IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STRAPS OR BELTS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Eustace Wigzell, Joseph Pollit,
and William Mellor at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th November 1874.
•
We, EUSTACE WIGZELL, JOSEPH POLLIT, Engineers, and WILLIAM
MELLOR, Mechanic, all of Sowerby Bridge, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF STRAPS OR BELTS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of
straps or belts for driving machinery, which we accomplish in the
following manner:-We cause strips of paper, bark, or any other
vegetable substance, cotton, linen, or other textile fabric to be cut into
strips of various lengths and widths to suit the required widths and
thickness of the strap or belt proposed to be made; the said strips are
covered with a coat of liquid glue, varnish, or any other composition
that will protect the material composing the strap or belt from water or
the dampness of the atmosphere, then placed together in layers to the
required thickness and width and pressed by means of rollers or any
other mechanical application until all the pieces have adhered together.

page_text: Our Invention relates also to the manufacture of straps or belts from
pulp used in the manufacture of paper. In driving machinery by the
ordinary leather strap or belt great loss is experienced on account of
the large amount of friction on the journals caused by the tightness of
the strap, which is of a hard and slippy nature, and does not adhere to
the pullies; thus the same is constantly slipping, and the machine
revolving slow and irregular, resulting in a loss in the quantity and
quality of work being performed by the machine.
The object of our Invention is to produce a strap or beit at a much
less first cost, and prevent the same from slipping on the pullies whilst
the machine is in operation; the paper or vegetable substance of which
the strap is composed is of a softer and more flexible nature than leather,
thereby the same adheres or grips to the pullies with less tention on the
strap or belt than by the ordinary mode of driving, thus having less
friction on the journals and saving a great amount of time in repairing
the constant breaking of leather straps on account of the great tention
required to drive the machine, and obtaining a more steady and uniform
speed in the machine, which is of great public advantage.
The method we employ whereby we manufacture straps or belts is
identically the same as the mode in which strong paper or millboard is
manufactured; so far as the pulp is concerned this is prepared in various
lengths and widths and thicknesses suitable to the purposes for which
they are intended; the seare entirely covered or faced with canvas, and
varnished or faced with suitable substance to preserve the belt or strap
from absorbing moisture.
A modification of this mode of manufacture is to place strips of cotton,
linnen, or paper side by side, the width of the strap being made of three
strips placed side by side; a further modification is the placing of thin
paper of the required width upon cach other until the required thickness
of belt is obtained, and fastened together by glue or other adhesive
composition, & faced with canvas as before explained.