Means for Protecting and Strengthening Driving Belts and Machines for applying such means.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd July, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Apr., 1897-Accepted, 3rd July, 1897
[Communicated from abroad by The firm of A. MASSONI E MORONI of Schio (Vicence)
in the Kingdom of Italy.]
Means for Protecting and Strengthening Driving Belts and Machines
for applying such means.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents, 45
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a method of protecting and strengthening the edges of
driving belts and to a machine for applying the devices used for the purpose.
The object of the invention is to strengthen the edges of the driving belt and
protect it from premature wear, such protection being of especial importance in cases
where belts of animal hair or any kind of woven fabric, or, more often, belts of any
material are employed, which are displaced or thrown out of gear by means of a
shifting fork.
The means employed for this purpose consist of staples or books made preferably
in U shape, which are inserted at regular intervals in the edges of the belt and are
retained therein by barbed points similar to those of fish-hooks.
The preparation and insertion of these U shaped pieces are effected by means of a
machine in which the introduction and forward motion of the belt is produced and
controlled in the following manner: The main shaft, through the medium of a cam,
an oscillating lever and a star-wheel transmits an intermittent rotary motion to
grooved pressing cylinders. These latter propel the belt which enters the machine
through feed cylinders, and which in the interval between the pair of feed cylinders
and the pair of pressing cylinders, is guided between another pressure cylinder and a
spring.
A rod provided with movable arms or guides controls the direction of movement;
the said arms or guides can be moved toward the right or toward the left according
to the width of the belt.
The spring and pressure cylinder above it are likewise adjustable by means of set
screws according to the size of the belt so that the axis of the boring tool may
coincide with the central plane of the thickness of the belt.
The metal wire used for making the hooks to be inserted at the edges of the belt,
is placed on a turn-table; it enters the machine through a suitable perforation and
travels to the cutting device. Two cams produce the oscillating motion of a lever to
which corresponds the advancing motion of the wire and the cutting of this latter by
the knife which thus subdivides it into pieces corresponding to the length of the U
shaped pieces to be inserted, which are at the same time provided with a triangular
point at each extremity.
Two arms actuated by suitable cams act like pincers and bend these pieces of wire
down to a U shape by pressing against a rod. A cam simultaneously drives the
boring tool into one of the edges of the belt and thus forins, hy the aid of two points
provided on the head of the said tool, the holes for receiving the pieces to be inserted.
As soon as the back-motion cam has returned the boring rod toward the left, the two
pincer arms force the U piece into the two holes formed by the said boring tool in
the edges of the belt, and a hammer actuated by two pawl springs, drives the U piece

page_text: home; the fish hook shaped points safely retaining the piece in place from the moment
of its insertion.
The teeth of the aforementioned star-wheel are, so spaced that the extent to which
the belt is each time moved forward corresponds to the distance between the centre
of two adjacent staples or hooks.
The parts which control the advance of the belt, may be so located on the machine
as to feed the belt vertically instead of horizontally.
Instead of giving the pieces to be inserted a U or staple shape, they may be of any
shape suitable for enabling them to retain their position in the belt, as for instance,
a V, Z or nail shape.
Dated this 23rd day of Tule 1806
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.
Agents for the Applicant.
Means for Protecting and Strengthening Driving Belts and Machines
for applying such means.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents, 45
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a method of protecting and strengthening the edges of
driving belts and to a machine for applying the devices used for the purpose.
The object of the invention is to strengthen the edges of the driving belt and
protect it from premature wear, such protection being of especial importance in cases
where belts of animal hair or any kind of woven fabric, or, more often, belts of any
material are employed, which are displaced or thrown out of gear by means of a
shifting fork.
The means employed for this purpose consist of staples or hooks made preferably
of U shape, which are inserted at regular intervals in the edges of the belt and are
retained therein by barbed points similar to those of fish-hooks.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which
Figures 1 and 1 show plans or face views of two forms of the improved belt.
Figure 2 is an edge view of Figure 1.
Figures 3 and 3ª are cross sections of Figures 1 and 1" respectively.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the machine taken on the line a, y of Figure 5,
showing the feed mechanism.
Figure 5 is a plan of the said machine.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section showing the bending mechanism and the
mechanism for the insertion of the staples or hooks into the belt.
Figure 7 is a side elevation of the machine.
Figure 8 is a detail view of the knife, and
Figure 9 is a view of a staple blank.
The strengthened belts, as usually manufactured by us, are shown in figures 1-3
of the drawing provided at the edges thereof with the hooks u.
Hair belts, which are to be shifted very often and are therefore subject to rapid
wear, are preferably fitted, along their edges, with thin hands either of leather or of
any other non-fibrous materials which is not liable to get torn. Said leather bands
are shown at ¹ in Figures 1 and 3 corresponding to Figures 1 and 3 respectively;
they are connected to the belt by the hooks u passing through the whole thickness of
the same.

