Line shaft
Encyclopedia
A line shaft is a power transmission
system used extensively during the Industrial Revolution
. Prior to the widespread use of electric motor
s 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 an industrial complex. The central power source could be a water wheel
or turbine, animal power, a stationary steam engine
, a steam traction engine
, a portable engine
. Steam turbine powered line shafts were commonly used to drive
paper machines. Power was distributed from the shaft to the machinery by a system of belt
s,and pulley
s.With factory electrification
in the early 1900s many line shafts were converted to electric drive, which replaced either water power or a reciprocating steam engine. Most new factories after 1900 used individual electric drives. Paper machines continued to use line shafts for speed control reasons until economical methods for precision electric motor speed control were developed.
.
In 1828 in Lowell, Massachusetts, Paul Moody substituted leather belting for metal gearing transferring power from the main shaft running from a water wheel. This innovation quickly spread in the U.S.
Flat belt drive systems became popular in the UK from the 1870s, with the firms of J E Wood and W & J Galloway & Sons
prominent in their introduction. Both of these firms manufactured stationary steam engines and the continuing demand for more power and reliability could be met not merely by improved engine technology but also improved methods of transferring power from the engines to the looms and similar machinery which they were intended to service. The use of flat belts was already common in the US but rare in Britain until this time. The advantages included less noise and less wasted energy in the friction losses inherent in the previously common drive shafts and their associated gearing. Also, maintenance was simpler and cheaper, and it was a more convenient method for the arrangement of power drives such that if one part were to fail then it would not cause loss of power to all sections of a factory or mill. These systems were in turn superseded in popularity by rope drive methods.
Line shafting fell out of favor in the early-to-mid 20th century with the widespread availability of electrical power and availability of compact electric motors. Such independent motors are far less maintenance intensive than maintaining a line shaft system. Those systems in place tended to be converted to power from a large internal combustion engine or large electric motor. Some systems were broken up with separate motors driving different parts of what was one system. Most systems were out of service by the mid-20th century and relatively few remain in the 21st century, even fewer in their original location and configuration.
Most paper machines used steam turbine
-powered line shafts until the 1980s, since then many have been replaced with sectional electric drives. Economical variable speed control using electric motors was made possible by silicon-controlled rectifier
s (SCRs) to produce direct current and variable frequency drives using inverters
to change DC back to AC at the frequency required for the desired speed.
on the shaft would receive the power from the a parent line shaft elsewhere in the building. The other pulleys would supply power to pulleys on each individual machine or to subsequent line shafts. In manufacturing where there were a large number of machines performing the same tasks, the design of the system was fairly regular and repeated. In other applications such as machine and wood shops where there was a variety of machines with different orientations and power requirements, the system would appear erratic and inconsistent with many different shafting directions and pulley sizes. Shafts were usually horizontal and overhead but occasionally were vertical and could be underground. Shafts were usually rigid steel, made up of several parts bolted together at flanges. The shafts were suspended by hangers with bearings at certain intervals of length. The distance depended on the weight of the shaft and the number of pulleys. The shafts had to be kept aligned or the stress would overheat the bearings and could break the shaft. The bearings were usually friction type and had to be kept lubricated. Pulley lubricator employees were required in order to ensure that the bearings did not freeze or malfunction.
In the earliest applications power was transmitted between pulleys using loops of rope on grooved pulleys. This method is extremely rare today, dating mostly from the 18th century. Flat belts
on flat pulleys or drums were the most common method during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The belts were generally tanned leather or cotton duck
impregnated with rubber. Leather belts were fastened in loops with rawhide or wire lacing, lap joints and glue, or one of several types of steel fasteners. Cotton duck belts usually used metal fasteners or were melted together with heat. The leather belts were run with the hair side against the pulleys for best traction. The belts needed periodic cleaning and conditioning to keep them in good condition. Belts were often twisted 180 degrees per leg and reversed on the receiving pulley to cause the second shaft to rotate in the opposite direction.
