Lee Michaels wrote:


Spalted Walt wrote in
:

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_mKSKZau9qs

Wow. where to start?

1) The first comment I would make is that is an obvious historical
site. It is fascinating to watch how it was done long ago. And not as a
recreation either. It is an actual, working factory. Which is very
cool. And probably buys them considerable leeway with safety regulations.

2) Having said that I got nervous looking at that thing. I was hiding
my hands, sweating a little and picked up a couple extra heartbeats.
That was SCARY. The opportunities for a major injury/accident/death
were astronomical! I am a safety freak. I could never work in a place
like that.

3) Did you see all those belts?? I just kept think about somebody
slipping and taking a tumble into those belts. They would find you
smeared all over everything!

4) And steam, lot and lots of steam. Apparently this steam isn't
contained all that well. It leaks out everywhere. Looks like lots of
burn potential there.

5) There is an obvious constant need for lubrication. You have to
stick your hand into that big machinery, while it is operating, and
squirt oil into its midst. Presumably to appease the anger of the steam
and cast iron gods. It looks like some kind of early industrial
religion. And these gods probably are not happy unless they get a human
(or canine) sacrifice now and then.

6) And you get to feed the boiler. You take scraps and shovel them
into the fire box. Which must be very hot. Hopefully nobody falls into
there. Think of it as a nano hell.

7) The ultimate hybrid creation they had there was the "brander" wood
burning device. You had a modern branding plate made from magnesium.
You had a rat's nest of wiring, looking like it was recycled from 80
years ago. And you had a very modern digital control device to regulate
the temperature. All of this hooked up to a bunch of recycled parts to
make a machine that stamps a brand into the wood pieces very
efficiently. Steam punk meets the digital age.

8) That nailing machine used to assemble the boxes had one very
interesting characteristic. You had to stick your fingers into the
middle of that thing every time you attached a board. And you do this
hundreds, if not thousands of times per job. If somebody worked there
for many years he could have done this a million times or so. Just ask
yourself, could you do that a 100,000 times without nailing your fingers?

9) One thing I find fascinating is that those old steam factories, like
the big water wheel factories before them, had a central power source.
Every thing ran off of that through pulleys and geared wheels. I
understand that some Amish shops do something similar. It creates a
whole different dynamic of design, engineering and safety concerns.

10) And I am glad I live in the modern world. And that safety features
are common on modern tools. I can't help but wonder how many people
were maimed and killed in such environments. And every thing is so much
smaller now. You can just buy a planer. You don't need and acre of cast
iron and steam to operate it. Although it is fascinating to look at,
give me modern tools any day.





During my lifetime not so long ago I worked at a flour mill which had
similar belt system off a large motor and shafts on each floor.
The machines were put in service by manually slipping belts on or off
while the drive shaft was turning.
the safety factor was covered by not allowing anyong younger than 16 to
engage belts.