On Wed, 12 May 2004 14:37:23 GMT, "David Merrill"
wrote:

Back before electricity, oil, gas and coal for heat and cooking, that saw
rig is what rural America used to cut up the winter wood supply. As a
grammar and high school boy I used to help Dad and Mom cut up about ten
cords of wood a year on a rig similar to that. It was powered through a 12
foot center/center flat belt driven by a single cylinder engine with a huge
flywheel, reputed to have come from a railroad 'hand' car. The danger from
the blade was nothing compared to that of slipping that belt over the
rotating engine pulley.

While it was running? :-O When I was really young, dad used a
belt-driven grinder to grind grain for the dairy cattle, but the tractors
all had clutch control such that you could hook up the belt, then engage
the pulley. Even that, with the long belt out in the open was pretty
sporting.