page_text: The preparation and insertion of the U shaped pieces or staples u are effected by
means of the machine shown in Figures 4 to 7. The introduction and forward
motion of the belt is produced and controlled in the following manner: The main
shaft A, through the inedium of a cam y, an oscillating lever k and a star-wheel i
transmits an intermittent rotary motion to grooved pressing cylinders 1. These latter
propel the belt v which enters the machine through feed cylinders p, and which in
the interval between the pair of feed cylinders p and the pair of pressing cylinders 1,
is guided between another pressure cylinder m and a spring .
A plate o provided with arms or guides controls the direction of movement; the
said arms or guides can be moved toward the right or toward the left according to
the width of the belt, (Figure 5).
The spring and pressure cylinder m above it are likewise adjustable by means of
set screws according to the thickness of the belt so that the axis of the perforating
tool may coincide with the central plane of the thickness of the belt.
The metal wire w used for making the hooks to be inserted at the edges of the
belt, is placed on a turn-table; it enters the machine through a suitable perforation
and travels to the cutting device. The cam 9 produces oscillating motion of the
lever b to which corresponds the advancing motion of the wire. The said cam g is so
shaped as to cause the lever b to oscillate both round the vertical axis 6 and the
borizontal axis 6. By turning in the direction of the arrow, the lever b imparts a
forward movement to the vice & which slides along the rod . The end of the lever b,
situated on the side of the vice b, lowers itself owing to the shape of the cam q
when the said lever turns in the direction of the arrow thus tightening the vice b
against the wire w and causing the latter to move forward with the vice. When on
the contrary the lever b withdraws, the vice releases the wire to and does not
therefore impart any movement to the said wire during its backward stroke.
The can actuates the lever r', which is fastened to the shaft 2 turning within the
collar and having at its extremity the cutter block a carrying the upper oscillating
knife a. The oscillating and the fixed parts of the knife (a and x respectively) are
shown separately in Figure 8 which is an elevation parallel to the direction in which
the wire proceeds. When the wire, which, being pushed forward by the lever b, enters
the slot (Figure 8) has proceeded so far that its extremity has gone beyond wa
distance equal to the total length of an unbent hook (as shown separately Figure 9),
the cam r causes the block 2 to move down and, on moving the knife toward the
fixed blade x, cuts the wire into pieces.
The part of the wire which faces the point of the oscillating blade.c¹ (Figure 8)
is entirely cut away and falls on the floor under the machine. The points a, of
said oscillating blade do not interfere with the continuity of the piece of wire, but
only make it thinner near each extremity where the triangular notches (Figure 9)
are cut out.
Two arms mounted on a slide d' guided along and actuated by a cam fact
like pincers and bend the pieces of wire u down to a U shape by pressing them against
a rod g. A cam 8 by means of the intermediate shaft 8" and of a connecting rod not
shown in the drawings and ending at a simultaneously drives the perforating tool h
which moves up the inclined planet into one of the edges of the belt and thus forms,
by the aid of two points t' provided on the head of the said tool, the holes for
receiving the pieces to be inserted. The piece of wire u, which has just been bent,
is meanwhile brought quite close to the edge of the belt, v by means of the slide d',
on which the brackets el and gl, carrying the hammer e and the vertical rod g
respectively, are secured. The slide d' is acted upon by the cam f which is so shaped
that the said slide as well as the rod y do not advance towards the edge of the belt
until the bending has been completed. As soon as the back-motion cam has
returned the perforating rod A toward the left, and the lever ', acted upon by the
cam ', has raised, by means of the prop , the head g of bracket whereby the
vertical rod g, which is fastened to the said head g' is removed from the path of
the pincer ams d, the latter force the U piece w into the two holes formed by the said
perforating tool in the edges of the belt, and the hammer actuated by the aforesaid

page_text: cam through the slide d drives the U piece home; the fish hook shaped points
safely retaining the piece in place from the moment of its insertion.
The teeth of the aforementioned star-wheel i are, so spaced that the extent to
which the belt is each time moved forward corresponds to the distance between the
centre of two adjacent staples or hooks.
The parts which control the advance of the belt, may be so located on the machine
as to feed the belt vertically instead of horizontally.
Instead of giving the pieces to be inserted a U or staple shape, they may be of
any shape suitable for enabling them to retain their position in the belt, as for
instance, a V, Z or nail shape.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A belt strengthened by staples or hooks preferably of U shape inserted in its
edges and retained therein by barbed points.
2. A belt of the kind referred to in claim 1 in which the said staples or hooks retain
in position a thin band of leather or similar material running along the edges of the
said belt.
3. A machine for inserting the staples or books into the edges of a belt, in which
a pair of belt feeding rolls receives an intermittent forward motion by which the edge
of the belt is successively brought in front at first of a suitable perforating tool,
secondly of pincer arms which bend into U shape the pieces of wire previously cut
by an oscillating knife acting against a fixed blade, and force them into the boles
prepared by the perforating tool, and thirdly of a hammer which strikes thein, when
once inserted, so as to ensure their being firmly retained in place.
Dated this 23rd day of Auril 1897
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.