In those days people didn't have TV and internet forums to keep them out of the workshop.

Neil

He claimed to have lifted a basket oif kittens with one, but I suspect the great man may have been prone to exaggeration

Yes, Internet forums do keep us out of the workshop.

Particularly, this one, in my case!

Howard

Neil,he may not have been exaggerating at all! Many years ago I made up a small crane from bits of Macanno,using what few gears we had,together with miles of very thin string running through pulley blocks. We powered the whole thing with a motor from an old oil heating unit [1/100th HP] .Having clamped the contraption to the table top,we managed to lift a full coal bucket.,without any effort,the motor never stalled at any point. As an exercise,I calculated how high it should lift in a given time,and to our surprise it worked out dead on !

So,maybe he was not too far out !