IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER DRIVING BELTS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock, of Bury St. Edmund's,
in the County of Suffolk, Tanner, and John Shimmon, of the same
Place, Belt Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock
and John Shimmon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th December 1865.
We, CLARKE DUCHESNE HITCHCOOK, of Bury Saint Edmund's, in the
County of Suffolk, Tanner, and JOHN SHIMMON, of the same Place, Belt
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER DRIVING BELTS," to be as follows:-
Leather driving belts as now manufactured possess the great defect that
they curl or work zig-zag. This defect. arises from the fact that each length.
of leather from which the belt is formed is weaker at and near one edge,
than at and near the other edge, caused by their having formed respectively.
weaker and stronger parts of the hide from which they have been cut.
Now our Invention overcomes this defect. It consists in adapting each.
length of leather composing the belt according to the growth of the leather,

page_text: or hide, that is to say, that supposing one length is weaker at and near the
left edge than at and near the right edge, we adapt the next length with its
weaker edge at the right, and so on for the entire length of the belt.
Our Invention further consists in cutting off certain fullnesses which exist
in strips of hides after such strips have been allowed to expand to their full
We then stretch the strips so that all the openings of the pores of the
hide are drawn as it were into straight lines; all fullness in driving belts
manufactured from such strips is thus obviated. We avoid or cut out from
the hide all portions which are objectionable from great weakness or other
causes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock and John Shimmon in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CLARKE
DUCHESNE HITCHCOCK, of Bury. Saint Edmund's, in the County of Suffolk,
Tanner, and JOHN SHIMMON, .of the same Place, Belt Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, 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 us, the
said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock and John Shimmon, Her special licence that
we, the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock and John Shimmon, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Clarke Duchesne
Hitchcock and John Shimmon, our 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 LEATHER DRIVING BELTS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock
and John Shimmon, or one of us, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or one of our, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock and
John Shimmon, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Leather driving belts as now manufactured possess the great defect that
they curl or work zig-zag. This defect arises partly from the fact that each
length of the belt is weaker at and near one edge than at and near the other
edge, caused by having been formed respectively from weaker and stronger
parts of the hide from which they have been cut, and by an excess or fullness
of leather therein.
Now our Invention overcomes this defect. It consists in adapting each
length of the belt according to the growth of the leather or hide, that is to
say, that supposing one length is weaker at and near the left edge than at
and near the right edge, we adapt the next length with its weaker edge at
the right, and so on for the entire length of belt.
Our Invention further consists in removing the fullnesses which exist more
or less in all hides; we allow them liberty for natural expansion by dividing
them in those parts where by the formation of the animals they are naturally
contracted. We cut the hide into widths or strips, and bring them into such
a form that they permanently remain so. For this purpose after causing
them to expand by manual labor or otherwise we stretch them so that all
the openings of the pores or construction of the skin are drawn as it were
into straight lines; all curving or crookedness when such strips are afterwards
submitted to tension is thus avoided.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clarke Duchesne Hitchcock, for myself
and on behalf of the said John Shimmon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifth day of June One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
CLARKE DUCHESNE HITCHCOCK. (L.S.)