Treadwheel hoist worked by ten men
A great toothed wheel and winding drum for lifting a heavy load
The sheet is filled by a single large machine: a great toothed wheel carrying a winding drum on its axle, mounted on a heavy timber frame under a pitched roof. Human figures tread the rungs inside the wheel to drive it, and an inscription at the top reads '10 men at 2000 pounds,' giving the manpower needed to raise a two-thousand-pound load. The construction is a man-powered treadwheel hoist of the kind used to lift heavy weights on a building site.
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Man-powered treadwheel and winding drum
A great toothed wheel meshes with the mechanism on a cylindrical axle-drum that would wind the hauling rope; men are drawn treading its inner rungs to turn it, all carried on a braced timber frame beneath a pitched roof.
Ten men to raise 2000 pounds
An inscription above the machine, '10 men at 2000 pounds,' sets the labour force against the load, sizing the hoist for lifting a two-thousand-pound weight.