Foot Power Machines
From The Rural New Yorker, 1877
Six years ago, comparatively little attention was given to foot power machinery, Its utility was supposed to be limited to the narrow capacity of the old crank and treadle motion which had followed along down unchanged from the times of the ancient Egyptians. American inventive genius, however, overcame the dead centers, and we now have machines on which the pressure of the foot can never retard the motion already gained, but, on the contrary, sends more power from the treadle to the work than is possible in any old fashioned machine. They have no dead centers to pass, and, therefore, no necessity to press the treadle at exactly the right moment. In all old style machines the operator must do this or else retard the motion and often cause it to stop by a wrong pressure. With these patent foot power combinations, any pressure of the foot upon the treadle, whenever made, always develops a motion in the right direction, and always adds to the working power. Messrs. W.F. and John Barnes, Freeport, Ill, make a variety of machines under these patents, adapted to all kinds of sawing, including scrolls and every variety of delicate work. It would be impossible to particularize the styles made by this firm, but they are adapted to all kinds of work and a perusal of their catalogue cannot fail to be interesting.