I expect Thomas Edison came up against the same opposition to the incandescent light bulb from the candle and oil lamp brigade in his day, especially when the usage of DC was being challenged by the AC forum.
BTW, back in the 70's the firm I worked for had a Bridgeport mill and the drawbar pressure was exerted by a knurled knob 60mm diam in place of the hexagon nut that frequently got overtightened by the ignorant users in the factory......the spindle taper was 3 Morse so I will concede that it also had a contributory factor to overtightening.
I don't think I am alone in looking for a better way than the Bellville washer method, so that is the path I am exploring.
You HAVE to constantly keep thinking outside of the box, or you'll just keep on following the herd no matter what.
I don't intend to argue the pros and cons as it's purely something I intend to work on for my own benefit, seeing as so much opposition is expressed for a different approach, and if it comes to naught then the Bellville washer compressed by the cam and lever method with air cylinder can also be used, I just don't like that approach too much.
BTW, I can exert 1 ton (2,000 lbs) of force with a simple rack and pinion mechanism as is used on my arbour press, so who needs compressed air?
Ian.