Pulleys were constructed of wood, iron, steel or a combination thereof. Varying sizes of pulleys were used in conjunction to change the speed of rotation. For example a 40" pulley at 100 rpm would turn a 20" pulley at 200 rpm. Pulleys solidly attached to the shaft could be combined with adjacent pulleys that turned freely on the shaft (idlers). In this configuration the belt could be maneuvered onto the idler to stop power transmission or onto the solid pulley to convey the power. This arrangement was often used near machines to provide a means of shutting the machine off when not in use. Usually at the last belt feeding power to a machine, a pair of stepped pulleys could be used to give a variety of speed settings for the machine.
Occasionally gears were used between shafts to change speed rather than belts and different sized pulleys, but this seems to have been relatively uncommon.
's water-powered cotton mill, North Mill in Belper
, built in 1776, all the power to operate the machinery came from a 18 feet (5.5 m) water wheel
.
United States
Power transmission
Power transmission is the movement of energy from its place of generation to a location where it is applied to performing useful work.Power is defined formally as units of energy per unit time...
system used extensively during the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Prior to the widespread use of electric motor
Electric motor
An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
s small enough to be connected directly to each piece of machinery, line shafting was used to distribute power
Power (physics)
In physics, power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed. For example, the rate at which a light bulb transforms electrical energy into heat and light is measured in watts—the more wattage, the more power, or equivalently the more electrical energy is used per unit...
from a large central power source to machinery throughout an industrial complex. The central power source could be a water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
or turbine, animal power, a stationary steam engine
Stationary steam engine
Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars , agricultural engines used for ploughing or...
, a steam traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
, a portable engine
Portable engine
A portable engine is a small steam engine, mounted on wheels or skids, which is used for driving machinery using a belt from its flywheel. It is not self-propelled and is towed to the work site by horses or bullocks, or even a traction engine. Portable engines were used mainly for driving...
. Steam turbine powered line shafts were commonly used to drive
paper machines. Power was distributed from the shaft to the machinery by a system of belt
Belt (mechanical)
A belt is a loop of flexible material used to link two or more rotating shafts mechanically. Belts may be used as a source of motion, to transmit power efficiently, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys. In a two pulley system, the belt can either drive the pulleys in the...
s,and pulley
Pulley
A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
s.With factory electrification
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
in the early 1900s many line shafts were converted to electric drive, which replaced either water power or a reciprocating steam engine. Most new factories after 1900 used individual electric drives. Paper machines continued to use line shafts for speed control reasons until economical methods for precision electric motor speed control were developed.
History
Early version of line shafts date back into the 18th century, but truly came of age in the early 19th century industrialization and manufacturing. Line shafts were widely used in manufacturing, woodworking shops, machine shops, saw mills and grist millsGristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
.
In 1828 in Lowell, Massachusetts, Paul Moody substituted leather belting for metal gearing transferring power from the main shaft running from a water wheel. This innovation quickly spread in the U.S.
Flat belt drive systems became popular in the UK from the 1870s, with the firms of J E Wood and W & J Galloway & Sons
W & J Galloway & Sons
W & J Galloway and Sons was a British manufacturer of steam engines and boilers, based in Manchester, England. The firm was established in 1835 as a partnership of two brothers, William and John Galloway. The partnership expanded to encompass their sons and in 1889 it was restructured as a limited...
prominent in their introduction. Both of these firms manufactured stationary steam engines and the continuing demand for more power and reliability could be met not merely by improved engine technology but also improved methods of transferring power from the engines to the looms and similar machinery which they were intended to service. The use of flat belts was already common in the US but rare in Britain until this time. The advantages included less noise and less wasted energy in the friction losses inherent in the previously common drive shafts and their associated gearing. Also, maintenance was simpler and cheaper, and it was a more convenient method for the arrangement of power drives such that if one part were to fail then it would not cause loss of power to all sections of a factory or mill. These systems were in turn superseded in popularity by rope drive methods.
Line shafting fell out of favor in the early-to-mid 20th century with the widespread availability of electrical power and availability of compact electric motors. Such independent motors are far less maintenance intensive than maintaining a line shaft system. Those systems in place tended to be converted to power from a large internal combustion engine or large electric motor. Some systems were broken up with separate motors driving different parts of what was one system. Most systems were out of service by the mid-20th century and relatively few remain in the 21st century, even fewer in their original location and configuration.
