# Ceiling mounted motor



## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

Is it just me, or does that piece of machinery appear to not do anything? I can see the motor attached to the pulley with the drive belt but that long axle isn't connected to anything.

Oh I get it, it's a centrifugal power waster :laughing:


----------



## sarness (Sep 14, 2010)

Lol! You nay be right in that.

Alas no, it's just some old machinery that they left in place, not hooked up to anything electrically or mechanically.


----------



## ludwig (Oct 31, 2011)

Would make a cool ceiling fan(s) drive............


----------



## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

ludwig said:


> Would make a cool ceiling fan(s) drive............













or one of these


----------



## ce2two (Oct 4, 2008)

Dennis Alwon said:


> or one of these


They have these in CLAIM JUMPER restaurants...:thumbsup:


----------



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

erics37 said:


> Is it just me, or does that piece of machinery appear to not do anything? I can see the motor attached to the pulley with the drive belt but that long axle isn't connected to anything.
> 
> Oh I get it, it's a centrifugal power waster :laughing:


 
It's basically the speed reducer. The two big wooden pulleys on the end would have wide flat belts on them driving machinery mounted on the floor.


----------



## cuba_pete (Dec 8, 2011)

What does the mfr plate say on that motor?


----------



## sarness (Sep 14, 2010)

I'm not sure, I didn't get a closeup look at it. Painters painted it all black and nothing really stood out as far as markings.


----------



## Cjselectric (Aug 28, 2012)

And Dave and busters


----------



## etb (Sep 8, 2010)

It's a piece of history called line shafting. During the first industrial revolution big steam engines or water wheels (much later, diesel engines) turned several of those shafts that ran the whole length of a factory and had a great many flatbelts that would run down to each machine. At each machine you had a lever that ran a clutch to engage/disengage the machine; some machines had reverse and multiple speeds. They powered everything from trip hammers and lathes to gins and sewing machines. No sparkys back then, only grease monkeys and child laborers. Some were in use till middle of last century.










As for that "motor", it looks to me like it could have been old exciter for an alternator. In the old books you see pics of them, like this










PS if you're into old electrical machinery, you MUST get a copy of Hawkin's Electrical Guide. I stole mine of ebay for $40, 1917 edition I believe. If can't afford, look on the web, as I think somebody digitized them.


----------



## mbednarik (Oct 10, 2011)

*steam engine*

My dad has restored a steam engine, has a small line shaft connecting it to a 1893 125 VDC generator. We have a couple of lights on the wall in the background running off of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwtNon6XoJs&feature=youtu.be


----------



## Daveallnight (Jan 21, 2018)

Dennis Alwon said:


> or one of these


I visited a restaurant in Tucson Az that had all of its ceiling fans driven by flat belts, long shafts and one motor. It might have been Carlos Murphy's.


----------



## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

I had an old timer friend in the neighborhood who built his own walnut hulling and bagging machinery for his farm. He was in college to be a mechanical engineer when WWII started, then all of his brothers were killed in the war and his father got sick, so he had to come back and tend the farm and never got to finish college. But his love of mechanical things led him to make all of his own machinery from scratch. He had a single 5HP Repulsion / Induction motor from the 30s in his shop, powered by probably the oldest Allen Bradley starter I have ever seen. That single motor had a leather belt on a pulley going up to a system of axles and pulleys all over the ceiling, each one powering a machine through a clutch, just like in that photo posted by etb. He was a one man show, so he never had to power more than one machine at a time. I would go volunteer to help him keep it all running when he got too old to do it himself any more. He passed away a few years ago now, but never married or had any relatives to be heirs, so he left his entire farm and house etc. to the City, so long as they never develop it until AFTER his long time farm hand (who still lives there) passes away. The farm hand is in his 80s now. I always regret never having taken pictures of the old stuff, it was so cool. I've tried talking to the farm hand about going back and doing that, but he is so besieged by developers constantly bugging him to move to a retirement home so they can get access to the land that he will no longer answer the buzzer at his gate.


----------

