Line shaft

Line shaft

The line shaft was the power transmission system at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the widespread use of electric motors, line shafting was used to distribute power throughout a factory or mill.

In an early mill, for example Jedediah Strutt's water-powered cotton mill in Belper, built in 1776, all the power to operate the machinery came from a single water wheel or steam engine. Power was distributed from this by the "rope race", a system of rawhide belts, ropes, pulleys and line shafts.

A typical line shaft would be suspended from the ceiling of one floor of the mill and would run the length of the floor. One pulley on the shaft would receive the power from the floor below. The other pulleys would supply the power to each individual machine.

Preservation

An example of line shafting may be seen in its original location at Stott Park Bobbin Mill in Cumbria.


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  • Line shaft — Shaft Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • line — Shaft Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Shaft — Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Shaft alley — Shaft Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Shaft furnace — Shaft Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Shaft construction — concerns the building of vertical openings such as Raises and Shafts. Shafts are vertical openings used for supplying equipment, personnel, and support systems to the horizontal tunnel where the pipeline is installed. They can be temporary or… …   Wikipedia

  • Shaft collar — to DIN 705 The shaft collar is a simple, yet important, machine component found in many power transmission applications most notably motors and gearboxes. The collars are used as mechanical stops, locating components, and bearing faces. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Shaft of Light — Album par Airrace Sortie 5 octobre 1984 Enregistrement New York Genre hard rock, AOR Producteur Beau Hill Label …   Wikipédia en Français

  • main line — Shaft Shaft, n. [OE. shaft, schaft, AS. sceaft; akin to D. schacht, OHG. scaft, G. schaft, Dan. & Sw. skaft handle, haft, Icel. skapt, and probably to L. scapus, Gr. ????, ????, a staff. Probably originally, a shaven or smoothed rod. Cf. {Scape} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • shaft — shaft1 [ ʃæft ] noun count ** ▸ 1 main part of something long ▸ 2 long narrow passage ▸ 3 thin line of light ▸ 4 clever remark ▸ 5 arrow ▸ + PHRASES 1. ) the main part of something long and thin, not including the end: the shaft of an arrow the… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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