Great pickup! Very Victorian in appearance. I have a similar system to rehab my shoulder. The thing is it generates so much heat as the rope moves through the gear quickly and the pulley itself bangs up against the door.
My theory why yours is in such great shape is because when your athlete started using it to muscle up in the house and his wife saw what it was doing to her doors she got pissed and that practice stopped right away. Lol! 😃😂🤣🤪
I also think the heat that those little pulley’s generate would have deteriorated the finish/look in a few uses. Anyone that has ever rehabbed a shoulder could probably vouch for what I am saying. My wonderful, loving wife makes me go down in the basement and use a door that nobody sees to use the pull system to loosen up my shoulder.
Great addition to your collection C!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarltonHendricks
Thanks John...will do on those answers but not so easy...
Below a cool little piece...
This was an interesting little eBay snag I got last week, that came yesterday…Cruising eBay at my usual speed…something flashed by that caught my eye…put in reverse…found and clicked on it…the heck is this chingadera I thought…anything with Victorian lithography like that want to know more…turned out it was an exercise invention for home use…and American!…bingo…it was sitting at $1.00 I think it was with one bid and a few days to go…I wanted it for $20 or so but it was pretty cool so I put a “just in case” snipe of $38.88…So what happened?...some wack job like me went and bid $37.00…can you believe that!!...but once I opened it no problem…I found a great story on Whitely on Stack.com…below an excerpt…click the link above it for the full story…
https://www.stack.com/a/1800s-home-gym-trx
EXCERPT
In the mid-1800's, strength training and fitness began to emerge both in business and popular culture in America.
By the late 1880s, Dudley Sargent, an assistant professor of physical education at Harvard University, had designed several free-standing pulley machines to exercise the back, chest and abdominal muscles. These machines relied primarily on weight stacks, making the resistance level adjustable. But the machines were large and didn't gain wide use beyond Harvard's gym.
In 1894, Alexander Whitely unveiled a pulley-driven exercise machine for the masses. With just a single pulley that could be attached to a wall or doorframe, it was suitable for in-home use. By changing the position of the pulley, the Whitely Exerciser allowed users to perform a full-body workout—one that purportedly could be completed in less than an hour.
Since the device was portable, the Whitely was marketed to business folks and travelers, and to those subjected to stress or "nervous energy." It was also aimed at women, proclaiming itself capable of "making weak women strong" and suitable "for every member of the family," young and old. - Maddy Lucier
END EXCERPT
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