AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BELTING
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Batley, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BELTING."
-A communication from abroad by Charles Lezaire, of Lille, in the
Empire of France.
Sealed the 19th March 1861, and dated the 16th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Batley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
January 1861.
I, JOHN BATLEY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
BELTING," to be follows:-
In preparing leather belting for driving machinery, it is usual to cut out of
sheet leather strips of a width equal to the width required for the band, and
to connect these pieces together end to end, to obtain the necessary length.
Now the object of this Invention is to produce driving bands of great
strength and of any required length without resorting to piecing. To this end
the leather, whether tanned or untanned, is cut into threads or narrow strips
of as great length as the hides will permit, and joined together to make long
strands. These strands are then mounted in a simple arrangement of loom.

page_text: after the manner of warp threads, and made to form sheds for the reception of
a similarly constructed weft thread of leather. The strands are thus woven or
plaited together and form a band of any desired width. When a sufficient
length has been produced to form a driving band it is removed from the loom
and passed between pressing rollers to render it as flat as possible; it is then
well greased, and the ends being coupled together it is ready for use. This
kind of band will take a good bite of the driving pulleys, and thus much loss
of power now experienced by the slip of ordinary driving bands will be avoided
by the use of the plaited leather band. If thought desirable, textile or metallic
strands may be introduced into the warp or weft of the woven or plaited
leather bands, the better to adapt them to the special uses to which they are
intended to be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Batley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th July 1861..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BATLEY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Batley, Her special license that I, the said John
Batley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Batley, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IM-
PROVED MANUFACTURE OF BELTING," being a communication from abroad by
Charles Lezaire, of Lille, in the Empire of France, upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said John Batley, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly 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 John Batley, do hereby declare'
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
In preparing leather belting for driving machinery, it is usual to cut out of
sheet leather strips of a width equal to the width required for the driving belt
or band, and to connect these pieces together end to end, to obtain the
necessary length. Now the object of this Invention, as communicated to me
from abroad, is to produce driving bands of great strength and of any required
length without resorting to piecing. In order to attain this object the Inventor
takes leather, whether tanned or untanned, and cuts it into threads or narrow
strips of as great length as the bides will permit, which strips he joins together
to make long strands. A given number of the strands thus made he mounts
in a simple arrangement of loom, after the manner of warp threads, to form
sheds for the reception of similarly constructed weft threads of leather. The
width of the shed will of course depend upon the breadth of belt desired to be
made, and the number of strands used for a given breadth of belt will vary
according to the width of the leather strands employed. By means of the weft
threads or strands interlacing the longitudinal strands, a plaited or woven
fabric is produced of any desired width, and suitable for conversion into
endless bands.
Although bands may be made, as above described, entirely of leather, yet, to
give closeness and firmness to the texture, it has been found desirable in
practice to introduce textile strands into the fabric. When great strength is
required, and flexibility of a limited amount will suffice, metallic strands may
be introduced with advantage into the warp, and woven or plaited into the
fabric. By these modifications the leather bands will be the better adapted to
the special uses to which they are intended to be applied.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn as an illustration of the Inven-
tion a mode of producing a plaited or woven leather band which has been
found to combine great strength with an amount of flexibility sufficient for
ordinary driving bands.
Fig. 1 represents the face of a portion of the fabric drawn full size, and
with a ravelled end; and Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same. The warp and
weft threads or strands are tinted of different colors, to shew more clearly the
structure of the fabric. The yellow strands a, a, and a, a, are the leather
warp strands, and the green strands b, b, b*, b*, are strands of hemp interposed
between the leather strands, and forming with them the shed for the reception

page_text: of the weft threads or strands c, c, which are shewn in red. These strands
c, c, are also of leather, and are used in pairs, each strand being introduced
into the same shed, but at opposite edges of the work, in order to produce a
firm selvage. By reference to the Drawing it will be seen that the strands c, c*,
cross each other at or near the middle of the fabric. A sufficient length
having been produced, it is removed from the loom and passed between
pressing rollers to render it as flat as possible; it is then well greased, or it
may be payed over with paint or other protecting covering, and the ends being
coupled together by any well known mode of coupling bands, the woven or
plaited driving band is ready for use. This kind of band will take a good bite
of the driving pulleys, and thus much loss of power now experienced by the slip
of ordinary driving bands will be avoided.
Ilaving now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Manu-
facture of Belting," as communicated to me from abroad, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim
the manufacture of belting by the plaiting together or interweaving of strands
of leather, whether alone or in combination with textile or other strands, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Batley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN BATLEY. (L.S.)