IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELTING FOR DRIVING MACHINERY AND FOR OTHER PUR- POSES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE.”
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Walton, of Heatham House, Twickenham, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BELTING FOR DRIVING MACHINERY AND FOR OTHER PUR-
POSES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Walton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd May 1879.
FREDERICK WALTON, of Heatham House, Twickenham, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELTING FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH
MANUFACTURE."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of belting for
driving machinery and for other purposes, and in apparatus to be used in such
manufacture.
Belts have heretofore been made in a variety of ways, amongst others by cutting
strips from leather hides and cementing several plics of cotton fabric together with
india rubber or gutta percha.
My Invention consist in the application of solidified oils to the manufacture of
machinery bands or belting in the following manner. I make a cement composed
of solidified oil and a small proportion of resin, which oil may either be oxidized until
solid by exposure to the atmosphere, or made semi-solid by continuous boiling at a
high temperature.
This cement I use either simply mixed with pigments and dryers, or made into
a paste by means of turpentine, naptha, or other solvents.
I apply these cements to stout cotton or linen fabrics by means of rollers or
spreading machines.
In one method I combine two or three layers by passing the fabric through
rollers and feeding the dough or paste between the fabrics. These combined fabrics
I split into the required width. I then take a single fabric on which the com-
position has been spread by rollers; this fabric which is intended to serve as a
covering or wrapper is about double the width of the strip afore mentioned.
After being passed through a pair of rollers to combine the covering with the
strip, the loose ends are folded over. The piece of belting thus produced is then
437

page_text: sewn with a machine along each side of the joint, and after being brushed or other-
wise dressed with a thin composition of oxidised oil is dried by steam heat. It is
then passed through a machine, the object of which is two-fold; first, to regulate the
stretch of the fabric; and secondly, to produce a fine moulded appearance in the
surface and edges of the belting.
•
The machine consists of two steam heated cylinders, having grooves into which
the belting is received, and there are also pressing rollers entering the grooves and
compressing the belting. The second cylinder is driven at a somewhat higher
surface speed than the first.
The cement is used soft and is afterwards hardened off by heat. Driers, such as
oxides of lead or lime, are used. This belting is entirely unaffected' by oil and
most of the ordinary solvents when once hardened off.
I also in some cases sew the belts with soft copper or other wire by means of a
strong card setting machine. The staples being set are turned over and forced
below the surface of the fabric which is afterwards dressed with composition and
finished in the machine.
I also in some cases dress or saturate woollen and cotton belts of single ply with
a solution or varnish of oxidised oil dissolved in naptha or turpentine, and then
dry and subject the belts to pressure and stretching in the machine described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Walton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
November 1879.
FREDERICK WALTON, of Heatham House, Twickenham, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BELTING FOR DRIVING
MACHINERY AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN SUCH
MANUFACTURE."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of belting for
driving machinery and for other purposes, and in apparatus to be used in such
manufacture.
Belts have heretofore been made in a variety of ways, amongst others, by cutting
strips from leather hides and cementing several plies of cotton fabric together with
india rubber or gutta percha
My Invention consists in the application of solidified oils to the manufacture of
machinery bands or belting in the following manner :-I employ a woven fabric
such as stout cotton duck, and I prepare the fabric by priming its surface with a
composition of the following materials, viz:—

