Vintage work crew photos

[Ralphxyz]

re: tapered wire rope sheave, possible they needed to change the speed of the cable. Would the torque also change?

[Rikk]

re: tapered wire rope sheave, possible they needed to change the speed of the cable. Would the torque also change?

I wonder if it was to allow the steam engine to gain rpms/power? Similar to shifting gears in a car/truck. Once the load is in motion, the initial torque required lessens?

[Frank S]

re: tapered wire rope sheave, possible they needed to change the speed of the cable. Would the torque also change?

My theory would be they used the taper to cause the rope to lay flat as in an early attempt at the lebius wrap
going from the minor to the major diameters the speed torque and length differences between each wrap would be negligible
say if the minor was 40 inches and the major was 48 inches there would be only about 2 ft total change in length from the shortest to the longest wrap.
the total single layer full drum length would be around say 220 ft useable payout or take up. This would only work for a single layer drum wrap though

[suther51]

A type of capstan with a take up real out side the picture??
Eric

[hemmjo]

If the machine is designed to move a load, the load may vary as it is moved. An over head garage door for example, gets lighter as each panel transitions from the vertical track to the horizontal track. For the garage door, the varying load is compensated by the springs as they relax, at the top, the load is the least, and the springs are in their most relaxed position.

Perhaps this variable sized drum, is for some application with a similar requirement.

[Frank S]

As far as the what were they thinking when they built that the only way for future generations to understand is they will first need an understanding of what technologies were available back in the day. They will additionally need a comprehension of the mind set of folks during the industrial age where hard work actually did mean hard work which was sometimes dangerous almost always thankless but most of all beyond everything else there was PRIDE in having accomplished things that others were not even capable of dreaming of being able to do.

[Jon]

Working on a locomotive at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad shops, Chicago, Illinois, 1942.

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[Jon]

Children working in the Pennsylvania Coal Company, Pittston Pennsylvania, 1911.

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...s_fullsize.jpg

[Toolmaker51]

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...s_fullsize.jpg

Child labor, abysmal conditions, virtually no safety precautions; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_33
I'm no advocate for modern unions; mining one of few deserving industries to receive their continued attention.

And I'll vote Hemmjo's comment that children SEE evidence what toils are. In fact, aspect could be attached to every topic of history at least.

[hemmjo]

That photo should hang in all classrooms in the USA. Then when the kids whine, "This is too hard", the teacher can point to that photo and say, "You have no concept of hard really is!!!"