Posted by Tom Napier on March 06, 2012 at 03:56:22 user Didymus.
In Reply to: Re: Beckfoot Lighting and Horning posted by andy clayton on March 06, 2012 at 02:42:42:
In the first half of the 20th century power for factories and mills was supplied by steam or coal-gas engines (or a water wheel) and distributed by overhead shafts, pulleys and leather belts. To use a tool you engaged the clutch that tightened its belt or slid the belt from an idler pulley to a driven one.
A small boat-builder would use hand tools but one building on a large scale might well have used such a belt system to drive circular saws, planers and drill-presses. It would deliver more power than an electrical system but I don't know how installation and running costs would compare.