Posted by Paul Cook [76.0.111.193] on Friday, April 11, 2014 at 16:39:40 :
In Reply to: Re: nice capstan winch posted by Fred Coldwell [184.96.125.140] on Friday, April 11, 2014 at 14:34:08 :
The picture of Jerry's capstan/winch is excellent for showing the difference in those two terms.
The distinction is that a winch generally implies a machine that stores the rope on a drum whereas the rope working on a capstan is "tailed" and left where it falls - except in yachting applications where the term "winch" is still used to describe the man-powered capstan used for handling sails.
A great technology advance here was the advent of the "self-tailing" "winch".
My '55 PW has a 12,000# Gar Wood capstan driven by the PTO. A prior owner fastened the the "bitter-end" to the capstan drum thereby making it function like a winch.