Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-09-10

| VULcANIzED INDIA RUBBER BELTrNa.- 1t I,
now about eighteen years since we saw the frs
samples OF india rubber betting as substitute
| Tor leather in driving machinery. They proved
to DO very inferior, and thus tho article was
brought into disrepute for such purposes, and
those who had tried 1t came to the conclusion
| that "there was nothing like leather" after all
We venture the statement that one year age
there was not five hundred dollars worth Of
india rubber betting in use In the city OF New
York; but change has come over the face
OF things since that time. Within the past ter
months, many thousand dollars worth of i'm.
proved rubber betting has been put up, and
with such success that In some establishments
where it has been fairly tested, it is replacing
leather belts as fast as the latter are worn out.
From information which we have personally
collected on the subject, it appears to us that
this material is yet destined to effect an econo-
mic revolution in driving machinery, In the
extensive establishment Of Burr & Co., In Cliff
street, New York, where the manufacture of
hat-bodies is carried on, aud where an immense
amount of betting is used, it has taken the
place Of leather on nearly all the work. We
instance this case because the machinery in
TINS manuf-ctory is such as to afford signal
test ofthe quality Of betting. 0ns long India
rubber belt, eight-pl and thirty. six inches
wide, is employed to transmit the power from
hy-wheel Of two horizontal steam engines of
lOO horse power each. Another OF the same
material, LOO feet long, seven-ply, and eighteen
lnhces wide, transmits power from q pair of
engines, each 100 horsepower, to drive the
pril ting presses in the establishment of ]. Gray
on Frankfort street. The belt runs ogt DOORS
and has been in use for three months. A belt
twenty inches wide, for driving intermediate
shaftlng, has been in use for twelve months,
and It appears to be nearly as good as new
Performing the same work, leather belt of
ph oil mn
The an-bowers OF the ''forming machine"
at Burr's, and these for teasing and cleaning
the fur, arc driven at the high yeloc,ies of
from 5000 to $500 revolutions per minute.
This speed wore out the best leather belts fas-
ter than those of india rubber which have sup
planted them.
India rubber betting has been for some time
used for driving the presses on which the
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN is printed, and has PROV
cd superior in every respect to the leather belts
previously employed. 1t also possesses the
qualities of running unaffected under exposure
TO water, to the open air, and even to tenn
peraturc above the boiling point. A fve-ply
lhulh ruoter belt, twelve inches wide, as now
manufactured, is considered equal to u double
leather belt OF tho same width. The price Of
the latter per foot Of length is SEQ, while that
Oi the india rubber is only 81 .O4, and SO OH for
different widths in the same ratio.
The new variety of india rubber betting to
Whlcn we nave referred Is manufactured by the
New York Betting and Packing Company, at
their factory at NewtOwn,. Conn. The cttten
duck which gives the peculiarly uniform and
non-eldstic character to such material is woven
specially for this purpose, with the warp much
stronger than the filling, and cut by machinery
INTO strips OF perfectly regular width. Single
STRIPS Of this duck will bear tensile strain of
l25 pounds for each inch of width. These are
coated on both sides with the rubber compost
tlon under the pressure of heavy calendars, and
then laid together aud pressed again, to make
the thickness required, The manner of laying
TINS material, and to which is due much OF the
superiority of the modern article, arises from
tho lower strip being cut Of twice the width Of
the other or others, and tile edges folded ov r,
SO That they butt together in line along tho
middle OF the belt. This line is subsequently
covered with thin strip of rubber, and the
whole bolt subjected to very heavy calender
ing, which eifeetuaiiy yields the parts. A sub
scqueht Vulcanizltiun, or exposure to high
steam neat for six or eight hours removes the
laolll'y to 10 affected by any temperature less
thah some $50 degrees, The company arc
manufacturing the betting on large scale, and
guaranteeing each belt in u fair trial for six
months.
ILe statements in tho above article In re-
g3rd TO the durability of this betting which we
take from the Scientific Aner., have been salts
1 ctorlly proved in the establishments OF Lam
mot q Son. Jessup X Moore, Hollingswortb.
Harvey Co., j. Pussy X Sons, E. |. Dupont
O 20, ana many others who have made pur-
chases OF VIM. X. McCees, corner ct Second
anu Market Streets, who has tho agency Tor
this State.