Counter shaft????

[tomhorse]

Hi, Does anyone know what this is?
It looks like a counter driveshaft similar to the 'wade' one but I don't know.
It's mounted on a wooden base and has a well made lid to fit.
The central part seems to be some sort of epicyclic drive which has the out put rotating in the opposite direction to the input, although the only part of the whole thing that turn in the opposite direction is the 1" of output shaft,which then enters one of the red blocks where it reverts to the same direction as the input.
the two red blocks have spring loaded levers on them which are operated by the sliding long bar at the rear, I've yet to find out what they do as nothing changes when they are operated. they do have adjustment screws on them so perhaps they are out of adjustment.

Any ideas as to what it is are welcome but if someone knows for sure what it is that would be great.

thanks for any input
TH

 

[dparker]

Tom horse: I believe that this is a model of a line shaft drive unit. The single flat belt pulley is most likely the input for the line shaft from a engine or water power or possibly from a windmill. The slider that is to the right is to expand a internal "shoe" to contact the pulley and thus give rotational movement to the shaft. The step pulley on the left is most likely connected to a machine of some sort ( lathe, drill press, grain mill or something of that nature that needed power). This step pulley also had a expandable center that would transmit rotation to the the pulley and then by a flat belt to whatever machine needed power. This is a very nice model and is a great example of early mechanized power transmission. I suppose the input to the line shaft could be switched to the other pulley to give the line shaft multiple speeds rather than just the one machine.

 

[tomhorse]

Thanks for the reply.
I took it apart last night and gave it a good old clean. (Lots of old dried grease and other smeg)
Who ever mounted it had assembled it wrongly. The two red blocks with the spring loaded levers have external contracting shoes which are slightly different sizes, as are the shafts they fit on. This explains why the levers did nothing. The smaller dia one was on the larger shaft so always in contact and the wider one was on the narrower shaft , so it was was incapable of contacting the shaft.
One of the springs is busted and too short to return the lever so I'll have to make one or find one to fit.
The operation of it seems to be drive in on the flat shiney pulley through the epicyclic drive and depending which lever is operated the drive then goes out one of the two output shafts through the clamped braked block. The brake blocks are permanently clamped to the mainshaft and , depending on the position of the slider you get either forward or reverse.
The step pulley is just secured onto the shaft by a grub screw.
There is no flat or indent in the main shaft for this screw so I'm assuming it's not the original shaft.

Now i'll just have to find a use for it, or get an office and a desk so it can sit on the desk.

 

[Bowtie41]

Thanks for the reply.
I took it apart last night and gave it a good old clean. (Lots of old dried grease and other smeg)
Who ever mounted it had assembled it wrongly. The two red blocks with the spring loaded levers have external contracting shoes which are slightly different sizes, as are the shafts they fit on. This explains why the levers did nothing. The smaller dia one was on the larger shaft so always in contact and the wider one was on the narrower shaft , so it was was incapable of contacting the shaft.
One of the springs is busted and too short to return the lever so I'll have to make one or find one to fit.
The operation of it seems to be drive in on the flat shiney pulley through the epicyclic drive and depending which lever is operated the drive then goes out one of the two output shafts through the clamped braked block. The brake blocks are permanently clamped to the mainshaft and , depending on the position of the slider you get either forward or reverse.
The step pulley is just secured onto the shaft by a grub screw.
There is no flat or indent in the main shaft for this screw so I'm assuming it's not the original shaft.

Now i'll just have to find a use for it, or get an office and a desk so it can sit on the desk.

Put it on a desk with a nice,quiet,electric motor running a fan,small windmill,pencil sharpener,etc.It' just too damn pretty to do nothing:thumbup:

 

[tomhorse]

Put it on a desk with a nice,quiet,electric motor running a fan,small windmill,pencil sharpener,etc.It' just too damn pretty to do nothing:thumbup:

Nice idea I was trying to come up with a way of using forward and reverse otherwise it not doing what it should
I was thinking a steam engine driving it and it driving some form of miniature machine. Of course that would rule out sticking on a desk

how about using a small air cooled engine to drive it and in turn, it can drive a fan to cool the engine. Not sure how the reverse gear could be used for that.

 

[Bowtie41]

Not steam related,but you could make a miniature "sky needle" ride like in Seattle(or wherever),and have it go up/down

 

[MachineTom]

What this looks like is a industrial sewing machine, countershaft. Belt drive, the operator hits the clutch lever with thier knees for forward reverse. Look for photos of industrial sewing machine, in use today.