Horse-Drawn Treadmill Power Unit

Horse-Drawn Treadmill Power Unit LIVESTOCK Horses/Mules 32-5-28 When FARM SHOW last spoke with Ammon Weaver (Vol. 27, No. 3), he was starting to build a few horse-powered treadmills with pto gearboxes for neighbors. The first one he ever built was used for making ice cream and powering the family washing machine. "It's still a sideline to our metal working business, but it's growing," says Weaver. He uses high carbon axles with flame hardened wear areas, sealed ball bearings and high carbon web chain side plates on the treads. Webs are standard with a constant plane or with an optional stair step web that gives horses a flat surface to step on. White oak treads or optional rubber belting is used on the treadmills. The treadmills offer two speeds, 30 rpm's and 120 rpm's. A special two-speed gearbox Weaver developed increases output speed to 1,750 or 3,600 rpm's as needed to meet most pto drive requirements. Weaver estimates the output, depending on ramp angle, governor speed and the weight of the horse, at 1/2 to 1 1/2 hp per horse. At the recent Horse Progress Days, Weaver demonstrated one and two-horse treadmills powering everything from metal and wood working equipment to grain mills and water pumps. He even had one connected to a condenser for refrigerating food. To avoid the stop/start that can occur with horse-driven power, Weaver hooks the treadmill up to an air compressor. Air from the tank is then piped to a variety of wood working tools. "We're even building a special shop that will run on horse power for making the gear boxes," he says. Single horse treadmills are priced at $2,800. Double horse units are priced at $3,000. The high rpm gearboxes are priced at $675. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ammon Weaver, Athens Enterprises, 1821 Matherly Road, Liberty, Ky. 42539 (ph 606 787-8474).

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