Hand carved pulleys timber framed homes

Hello. I am the owner of an early timber framed home in the Western Reserve area of Ohio. There is an interesting discussion going on in another forum in which I was trying to discover the certain purpose of a hand carved wooden pulley that is always found in the roof area of these homes. I have a couple of pictures up there. No one seems to be able to figure out what exactly they were used for. My home dates to the mid 1800s and the area around here was pretty primitve then, they did have machine cut nails available however, brought from New England. These pulleys are ubiquitous in these homes here. They are hand carved in an expeditious manner and are workable, but were always left behind. Here is a link to the thread. http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=6906.0

It looks like you have to be a member of that particular forum to view posted photos...could you send us a direct link to a photo sharing site so we can see your pulleys?

Thanks,

Rooster

https://picasaweb.google.com/114755064704391364727/January12013#5828573593876710802

Here is a link to one pic of the pulley I have now. Hope the link works. Thanks for the reply.

Here is another link to a second photo. This was nailed to something and obviously used, then was left behind in the rafters.

https://picasaweb.google.com/114755064704391364727/January1201302#5828573817954651122

It looks like your on-line album is locked or not for the public to view...you may need to unlock it or post it on a facebook page or something.

Thanks,

Rooster

Well, I'll try my profile page as I believe that is public. I may have to get my daughter over to help me as I don't have a facebook page. Here is the link to my profile page, to which I have added the two pictures.

https://picasaweb.google.com/114755064704391364727/Profile_photosActive#

That one is open-able >



But, even with having seen more than a few Ohio Barns, to have any chance to try to discern what these were intended for a photo of one in-situ would have to be seen for either recognition or educated guesses.

Well, I used to work for a home insulation business and I worked on a total of about a dozen early timber framed homes, blowing in insulation in the attic area. I found one of these in each and every one of those homes. Obviously made expeditiously on site, and they all had nail holes or nails still in the tops of the side brackets. All were about 8 or 9 inches in total length. All were hand carved, right down to the spindle. (Obviously the spacers on each side were drilled through.) They weren't decorative, they were functional. They all worked very well. I used to find a pulley discarded, laying in the cross members and below the rafters above the living area of each house. Before blowing the insulation in up there I would always look for one of these pulleys, after finding the first two. I would pick it up and spin it and place it on the ledge on top of one of the cross beams. I was just out of high school at the time. This one is from the house I own now, and I found it when I ripped out the old lathe and plaster from the upstairs walls and ceiling. There it was. Just laying there as if it was discarded. God knows what specific job they were used for.