CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF CONNECTING OR UNITING STRAPS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WILLIAMSON WHITTAKER, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Joiner, and
ROWLAND HALL HEATON, of the same place, Cotton Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of May, in the second year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John
Williamson Whittaker and Rowland Hall Heaton, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Williamson
Whittaker and Rowland Hall Heaton, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as wc, the said John John Williamson Whittaker
and Rowland Hall Heaton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, shall and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
CONNECTING OR UNITING STRAPS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY OR OTHER
SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said John William-
son Whittaker and Rowland Hall Heaton, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Williamson Whittaker and Rowland Hall Heaton, do hereby declare
that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained in and by the
Drawings hereto annexed, and the following explanation thereof, that is
to say :-
Our improvements in the means of connecting or uniting straps or bands
for driving machinery and other similar purposes, and in the apparatus for
effecting the same, consist:-
Firstly, in the employment of metallic tags, staples, or fastenings, for the
purpose of securing the joint, connection, or "piecing" of machine and other
driving straps, belts or bands. It is well known that such straps, belts, or
bands have to be produced of various lengths, to be adapted to the several
purposes for which they may be required, and that such straps, belts, or
bands have to be cut in certain breadths from hides or skins of limited
diniensions, so that in order to produce a strap of any length these strips
of leather have to be pieced "or united at their extremities." This operation
is usually performed by overlapping a certain portion of each end of the
straps, and either stitching them together and so performing the required.
joint or by a more expensive process of screws, nuts, or rivets, which has been
lately introduced for the purpose. Now, our improvements not only perform
a much more secure joint, connection, or "piecing," but with greater economy
and expedition. As the two ends of the leather have to be cut square and
merely placed in contact with each other, making what is termed a "jump
joint," instead of wasting so much of the leather strapping as the overlapping
in the usual manner requires; the great facility and dispatch with which such
operation can be performed by our improvements is also a very material object.
As to the event of a driving straptor band breaking during the operation of
any machine, 'the impediment or stoppage of the work is only momentary,
instead of being that of half an hour or more.
Secondly, our improvements consist in the machinery or apparatus by
which such joint, connection, or piercing is performed, that is, the peculiar
contrivance and arrangement of mechanism for manufacturing such metallic
tags, staples, or fastenings, and also the machinery or apparatus by which
such metallic fastenings are made or caused to unite or piece the straps.

page_text: But as these operations will be much better explained with reference to the
two Sheets of Drawings attached to these Presents, we will proceed to
describe the various Figures contained therein, which it will be seen are
marked with figures and letters of reference, similar letters being placed upon
corresponding parts of the machinery.
A machine. or apparatus for making the tags or staples is represented in
Sheet 1, in which Figure is a plan or horizontal view ;. Figure 2, a vertical
section taken at the line A, B, in Figure 1; and. Figure 3, another vertical
section taken through the machine at the line C, D, in. Figure 1. In this
machine (which is to be driven by power, and is otherwise entirely self-acting),
the tags or staples are formed in a more finished. and complete state,. and are
represented at Figure 4, where it will be seen that the ends are made taper or.
pointed, in order that they may lie perfectly flat upon the strapping, and not
require filing and finishing. The operation of this apparatus is as follows:-Upon
the main driving shaft a, a, which is mounted in the general framing b, b, b; b,.
are keyed the driving pulley c, the cam d, and the two excentrics e, f. The
wire g, g, from which the tags or staples are to be formed, is fed into the
machine through the guide h, and immediately embraced by a clip lever i, i,
and at every half revolution the shaft a the enclosed plane upon the cam & acts
against the reverse head of the lever i*, which vibrating upon its fulcrum
at j advances the wire into the machine progressively, the length of the tag
being adjusted by means of the set or adjusting screw k. Now the excentric e
acting upwards against the end of the lever 7 of course depresses the reverse
end m, which is formed with cutting teeth, in order to indent or cut out the
wire in the required form of the taper or sharp ends of the tags or staples;
this notch or indentation having been produced, the wire is again advanced as
before. When the action of. the excentric f causes the lever m to advance.
and cut off the length of wire intended for the tag or staple, and after
cutting it off, the continued advance of bar n carries the staple against the
end of the upper bar o, and presses the ends of the wire forwards into the
position shewn in red in Figure 1, when they are finished and- allowed; to,
drop out of the machine quite ready for use..
Our improved mechanism or apparatus for joining or piecing the straps is
shewn in Sheet 2. Figure 1 is a top view of the machine complete.with-the
strapping, shewn under operation. Figure 2 is a side elevation ;- Figure 3; a
vertical cross section; and Figure 4, another plan or horizontal view with the .
top parts thrown back upon their hinges in order to expose the interior, being.
drawn upon half scale. This machine. principally consists of a bed or cast
framing a, a, (bolted down to the bench,) a grating-b, b, two-parallel moveable