page_text: The solvent is employed in such proportion that a thick treacle like composition
is obtained. A small proportion of ochre may also with advantage be added.
In order to spread this composition on to the duck or fabric, the apparatus
well known as a knife spreader may conveniently be employed. The composition
is so applied as to form a thin film, and both the sides of the fabric are coated.
I then take two fabrics thus prepared and with the priming upon them still in
a somewhat soft and adhesive state, and I combine or connect the two fabrics
together by means of a composition of the following ingredients :-
Oxidised oil
Kaurie gum
Resin
20 parts.
3
"
-
Ochre or other dry color
Unslacked lime -
-
1 part.
20 parts.
:-
1 part.
These materials are thoroughly mixed and worked together to a state suited for
rolling; if the mixture should prove a little hard it may be softened by the
addition of a small quantity of semi-oxidised oil, or preferably of a little coal
naphtha or turpentine.
I pass the two prepared fabrics together between a pair of rollers set at a suitable
distance apart leading one fabric round one of the rollers and the other around the
other roller. The composition is placed between the fabrics at the nip of the rolls,
and as the rollers revolve, being drawn in with the fabrics, it forms a thin connecting
layer between the fabrics of the thickness, say, of a stout card. The composition
may be rendered more adhesive if desired by the addition of a further quantity of
rosin. This double fabric is divided into strips of the width to form a driving belt,
say three, four, or more inches. I then proceed to enclose each strip in a wrapper
of about three times its width. The wrapper consists of a duck fabric primed and
coated on both sides, as above described, except that in preparing the composition
for the surface which is to form the exterior of the driving belt I substitute shellac
for rosin. A convenient way in which to apply the coating is by the use of a pair
of rollers in the manner already described, but with a wetted cloth passed around
one of them. The composition having been rolled between the two cloths the wet
one is stripped off, which can be done without difficulty, the moisture preventing
adhesion. Whilst the composition is in a semi-dry state, both upon the double
strip and upon the wrapper, pass the two together between a pair of pressing
rollers which causes them to adhere. Then by suitable inclines fixed in front of
the rollers I cause the edges of the wrapper to be turned over so as completely
to envelope the strip; the strip and wrapper then pass together through a
rectangular mouth piece of suitable dimensions, and immediately beyond they are
pressed by a second pair of rolls which combines the whole, making the wrapper to
adhere firmly around the double strip within. The belt as it is thus produced is
rolled up loosely; powdered French chalk is made use of to prevent sticking. In
this state the belts are passed into a stove heated to about 110 to 120 Fahrenheit,
and they are kept there for 36 hours or more until the composition is sufficiently
hardened.
I
I afterwards finish the driving belts by stretching them whilst hot, and cooling
them when in the distended state; and in the same machine in which this is done
I mould and impart a finished appearance to the surfaces and edges. For these
purposes pass the belt around a steam heated roller and through a heated space
or chamber by which the composition is rendered soft. The roller is grooved to fit
the belt, which is laid in the groove three quarters around the roller, and the belt is
nipped and held in the groove by other small rollers. The belt, which is heated
and softened by passing around the heated roller and through the heated space or
chamber, next passes in a similar manner around a second grooved roller like the
first, but which is kept cold, it may be by the application of water or otherwise.
This second roller is driven, and by it the belt is drawn through the machine, the
first or steam heated roller being held by a brake so that the belt is exposed to a

page_text: considerable strain, and the strain can be regulated to suit the strength of the belt
under treatment. The belt leaves the rollers in a finished form.
India rubber may be mixed in the compositions, but I prefer to employ the
ingredients I have named without this admixture.
In some cases I use lighter cotton or linen cloths, and in place of three or four
plies I combine 6 or 7 together by rolling the composition between them, and split
the same into suitable widths. In place of folding the strips in a covering as
previously described I give them a thick coating of oxidised oil varnish combined
with a suitable colour, and when this has been thoroughly dried and hardened in a
steam oven I pass the belt through my stretching rolls, and produce a fine moulded
appearance on the belt. In some cases I sew the belt on each edge previously to
dressing and stretching the same, but as a rule I prefer to trust to the tenacity of
the composition to hold the plies securely.
I also, in some cases, sew the belts with soft copper or other wire by means of a
strong card setting machine. The staples being set are turned over and forced
below the surface of the fabric, which is afterwards dressed with composition, and
finished in the machine.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
First. The use in the manufacture of driving belts of oxidised or solidified oil
composition connecting plies of woven fabric, substantially as described.
Second. The method of and apparatus for finishing driving belts made by com-
bining woven fabrics by means of oxidised or solidified oil composition by which
the same are stretched and pressed whilst hot, and cooled whilst exposed to tension,
substantially as described.
Third. The manufacture of driving belts, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Walton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 29th day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.
FREDERICK WALTON. (L.S.)