IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE BELTS AND IN LACES FOR THE SAME."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Paton, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE BELTS AND
IN LACES FOR THE SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Paton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th May 1880.
JAMES PATON, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE BELTS AND IN LACES FOR THE SAME."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in machine belts and in laces for
attaching or connecting the ends of the same, which improvements are designed to
render such belts and laces stronger and more durable than those hitherto
employed.
The Invention consists essentially in the novel application and use for machine
belting and laces of tubular, flat, or round plaited fabrics or braids, such as are
used in the larger sizes for steam jointing and packing, and in the smaller varieties
as braids for covering the cords of window blinds and for boot laces. These braids
are manufactured as usual of the desired breadth, or size, and strength (and if
required several widths of these braids are joined together by sewing, plaiting,
lacing, weaving, or rivetting) to adapt them for any breadth of belting and for
laces, out of cotton, wool, hemp, flax, jute, manilla, or of a combination of any of
these or other fibrous materials.
The material is used either unbleached or dyed so as to resemble leather belting
or laces, and the braids when plaited or woven are flattened by being run through
compressing or friction rolls, and glazed or finished to prevent further stretching,
and it may be cut into any suitable lengths for belts. The improved belts so made
are much stronger than cotton or other similar belts of the same weight, the strands
or cords of the braids or fabrics being twisted so that they all take up the longitu-
dinal strain on the belt, whereas in ordinary woven cotton or rubber belting the
warp threads only receive the strain, and there being no transverse strain the weft
is unaffected.
The braids when used as laces are preferably greased, waxed, starched, or similarly
finished, and afterwards rolled and flattened by being run through the compressing
rolls, which give them a polished surface and render them more suitable for use
instead of, or as substitutes for, the leather thongs hitherto used for lacing machine
belts. These improved laces are suitable for lacing ordinary cotton, rubber, or
leather belts, as well as for the improved belts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Paton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th November
1880.
JAMES PATON, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North-Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE BELTS AND IN LACES FOR THE SAME."
My said Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of machine
belts and of laces for attaching or connecting the ends of the same, which are
designed to render such belts and laces stronger and more durable than those
hitherto employed.
To illustrate my said Invention I have hereunto appended a Sheet of Drawings, of
which Figures 1 and 2 are a plan and side elevation respectively of one modification
of my improved belt as finished, and Figures 3 and 4 are a corresponding plan and
side elevation, showing part of one of my improved belt laces.
My Invention consists in the application and use for machine belting and belt
laces of tubular, flat, or round plaited fabrics or braids of a kind similar to those
used in the larger sizes for steam jointing and packing, and in the smaller varieties,
as braids for covering the cords of window blinds and for boot laces, but which are
specially prepared or treated and finished, as hereinafter described, to adapt them
for use as machine belts or bands and belt laces.
The braids are manufactured from cotton, wool, hemp, flax, jute, or manilla, or of
a combination of these or of similar materials, by being first plaited or woven in a
plaiting machine of a kind suitable for heavy work, and made to the desired breadth
or size and strength, and, if required, several widths of these braids are joined
together by sewing, plaiting, lacing, weaving, or rivetting, to obtain any desired
breadth. The material may be used either unbleached or dyed so as to resemble
leather belting or laces, but to obtain the full strength of the fabric, and to prevent
the belts or laces being effected by damp or moisture, I wash the plaited fabrics in
hot water, with or without the addition of ashes or alkaline lyes, and afterwards
subject them to to a tanning process by immersion or boiling in a solution of cutch.
The braids as plaited or woven and so treated are flattened by being run through
compressing or friction rolls, and are glazed by running them in length through a
solution of starch and spermacetti (with which the fabric is impregnated by means
of revolving brushes or beetling rolls as they pass from the starch solution) and
through calendering or friction rolls, which remove superfluous starch and give them
a finished or polished surface. These rolls are made to revolve at a high speed, and
draw the fabrics through them under great tension for the purpose of preventing
stretching of the belts when in use. The fabrics are afterward cut into lengths and
the ends jointed by lacing or sewing, or by any ordinary construction of belt
fasteners or strap joints to make them suitable for belts. The improved belts or
band are so made or manufactured to render them much stronger than ordinary
cotton or other similar belts of the same weight; the strands or cords of the braids
or fabrics being twisted as shown in the Drawing, so that they all take up the
longitudinal strain on the belt, whereas in ordinary woven cotton or rubber belting
the warp threads only receive the strain, and there being no transverse strain the
weft is unaffected. The braids or fabrics prepared as described, in reference to the
manufacture of the belts, can also be used as belt laces, but are for this purpose
preferably greased, waxed, painted, or similarly treated or finished by being run
through such substances, and afterwards rolled and flattened by being run through
the compressing rolls, which are also made to stretch them and give a polished
surface. The fabrics are then cut into short lengths and have metal tags, as shown
in Figures 3 and 4, or threading wires fixed on to one or both ends of each length
by means of a tagging machine, to render them suitable for use instead of, or as

page_text: substitutes for, the leather thongs hitherto used for lacing machine belts. These
improved belt laces are suitable for lacing ordinary cotton, rubber, or leather belts,
as well as for the improved belts.
Having thus described my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but what I believe to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
The manufacture or production of machine belts and machine belt laces from
tubular, flat, or round plaited fabrics or braids, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Paton, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
JAMES PATON. (L.S.)