Patent GB-1038790-A (GB)
Title: Machine for the industrial fabrication of belts
IPC: F16G3/10
Filed: 1963-12-13
Abstract: 1,038,790. Belt gearings. TABLISSEMENTS THEODORE HOUBEN S.A. Dec. 13, 1963 [Dec. 17, 1962; Dec. 3, 1963], No. 49387/63. Heading F2Q. [Also in Divisions B5 and B8] Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of transmission and conveyer belting comprises a series of heated presses in continuous aligned motion, and means for transferring the presses from the front to the rear of the series as and when each press has completed its own operational cycle. In the embodiment shown, constituent plies are fed from rolls 40-42, via adhesive applicators (not shown) and pressure rollers 44, 45, to a series of individual press carriages 6 which are free to move on rollers 14 on a U-shaped track 2, and which are driven, via retractable hooking devices, by a chain 7 mounted between sprockets 8 and 9. Each press carriage consists of a top plate 19 and a bottom plate 17 joined together by a tubular spacer 21 and swivelling link 24 pivotably mounted at 25 and shown in the closed position. Between the plates are arranged metal plates 27 and 31, inflatable cushions 28 and 32, and metal plates 29 and 33 having heating elements 30 and 34 which are connected by sliding bushes 12 and 13 to bus-bars 10 and 11 and which enclose the laminated belting 43. The top and bottom plates may themselves be heated either electrically or by circulation of a heated fluid. A lifting lug 20 is provided on each top plate by means of which a press carriage can be laterally transferred, by means of lifting apparatus attached to posts 38, 39, to and from a conveyer 35. In operation, the constituent plies are first coated on their contacting surfaces with, e.g., a poly. merizable synthetic bending compound; the composite material 43 is then introduced between plates 29, 33 of the first press carriage, the links 24 of which have previously been let down. Once in position, the links are placed in the closed position, fluid under pressure is admitted to the cushions 28, 32, and the heating circuit is put into operation. This first press carriage is then moved a distance equal to its own length and the next press carriage, which has been returned via conveyer 35, is placed in contact with and behind it. This process continues, either continuously or intermittently, with each press carriage being returned to the starting position once it has reached the predetermined position at the righthand end of the series, and the finished product is wound up on a driven storage roll 46. A tension is maintained in the belting 43 by braking the feed rolls and pressure rolls. The pressure and temperature within a press carriage may be varied during its passage from the first to the last position. For the manufacture of V-belts, a flat belt is first made, the plies of which correspond to those of the V-belt, and the V-belt is obtained by cutting the flat belt by means of spaced tools directed in converging planes, and preferably spaced longitudinally along the belt. To make notched or toothed belts the pressure rolls 44, 45 are replaced by a flanged wheel 47 (Fig. 4) which has its circumference shaped so as to conform with the required shape of the notches in the belt and which co-operates with other rolls 49-51 located around its circumference.