Most paper machines used steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
-powered line shafts until the 1980s, since then many have been replaced with sectional electric drives. Economical variable speed control using electric motors was made possible by silicon-controlled rectifier
Silicon-controlled rectifier
A silicon-controlled rectifier is a four-layer solid state device that controls current. The name "silicon controlled rectifier" or SCR is General Electric's trade name for a type of thyristor. The SCR was developed by a team of power engineers led by Gordon Hall and commercialized by Frank W...
s (SCRs) to produce direct current and variable frequency drives using inverters
Inverter (electrical)
An inverter is an electrical device that converts direct current to alternating current ; the converted AC can be at any required voltage and frequency with the use of appropriate transformers, switching, and control circuits....
to change DC back to AC at the frequency required for the desired speed.
Operation
A typical line shaft would be suspended from the ceiling of one area and would run the length of that area. One pulleyPulley
A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
on the shaft would receive the power from the a parent line shaft elsewhere in the building. The other pulleys would supply power to pulleys on each individual machine or to subsequent line shafts. In manufacturing where there were a large number of machines performing the same tasks, the design of the system was fairly regular and repeated. In other applications such as machine and wood shops where there was a variety of machines with different orientations and power requirements, the system would appear erratic and inconsistent with many different shafting directions and pulley sizes. Shafts were usually horizontal and overhead but occasionally were vertical and could be underground. Shafts were usually rigid steel, made up of several parts bolted together at flanges. The shafts were suspended by hangers with bearings at certain intervals of length. The distance depended on the weight of the shaft and the number of pulleys. The shafts had to be kept aligned or the stress would overheat the bearings and could break the shaft. The bearings were usually friction type and had to be kept lubricated. Pulley lubricator employees were required in order to ensure that the bearings did not freeze or malfunction.
In the earliest applications power was transmitted between pulleys using loops of rope on grooved pulleys. This method is extremely rare today, dating mostly from the 18th century. Flat belts
Belt (mechanical)
A belt is a loop of flexible material used to link two or more rotating shafts mechanically. Belts may be used as a source of motion, to transmit power efficiently, or to track relative movement. Belts are looped over pulleys. In a two pulley system, the belt can either drive the pulleys in the...
on flat pulleys or drums were the most common method during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The belts were generally tanned leather or cotton duck
Cotton duck
Cotton duck , also simply duck, sometimes duck cloth or duck canvas, commonly called "canvas" outside the textile industry, is a heavy, plain woven cotton fabric...
impregnated with rubber. Leather belts were fastened in loops with rawhide or wire lacing, lap joints and glue, or one of several types of steel fasteners. Cotton duck belts usually used metal fasteners or were melted together with heat. The leather belts were run with the hair side against the pulleys for best traction. The belts needed periodic cleaning and conditioning to keep them in good condition. Belts were often twisted 180 degrees per leg and reversed on the receiving pulley to cause the second shaft to rotate in the opposite direction.
Pulleys were constructed of wood, iron, steel or a combination thereof. Varying sizes of pulleys were used in conjunction to change the speed of rotation. For example a 40" pulley at 100 rpm would turn a 20" pulley at 200 rpm. Pulleys solidly attached to the shaft could be combined with adjacent pulleys that turned freely on the shaft (idlers). In this configuration the belt could be maneuvered onto the idler to stop power transmission or onto the solid pulley to convey the power. This arrangement was often used near machines to provide a means of shutting the machine off when not in use. Usually at the last belt feeding power to a machine, a pair of stepped pulleys could be used to give a variety of speed settings for the machine.
Occasionally gears were used between shafts to change speed rather than belts and different sized pulleys, but this seems to have been relatively uncommon.
Early examples
In an early example, Jedediah StruttJedediah Strutt
Jedediah Strutt or Jedidiah Strutt – as he spelt it – was a hosier and cotton spinner from Belper, England.Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the stocking frame that allowed the production of ribbed stockings...
's water-powered cotton mill, North Mill in Belper
Belper
Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.-Geography:Belper is situated eight miles north of Derby and is centred in the valley of the River Derwent...
