That kind of torque amplifier is of limited value, and it requires fairly good materials. There's a lot of rubbing involved. Power steering uses a completely different approach.
Rope has been around for millennia, but good rope is modern. Rope before manila, a 19th century development, rotted easily. (Hemp rope rots from the inside out, incidentally, so it looks fine until it breaks.) Modern rope is usually a nylon core with a polypropeline cover. Good rubber belts are post-WWII. Rubber before neoprene tended to crack, and oil made it much worse. Precisely controlled friction is a modern concept.
(I restore antique Teletype machines as a hobby, and the designs from the 1920s and 1930s show these material limitations. The carriage return stop isn't rubber or some flexible material. There's a lever driving a piston in a cylinder to compress air which then comes out through a relief valve. Complex, but buildable with 1920s materials.)
Rope has been around for millennia, but good rope is modern. Rope before manila, a 19th century development, rotted easily. (Hemp rope rots from the inside out, incidentally, so it looks fine until it breaks.) Modern rope is usually a nylon core with a polypropeline cover. Good rubber belts are post-WWII. Rubber before neoprene tended to crack, and oil made it much worse. Precisely controlled friction is a modern concept.
(I restore antique Teletype machines as a hobby, and the designs from the 1920s and 1930s show these material limitations. The carriage return stop isn't rubber or some flexible material. There's a lever driving a piston in a cylinder to compress air which then comes out through a relief valve. Complex, but buildable with 1920s materials.)