page_text: The
bars or plates c, c, a midfeather d, d, and top levers or holilfusts e, f, g.
operation is to be performed as follows:-After the two ends of the straps to
be joined or pieced have been properly squared, one of them is to be placed
with it's square end against the centre line of the machine over the midfeather,
and placed upon the grate b; the top levere is then to be turned over upon
its hingo joint, in order to hold or, secure that end of the strap; the other
squared end of the strap is then to be also laid over the grating and in
contact with the first; the top lever g is then to be turned over it in order to
hold it in its place. A small punch or piecer, shewn in Figure 5, is now
to be passed down the grooves 1, 1, 1, 1, as shewn in red lines in Figure 3, for
the purpose of piecing the strap ends; the tags or staples are next to be
introduced, and then the centre top lever or holdfast is also to be turned
over, and the whole fastened down by turning the small handle h, which has
an inclined plane i upon its boss, and will thus tighten the three levers e, f, g,
and hold them down (securing the strap ends) by means of the button k. The
long lever m, m, is now to be pulled in the direction of the arrow, which
by turning upon its fulcrum end will, by means of the two flat links o, o, bring.
the two parallel plates or bars c, c, towards the centre or midfeather, and thus
turn up the ends of the tags or staples, and complete the joint or piecing,
as seen in the section, Figure 8. It must be particularly observed that the
plates c, c, in this machine must have notches or grooves z, z, formed in them
to facilitate the turning up and finishing of the ends of the staples or tags.
We would recommend that the joint or piecing should be composed of a long
and a short staple, put in alternately, as it assists the pliability of the strap in
passing small pullies or drums, similar to the joint shewn in Figure 6, and in
this case after the short staples have been put in and completed, the strap
must be advanced half the distance of the staples, and the longer staples
put in at another and similar operation of the apparatus. To accommodate this
arrangement, grooves p, p, are formed in the under side of the top lever f for
the purpose of holding the staples within such recesses, and set screws q, q, are
also provided in order to assist the height of these top levers to any thickness
of strapping.
Having now particularly described our improvements in the means of
connecting straps or bands, and in the apparatus for effecting the same, we
desire it. to be understood that we claim as our Invention, and which
is secured to us by virtue of the above-recited Letters Patent, the use or
employment of the metallic tags, staples, or fastenings for the said purpose,
and also the machinery or apparatus by which such tags are made and also
the various apparatus or mechanism for performing the operation of joining,

page_text: ounecting, or piecing straps by such means as are shewn in the Drawings,
nd herein particularly described, without being confined to their precise
imensions or materials or any other slight modification of the same.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Williamson Whittaker and
Rowland Hall Heaton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-nine.
JOHN WILLIAMSON (L.S.) WHITTAKER.
ROWLAND HALL
(L.s.) HEATON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of November, in
the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said John
Williamson Whittaker and Rowland Hall Heaton came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute mado in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late
Majesty King George the Third.