IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BANDS, BELTS, OR STRAPS FOR HARNESS, FOR DRIVING MACHINERY, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Crutchett, of Stroud, in the County of
Gloucester, at present domiciled at Washington, District of Columbia,
United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BANDS, BELTS, OR STRAPS FOR HARNESS, FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 10th April 1866, and dated the 11th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Crutchett at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1865.
I, JAMES CRUTCHETT, of Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, at present
domiciled at Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF BANDS, BELTS, OR STRAPS FOR HARNESS, FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the strengthening of leather, india-rubber,
or other material suitable for the manufacture of traces or straps for harness,
driving bands for machinery or for other purposes where bands, belts, or
straps requiring great strength are employed. For this purpose I combine
steel, iron, or other metal wire of round, flat, or other section, with leather,

page_text: india-rubber, or other flexible material, by fixing lengths of wire thereon, the
ends of the wire being fixed to or around eyelets, studs, pins, rivets, buckles,
or by other suitable means of securing the lengths of wire to the surface of
the leather or other material; or the wire may be secured by stitching it to
the surface or between two surfaces of leather or other other material for the
purpose of imparting strength thereto. By this means great additional
strength is imparted to the leather or other material, which may be made up
into straps for harness, or the ends may be laced together with wire, or other-
wise connected, to form endless bands for driving machinery, or the leather or
other material so strengthened with wire may be made up and employed for
barness or other purposes where leather or fabrics of great strength and
neatness are required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Crutchett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CRUTCHETT, of Stroud, in the County of Gloucester, at present domiciled
at Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Crutchett, Her special licence that I, the said James
Crutchett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Crutchett, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BANDS, BELTS, OR STRAPS FOR HARNESS,
FOR DRIVING MACHINERY, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Crutchett, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that .I, the said James Crutchett, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
.This Invention has for its object the strengthening of leather, india-rubber,
or other material suitable for the manufacture of traces or straps for harness,
driving bands for machinery, or for other purposes where bands, belts, or
straps requiring great strength are, employed. For this purpose I combine
steel, iron, or other inetal wire, of round, flat, or other section, with or between
surfaces of leather, india-rubber, or other flexible material, by fixing lengths
of wire thereon, the ends of the wire being fixed to or around eyelets, studs,
pins, rivets, buckles, or by other suitable means of securing the lengths of
wire to the surface of or between the leather or other material; or the wire
may be secured by stitching it to the surface or between two surfaces of
leather or other material for the purpose of imparting strength thereto. By
this means great additional strength is imparted to the leather or other
material, which may be made up into straps for harness, or the ends may be
Inced together with wire or otherwise connected to form endless bands for
driving machinery, or the leather or other material so strengthened with wire
may be made up and employed for harness or other purposes where leather or
fabrics of great strength and neatness are required.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into practice. I will proceed to describe. the Drawing hereunto.

page_text: at G, Figure 9. In place of the strengthening wires which are shown to
pass around a grooved eyelet, as at A, Figure 1, they may pass around a
metal pin or bar (as at B, Figure 3), having a strong loop fastened thereto to
form a connection to the end of the strap. In Figure 5, and 5* the wire is
shown to pass around a, bar or pin fastened to a metal plate C, which plate
is formed with a round or flat hole D, as shown; or the strengthening wire
may be passed around the base or bar of a buckle, as shown at D, Figure 6.
In Figure 7 the strengthening wire is shown to pass round and be held by
steel, copper, or other metal rivets or pins A, A, A, which pins or rivets are
rivetted on to a suitable washer or collar to retain the strengthening wire in
position, the rivets being fastened on or into a suitable metal plate, as shown
at F, Figure 7, and H, Figure 9. The strengthening wires combined with
straps, bands, or belts, as above described, may be made of steel or other
metal, flat or round, and either plain and single, as shown in Figure 1, or the
wires, may be twisted and combined, as shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
and 8.
'
:
The ends of straps, traces, and belts made according to my improvements
are furnished with suitable ends, such as eyelets, loops, metal plates, buckles,
or pins, as may be found most suitable for attaching them to parts of harness,
or for connecting the ends of bands or belting together. The ends of driving
belts may be attached by the leather lacing as at present practiced, or by wire
lacing, as shown at Figure 10, or by rivetting the plates together. The end
of each wire or strand is fastened by binding them if round, or by small rivets
if flat.
.
By means of my improvements coach harness and horse gear can be made
of much lighter and smaller sized parts, but much stronger than the present
ordinary strength. Great economy and convenience is derived from the use
of straps made according to my improvements for drawing artillery or other
heavy loads or bodies, or for driving machinery, as their breadth and thickness
is much less than ordinary straps or belts, at the same time their strength is
greatly increased and their cost reduced.
1!
In witness whereof, I, the said James Crutchett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES CRUTCHETT: (L.S.)