"A line shaft is a power driven rotating shaft that was used to transmit power that was used extensively from the Industrial Revolution until the early 20th century. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors small enough to be connected directly to each piece of machinery, line shafting was used to distribute power from a large central power source to machinery throughout a workshop or an industrial complex. The central power source could be a water wheel, turbine, windmill, animal power or a steam engine. Power was distributed from the shaft to the machinery by a system of belts, pulleys and gears known as millwork."
This is how Wikipedia describes the complex of machinery that you can see in this shot, taken in the power gallery of Bradford Industrial Museum. In this example the power to turn the shaft was provided by a large stationary steam engine. It's an impressive, but noisey sight to see a workshop like this in action.
Wow. Love to see this. The old industrial works. Fav.
( My dear Brother collected all in Dutch editions of steam related school/learning books. I`ve help him as he wanted to donate those to a industrial museum. He collected more than 150 of them )
We have arrived at this stage in our development thanks to our forefathers who invented complex machinery like this. Beautiful shot and thanks for sharing.
Thank you all for your comments and fav, they are very much appreciated.
The Industrial Museum is a treasury of the past, and reflects a way of life that has now gone in this country. It is fascinating to see the creativity of our ancestors.
I spent most of my twenties and early thirties as a sprinkler engineer for a fire insurance company and visited all sorts of factories and industrial complexes. These included many cotton and woollen mills in both Lancashire and Yorkshire of which quite a few still used this system of power distribution. Mainly for 'spinning jennies' but also for tenters and the like.
Even in the mid-to-late sixties there were still a number of steam-engines in daily operation. They were always the engineer's pride and joy and you could have eaten your dinner off the floor, so clean were they. I remember one woollen mill in Yorkshire (although 50 years later the name escapes me) where the engineer responsible for the steam-engine was over 80 years old and still worked 6 days a week looking after his 'baby' as there was no one else to do it. He always said, "I shall work till I drop... and when I stop, the mill stops with me." - and so it turned out.
@vignouse Thank you Richard, a fascinating look back. I do remember in the Rowntree factory in York that the overhead drives were still in place in the 1970s, though the mixing vats were by that time driven by individual electric motors.
Ian
February 16th, 2020
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( My dear Brother collected all in Dutch editions of steam related school/learning books. I`ve help him as he wanted to donate those to a industrial museum. He collected more than 150 of them )
Thank you all for your comments and fav, they are very much appreciated.
The Industrial Museum is a treasury of the past, and reflects a way of life that has now gone in this country. It is fascinating to see the creativity of our ancestors.
Ian
Even in the mid-to-late sixties there were still a number of steam-engines in daily operation. They were always the engineer's pride and joy and you could have eaten your dinner off the floor, so clean were they. I remember one woollen mill in Yorkshire (although 50 years later the name escapes me) where the engineer responsible for the steam-engine was over 80 years old and still worked 6 days a week looking after his 'baby' as there was no one else to do it. He always said, "I shall work till I drop... and when I stop, the mill stops with me." - and so it turned out.
Ian
Ian