IMPROVEMENTS IN BELT FASTENERS FOR LEATHER AND OTHER BELTING
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Wirth, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent
Solicitors, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELT FASTENERS FOR LEATHER AND OTHER
BELTING." A communication from Georg Ludwig Zimmer, Engineer, of
Frankfort-on-the-Main, in the Empire of Germany.
Sealed the 10th December 1878, and dated the 12th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Wirth at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th June 1878.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELT
FASTENERS FOR LEATHER AND OTHER BELTING." [A communication from Georg
Ludwig Zimmer, Engineer, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany.]
My said improvements in belt fasteners or joiners consist in punching out or
otherwise raising teeth on both sides of thin pieces of iron, steel, or other metal;
the plate thus prepared is then placed between the two ends of the belt which it is
desired to unito, and the leather hammered together, thus causing the teeth on the
one side of the plate to enter into one end of the belt, and the teeth on the other
side to enter into the other end of the bolt. The teeth may be somewhat inclined
on each side of the plate and in opposite directions, so that the more the belt is
pulled the firmer becomes the joint; it being understood that the plate must be
placed in the proper position, that is to say, with its teeth slanting in the opposite
direction to the pull on the joint.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frank Wirth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th December
1878.
FRANK WIRTH, of the Firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors, at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELT
FASTENERS FOR LEATHER AND OTHER BELTING." A communication from Georg
Ludwig Zimmer, Engineer, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in the Empire of Germany.
This Invention relates to a new and improved belt fastener, by means of which
machine driving belts can be securely and firmly fastened together without injuring
the material of the belt.
It is also rendered possible by this Invention to connect the surfaces of very wide
or large belts in the firmest manner.
The said Invention is especially adapted for connecting double belts, and affords
the means for making a very firm junction in the same.
The driving belt binder, toothed on both sides, consists of a flat piece of iron,
steel, or other suitable metal, both sides of which are provided with sharp pointed
teeth or projections, which are driven into the material of the belt on both sides
where the fastener is used. For narrow belts one binder is used; for wide ones,
on the other hand, it is better to use two or more binders. The pointed and sharp
teeth on the surface of the said binder are placed nearly at right angles to the latter,
being however somewhat inclined, as shewn in the Drawing, in a direction opposite
to that in which the strain is exerted. This inclination or slope has the effect of
giving the binder a still firmer hold in the material of the belting. The teeth are
of a three-cornered shape, as shewn in the Drawing, and are preferably produced by
stamping and pressing.
I do not however confine myself to producing the binders in this manner, as they
can be made by hand, cast in moulds, or otherwise produced, the essential feature
of the said Invention consisting in thin plates of suitable metal provided with teeth
on both sides, as above described.
In the accompanying Drawing,
Figures 1 and 2 shew in plan and longitudinal section the adaptation of this
improved binder to simple belts.
Both ends a of the said belt should overlap each other a distance at least equal to
the width of the binder b; the latter is placed between these overlapping parts, as
shewn; and the teeth or spikes c on both sides of the binder are driven into the
material of both ends of the belting by pressure or by hammer.
Figures 3 and 4 illustrate in plan and longitudinal section the application of the
said improved binder to a double belt.
The binder is placed between the parts of the said belt, as shewn, in such a
manner that the four ends a of the double belt fit end to end, two above and two
below the binder b. One-half of the teeth c point towards the other half, and all
of the said teeth point towards the centre line of the binder, as shewn in Figure 4.
The joint is finished by forcing the ends of the belt down upon the binder in the
same manner as with the single belts.
In binding a manifold belt according to this Invention, a binder is placed in each
space, between the folds or thicknesses.
Having thus fully described the said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim a machine belt binder, consisting of a sheet

page_text: of metal provided with teeth on both sides, and which is placed between the ends
of a belt and has its teeth driven into the material of the same, in the manner and
for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Wirth, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
FRANK WIRTH (LS.)