IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY FOR USE IN MINES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert William Waithman, of Bentham
House, in the County of York, Esquire, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY FOR
USE IN MINES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert William
Waithman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 16th December 1853.
I, ROBERT WILLIAM WAITHMAN, of Bentham House, in the County
of York, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY FOR USE
IN MINES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the application of bands of linen or
other fibrous material for the aforesaid purposes, in the form of tubes.
These tubes may be used in the open state, or they may be flattened,
cemented, and coated by any suitable substance, or by the materials
hereafter mentioned, and constituting another part of my Invention.
Secondly, my Invention refers generally to bands of linen or other
fibrous materials woven the required width, for driving machinery for
use in mines or other such purposes, and consists in coating them with

page_text: certain substances. The first of these is gutta percha, applied to the
band by any convenient means, so as to obtain a flexible even surface
the second is a composition of which inspissated or partially inspissated
gas tar forms a portion; this may be mixed with linseed or other oil,
pitch, wax, or other materials. A third substance I propose using is
formed by combining caoutchouc with ground peat or bark; and a
fourth, by mixing gas tar or prepared gas tar with gutta percha or
caoutchouc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert William Waithman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT WILLIAM WAITHMAN, of Bentham House, in the County of
York, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert William Waithman,
Her especial license that I, the said Robert William Waithman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert William Waithman, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY FOR USE IN MINES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert William Waithman,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert William Waithman, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists, firstly, in the use of a tube of linen or other
suitable fibrous materials, for belts or bands for driving machinery, and
also for use in mines as bands or belts for hauling up coal, or for other
similar purposes, which improvement is also applicable generally to the
transmission of power or removal of heavy bodies, in cases in which
bands are or may be employed. In carrying out this part of my
Invention, the tubular bands may be woven after the usual manner of
manufacturing hose pipes or textile tubes for other purposes, and of
the required width when flattened for the intended purpose. The
bands thus formed may be used as they come from the loom or other
machine, but for some applications I prefer cementing the flattened
sides together and coating the surfaces with a varnish or other com-
position. To effect this I take the open tube and pour into it the
composition N° 1 (mentioned in the second part of my Invention) in a
warm state. I then pass it between rollers, fixed at a certain guage
apart, which produce the thickness of band required with an even
I then
surface, squeezing out before them the surplus material.
usually, by means of rollers or brushes, coat them with the composition
N° 2, hereafter described, and when the belts or bands are dry I varnish
them with a composition composed of wood, naptha, shell lac, and
Venice turpentine, or other suitable varnish. I do not, however, under
this part of my Invention confine myself to these compositions, but use
any of the substances hereafter mentioned, either singly or in com-
bination, or I use other suitable materials for effecting the like object;
occasionally, also, I find it expedient to cement the inside of the tube
only, and sometimes the outside only. I would also observe, that
tubular bands manufactured according to my Invention may have
wires or other metallic portions woven therein, or otherwise applied.
Secondly, my Invention consists in the use of certain substances and
compounds for coating and cementing the tubes before mentioned as
the first part of my improvements, and also for coating the exteriors

page_text: of bands woven solid, of linen or other fibrous materials, and of the
width required for use, such bands being applied for the before-men-
tioned purposes. The substances and compounds I employ I have
numbered for convenience of reference. N° 1, I prepare gas tar by
boiling, until it is inspissated or nearly so; I then take of this
inspissated tar one hundred and seventy parts; linseed oil, twenty;
rosin, ten; Burgundy pitch, twenty; lard oil or palm, two; and boil
them together. I occasionally add to these wax or other suitable
substances. The proportions may be varied according to the hardness
required. No 2, I take of india-rubber, softened with naptha and
turpentine, two parts; ground peat or bark, two; and mix and knead
them perfectly together. N° 3, I take gutta percha or caoutchouc,
and dissolve it with gentle heat in a sufficient quantity of
gas
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it
to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in
part recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, the employment of belts or bands, woven or otherwise
manufactured as tubes, for the purposes above set forth.
Secondly, as applied to coating or cementing the tubes as aforesaid,
or other belts or bands used for the purposes above set forth, the
following substances:-N° 1, a composition, of which inspissated or
partially inspissated gas tar forms a part. N° 2, a composition formed
of india-rubber and ground peat or bark. N° 3, gutta percha or
caoutchouc dissolved in gas tar.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert William Waithman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
ROBT WM WAITHMAN. (LS.)