, built in 1776, all the power to operate the machinery came from a 18 feet (5.5 m) water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
.
Original systems
United Kingdom- Stott Park Bobbin MillStott Park Bobbin MillStott Park Bobbin Mill was built in 1835 by John Harrison. Located near Newby Bridge, Cumbria, England, it provided the wooden bobbins to the Lancashire weaving and spinning industry, up to a quarter of a million bobbins per week. The mill was originally powered by a water wheel drawing the water...
, Cumbria, England – (???) - Tees Cottage Pumping StationTees Cottage Pumping StationTees Cottage Pumping Station is a Victorian pumping station complex at Broken Scar on the A67 near Low Coniscliffe just west of Darlington. The site dates from 1849, and was built to provide drinking water for Darlington and the surrounding area...
, near Darlington, County Durham, England – (complete original maintenance workshop in working order) - Shelsley Watermill, Shelsley Walsh, Worcester, UK – (partially operable - grain mill)
United States
- Austin OrgansAustin Organs, Inc.Austin Organs, Inc. is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States...
. Hartford, CT - East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company. Rockhill Furnace, PA – (partially operable - machine shop, sheet metal shop, wood shop, blacksmiths shop, foundry)
- Empire Mine State Park machine Shop, Grass Valley, CA – (??? - machine tools)
- Hagley Museum, Wilmington, DE
- Hanford Mills Museum, East Meredith, NY – (???)
- Longleaf Lumber Company/Southern Forest Heritage Museum, Longleaf, LA – (partially operable - machine tools, sawmill)
- Sierra RailroadSierra RailroadThe Sierra Railroad Company a privately owned common carrier which has a freight division which handles all track maintenance and freight operations for all branches owned by the Sierra Railroad Company...
Shops/Railtown 1897 State Historic ParkRailtown 1897 State Historic ParkRailtown 1897 State Historic Park, and its operating entity, the Sierra Railway, is known as "The Movie Railroad." Both entities are a heritage railway and are a unit of the California State Park System. Railtown 1897 is located in Jamestown, California...
, Jamestown, CA – (operable - machine tools, blacksmith shop) - Mingus Mill, Great Smokey Mountains National Park, SC – (partially operable - grain mill)
- Slater Mill Historic Site, Pawtucket, RI – (???)
- Thomas Edison National Historical Park, West Orange, NJ – (??? - Machine Tools)
- Cruiser OlympiaUSS Olympia (C-6)USS Olympia is a protected cruiser which saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The ship was decommissioned after...
, Philadelphia, PA – (operational machine shop) - W J Doran Company, Waupaca, WI – (fully operational - machine tools)
Reconstructed or demonstration systems
United States- Smithsonian Institution, Arts and Industries Building, Washington DC – (machine tools)
- White River Valley Antique Association, Enora, IN – (machine and woodworking tools)
- Denton Farmpark, Denton, NC – (machine tools)
- Cincinnati History Museum, Cincinnati, OH – (machine tools)
- Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI – (machine tools)
- Molly Kathleen Mine, Clear Creek, CO – (sawmill)
- Boott MillsBoott MillsThe Boott Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts are an early American cotton mill, parts of which date to 1835. Their namesake is Kirk Boott, one of the early mill leaders in Lowell. Today, the Boott Mills complex is the most intact in Lowell....
, Lowell, MA – (power cotton looms) - Silver Dollar CitySilver Dollar CitySilver Dollar City is a theme park in the state of Missouri. Opened on May 1, 1960, the park is located between Branson and Branson West, Missouri, on Highway 76...
, Branson, MO – (woodworking tools and bakery machinery) - Tuckahoe Steam & Gas Association, Easton, MD – (machine tools)
- Virginia Historical SocietyVirginia Historical SocietyThe Virginia Historical Society , founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history...
, Richmond, VA - Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, MD – (machine tools)
- Denton Farmpark, Denton, NC - (machine tools)
- Muskegon Heritage Museum, Muskegon, MI - (Corliss engine and Machine tools)
External links
- Line Shaft Pulleys and Belting – 1906 treatise on the engineering aspects of belt drives – Warning: webpage has background music (scroll to end to pause)