AN IMPROVED BELT FASTENING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BELT FASTENING."
-
A communication from abroad by George Cade, of Long
Branch, in the State of New Jersey, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th August 1871.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BELT FASTENING,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a belt fastening which
while simple, durable, and strong, is capable of being readily attached
and detached when required without the risk of becoming accidentally
released, and which provides for the separation and taking up of the

page_text: belt without cutting its two ends, also presents a flush surface, and is
exempt from catching in passing over or around pulleys. The Invention
consists of a connecting plate or series of plates arranged at a suitable
distance apart in the width of the belt carrying screw studs which pro-
ject from the inside face of each plate at or near its ends and of a length
so that they pass through the meeting ends of the belt, in combination
with burrs or nuts which fit said screw studs within depressions in the
face of the belt, and so that on screwing up the burrs they and the
plate carrying the studs are both drawn into the belt on its opposite sides
or faces. When the belt is of rubber or material that does not admit of
the scarfing of the ends of the belt so as to lap the one over the other,
then a double washer plate having depressions struck up in it to receive
the burrs is applied so as to brace the ends of the belt on its opposite
side or face to that on which the plate carrying the screw studs is
arranged, the screw studs passing through said double washer plate, and
the burrs as they are tightened up serving to draw both plates towards
each other and into the belt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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 "AN IMPROVED
BELT FASTENING," being a communication to me from abroad by George

page_text: Cade, of Long Branch, in the State of New Jersey, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to
say):
The object of this Invention is to produce a belt fastening which
while simple, durable, and strong, is capable of being readily attached
and detached when required, without the risk of becoming accidentally
released, and which provides for the separation and taking up of the
belt without cutting its two ends, also presents a flush surface, and is
exempt from catching in passing over or around pulleys. The Invention
consists of a connecting plate or series of plates arranged at a suitable
distance apart in the width of the belt carrying screw studs which
project from the inside face of each plate at or near its ends, and of a
length so that they pass through the meeting ends of the belt in com-
bination with burrs or nuts which fit said screw studs within depressions
in the face of the belt, and so that on screwing up the burrs they and
the plate carrying the studs are both drawn into the belt on its opposite
sides or faces. When the belt is of rubber or material that does not
admit of the scarfing of the ends of the belt so as to lap the one over the
other, then a double washer plate having depressions struck up in it
to receive the burrs is applied so as to brace the ends of the belt on its
opposite side or face to that on which the plate carrying the screw
studs is arranged, the screw studs passing through said double washer
plate and the burrs as they are tightened up serving to draw both
plates towards each other and into the belt.
Having thus specified the object and nature of the Invention its
description will be proceeded with in reference to the accompanying

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a face view of the meeting ends or portions of a
leather belt with the improved fastening applied thereto; Fig. 2 is
a longitudinal section of the same, and Figures 3 and 4 face views
of the details of the fastening detached; Figures 5 and 6 are opposite
side or face views of the meeting ends or portions of a rubber belt with
the improved fastening applied thereto, and Fig. 7 is a longitudinal
section of the same. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts throughout the several Figures.
Referring in the first instance to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Drawing,
A and A¹ represent the meeting ends or portions of a leather belt
scarfed or bevilled away as usual so as to lap in a level or continuous
manner the one over the other. B, B, are metal connecting plates, of
which there may be any number according to the width of the belt.
These plates form the bases of the fastenings, and are arranged at suit-
able distances apart on the one over or underlapping end of the belt,
and may have their edges shamfered off so as to more readily enter
within the material of the belt, in order that said plates may lie flush or
thereabouts with the belt. Said plates have formed on their inner
sides or faces at or near their ends (which latter point in direction of
the length of the belt) screw studs b, b, of such a length that when
inserted or projected through the scarfed ends of the belt they will
extend but little if at all beyond it. Countersinks or depressions c, c,
are struck or sunk in the belt on its opposite side or face to receive
within them burrs or nuts C, C, which fit the screw studs b, b. On
screwing up these nuts both they and the plate B of each fastening
will be drawn within the belt surfaces so as to lie flush therewith or
thereabouts, and thus the joint will be firmly secured. Should the
screw studs or other parts of the fastening after the latter has been
screwed up project to an objectionable extent beyond the sides or faces of
the belt the same may be dressed off by subjecting them to the action of
an emery wheel or otherwise reducing them. It is desirable to make
the nuts C, C, in the form of frustrums of cones, whereby they have
a better entering and wedging or holding action. Holes or notches
d, d, may be made in the nuts to receive the prongs of a key used to
turn the nuts. The same tool or key by a suitable projection on it
may serve to sink the depressions c, c, by compression of the leather
through a blow or blows applied to the tool in some cases, and more
especially when designed to be applied to a belt in which the meeting

page_text: ends do not overlap, as for instance in the case of a rubber belt it is
desirable as represented in Figures 5, 6, and 7, to use in addition a
double washer plate D on the opposite side of the belt to which the
plate B is arranged, said double washer plate receiving the screw studs
through it and serving as a bearing surface for the nuts, also having
depressions formed in it to receive the nuts which on being screwed up
draw the two plates A and D within the material of the belt thus causing
the nuts to lie flush with the belt as before. When the fastening is to
be applied to a belt in which the meeting ends are scarfed however, and
overlap one another, the plate D may be omitted.
A belt fastening composed of a connecting plate with attached screw
studs and having nuts fitting the latter as described with or without
a double washer plate is at once cheap and efficient, and provides in a
ready manner by unscrewing the nuts and removing the fastening for
shortening or taking up the belt when required without cutting both
ends of the belt or having to rupture the fastening as is necessary
when plates with plain studs which are rivetted down or on the belt
are used.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Belt Fastening," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim, a belt fastening composed of a connecting plate B, having
attached screw studs b, b, in combination with the nuts C, C, and with
or without a double washer plate D, the whole being constructed for
application to the belt substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.