]

Having wrecked a bunch of old houses, I don't think this is a window sash pully, either. All I ever saw were just pulleys (wheels) mounted between two boards. There would be no need for them to have an adjustment. I don't think it's heavy enough for a clothesline pulley. And besides a clothesline pulley would need a lot more adjustment and the ratchet holding mechanism would need to be a lot stronger.

I'm thinking that it is not a pulley at all, but an adustable tensioner. Like the spring loaded tensioners on your car's fan belts.

A cord or wire would run on the wheel and could be tightened or loosened by the ratchet being moved and locked into place.

See, I'm not afraid to answer questions I don't know the answer to.

Musketeer

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I have to agree with you that it's not a window sash pulley. There is a small pulley on this darn thing and I also agree that it's too small for a clothesline pulley. I'm going to post it on the Minelab forum and see if anyone on there can figure out what this thing was used for. There is a hole on each end for either screws or bolts to fasten it down to whatever. HH.

Eddie

 

[ronaldj2]

That is a pretty neat find, its got me stumped (for now). Glad you posted it.

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

Stumped is not the word I sent the information and a couple of pictures to Mark at Western & Eastern magazine to see if he might be able to tell me what the heck it was used for. I hope someone can tell me what it is so I can explain it at our next club meeting. HH.

Eddie

 

[Musketeer]

How about a picture of a modern version? The item in the upper right corner of the lower set of pictures. The difference is that the center post appears fixed and the pulley and slide move together. On your piece the pulley and ratchet move, but the result is the same, a pulley to apply tension to a belt to keep it taut.

http://www.york-ind.com/index.htm?gclid=CNTX8o6A3qACFV455wodjTfREA


Anything using a belt of rope or leather generally needs a way to keep the belt taut. Considering the date of 1877 it probably would have been a machine operated by human power. I'm thinking household equipment because of it's size. It's probably not robust enough for farm or industrial machinery, but could have been used on lighter household equipment. Check some patent drawings for sewing machines, spinning and carding machines, these all needed high speed belts to operate, thus needing tensioner pulleys.

Musketeer

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I have to agree with you that it probably was used for some small household item or small machinery of some kind. Thanks again for the information.

Eddie

 

[Ray-Mo.]

I have to doubt it was for any thing high speed unless it has bearings/bushing and or means of lubricating .......

 

[Musketeer]

Ray-Mo, high speed is relative. Hand or foot powered mechanical devices are really slow operating as opposed to motor powered equipment. But by using mechanical advantage, many hand or foot powered machines were much faster than those not using mechanical advantage.

To illustrate, compare the speed of hand wheel turned sewing machine to a foot treadle sewing machine then compare the treadle machine to a modern electric motor driven machine. Even the hand turned machine was mcuh faster than hand sewing.