ANTIQUE OILFIELD POWERHOUSE PART 2

This part shows the large flat belt that runs from the motor shaft, around a tension pulley and back to the bandwheel. The bandwheel operates the eccentric rings underneath which in turn pulls the rodlines back and forth. The rodlines radiate out in various directions to the pumpjacks out in the field. The back & forth motion is transfered into up and down motion by the pump jacks.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Powerhouse
• Part
• 2

[Edricofifrit]

How does the belt not come off?

[railheadok]

The contact surfaces of the drive wheel, idler pulley and bandwheel are not actually flat. They have a slight convex curve to them with the highest point in the middle of the surface and the lowest points on the outside edges. A flat belt will always seek (or walk to) the highest side of the surface it's turning on. Since the highest point on these is in the middle and if proper tension is maintained, the belt will seek the middle and stay centered on the contact surface and never fall off.

[Edricofifrit]

@railheadok Ahh okay, thanks for clarifying that, makes much more sense now. It was kind of a "duh" moment as I probably should have realized that in the first place lol. These videos fascinate me, as I didn't know such oilfield equipment existed. It seems like even today, it's a very efficient method of running several pumps at once, from one central power source. Do you have any info as to how many barrels the whole setup pumps per day?