H Rat, Do your windows have sash weights? That is the best WAG I have heard so far. If not by weights, how do your windows stay open?
My windows are all replacements, and I don't know what kind of set-up the original windows had. In my job at the weatherization company I also worked on a large number of Victorian era homes that had window weights and pulleys in the walls just outside of the window frames. The homes in that particular period (1870-1910) all had ornate factory made hardware, two or six pane sashes in the windows, slate roofs and clay brick or cut stone foundations. They were all conventionally framed as well. These homes are of a later period than my timber framed home.
The timber framed homes around here all were very primitive and this pulley doesn't have anything to do with window weights. The timber framed homes that I found these pulleys in are all pretty much pre-1860. Everything was very primitive around here then. My foundation is made up of field stones, with a partial basement dug with a team of horses. Hand -hewn post and beam framing, joined together with hand carved pegs and a mallet. My floor joists are whole trees, split in half. The floor boards and roofing are local hardwood maple, a full inch thick and in varying widths, some as much as 24 inches wide. There was a sawmill in the area here at the time, not much else.
I should also mention that this pulley would not be strong enough for window weights. The spindle is a quarter inch, if that. The pillars were made with perhaps a few strokes of a hatchet. The wheel itself is the most intricate piece of work and even that was carved with a carving knife or similar instrument. As far as these being brought in from off site, I would highly doubt it. This and the others were made expeditiously. Perhpas the wheel itself was made in the evening by the fireplace for work the next day. Whoever made it had a hand drill and a saw and a knife. The nails in the ends of the side pillars were square, and brought in from New England. I have spoken to several Western Reserve historians who explained the logistics of this area at the time. I also asked a question about this on the Timber Framers' Guild forum and no one had seen one.
I am thinking that this is the particular work of a particular carpenter. Mine and the other houses I worked on where I found these pulleys were probably built within a twenty year time period, all in the same county, maybe by the same crew. Round about 1840-1860, in Ashtabula County Ohio. Most probably for bringing up light materials such as nails or even a lunch pail when working high up.
