AN IMPROVED. MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING LEATHER TO RENDER IT SUITABLE. FOR MAKING STRAPS, BELTS, OR BANDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John
Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED.
MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING LEATHER TO RENDER IT SUITABLE.
FOR MAKING STRAPS, BELTS, OR BANDS." -A communication from
abroad by Camille Eugène Bonnot, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France.
Sealed 'the 7th December 1869, and dated the 9th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th June 1869.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son,
5 of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING LEATHER TO RENDER IT
SUITABLE FOR MAKING STRAPS, BELTS, OR BANDS," a communication to me

page_text: from abroad by Camille Eugène Bonnot, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The apparatus the subject of this Invention is intended to prepare
leather or leathern belts, that is to say, to give to them a strength hitherto
unknown.
This machine permits the preparation of the pieces of leather by
giving to them a regulated width, it affords a great saving in labour and
material, with better workmanship than by ordinary processes, and
requires very little, power. It is composed of a table. A, B; C; D,
furnished with copper rules or straight edges E, E, which may be set at
any required distance apart by means of adjusting screws, and have
inclined bosses at their end. The table receives a motion from front to
back and from back to front according to the direction of the movement
given to the cylinders, hereafter mentioned. To facilitate this movement
the table also rests on two wooden rollers I, I, placed at the two ends of
the framing. The effect of the cylinder H is to powerfully compress the
leather between the rules. to bring it to a uniform width while increasing
its density, and consequently its strength.. These rules have shoulders:
or licel pieces to keep the table between the cylinders. The table is
placed between a large cast-iron cylinder G occupying the centre space
comprised between the two side frames of the machine, and another
cylinder Hof bronze or other material fixed upon a screw threaded,
fluted, square, or many sided shaft by the aid of rings, nuts, keys, or
other means, and the breadth of which exactly equals the distance
existing between the two rules E, E, the two cylinders being made to
rotate in contrary directions.
I will now describe the mechanical arrangement for giving the
requisite movement to the cylinders H and G, which arrangement may
be worked by hand or other power. In the first case a crank M is set
on the shaft O carrying a cog P gearing with a toothed wheel R set on
the shaft of cylinder G, this shaft also carrying another toothed wheel S.
gearing with a third wheel T, and thus giving to the cylinder H a move-
ment in inverse direction to that of cylinder G. In the latter case
motion will be transmitted to the shaft O by means of pulleys and cog
wheels in the ordinary manner. The alternate motion is obtained by
means of self-acting gear governed either by the table itself or by any
kind of click according to the position in which the machine is to be set
up. At each end of the cylinder H is a flat bar of iron X furnished with

page_text: a weight, and intended to give the required pressure upon the leather;
the weight is moveable so that the pressure may be regulated by shifting
its position on the lever. These levers might also have suspended at
their ends a plate to carry the weights intended to give the pressure, to
be increased or lessened according to the breadth or the thickness of the
leather under treatment; and when very great pressure is required a
second set of levers may be used. As it will be necessary to operate
upon various breadths of belting the rules E, E, may be brought closer
or set further apart by adjusting screws, in which case the cylinder II
must be replaced by another, either larger or smaller according to the
space between the rules. To facilitate this substitution the levers X
are raised and the upper part removed from the cylinder of the shaft;
this latter is then itself removed, the rings or nuts unscrewed or slid
off; and, finally, the cylinder H is itself removed for the substitution of
another in like manner.
The table A, B, C, D, may be made of wood or of metal, and even of
marble or stone. The rules or straight edges may be fixed instead of
moveable, and might even be dispensed with by making a groove of the
desired width in the table, but in such case as many tables would be
needed as widths of band required. The cylinder H might also be of
one piece with its shaft, but then also as many cylinders would be
required as there might be widths to obtain. Finally, to facilitate the
work and prevent the sliding of the leather under the pressure of the
cylinder the leather is held at the end by a claw.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
o Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
5 second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING LEATHER TO RENDER
IT SUITABLE FOR MAKING STRAPS, BELTS, OR BANDS," a communication to
me from abroad by Camille Eugène Bonnot, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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 accompanying
Sheet of Drawing, and to the figures and letters of reference placed
thereon:-
The apparatus the subject of this Invention is intended to prepare
leather or leathern belts, that is to say, to give to them a strength hitherto
unattainable.
This machine permits the preparation of the pieces of leather while
giving to them a regulated width, it affords a great saving in labour and
material, with better workmanship than by ordinary processes, and
requires very little power.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing is a plan, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and
Fig. 3 an end view of this improved machine. It is composed of a
table A, B, C, D, furnished with rules or straight edges E, E, (preferably
of copper) which may be set at any required distance apart by means of
adjusting screws; these rules have sloping bosses at their ends. The
table receives a motion from front to back and from back to front

page_text: according to the direction of the movement given to the cylinders
hercin-after mentioned. To facilitate this movement the table also rests
on two wooden rollers I, I, placed at the two ends of the framing. The
effect of the cylinder H is to powerfully compress the leather between
the rules to bring it to a uniform width while increasing its density,
and consequently its strength. These rules have shoulders or heel
pieces to keep the table between the cylinders, which I will now describe.
The table is placed between a large cast-iron cylinder G occupying the
entire space comprised between the two side frames of the machine,
and another cylinder H of bronze or other material fixed upon a screw-
threaded, fluted, or many sided shaft, by the aid of rings, nuts, keys, or
other means, and the breadth of which exactly equals the distance
existing between the two rules E, E, the two cylinders being made to
rotate in contrary directions.
I will now describe the mechanical arrangement for giving the
requisite movement to the cylinders H and G, which arrangement may
be worked by hand or other power. In the first case a crank M. is set
on the shaft O carrying a cog P gearing with a toothed wheel R set on
the shaft of cylinder G; this shaft also carrying another toothed
wheel S gearing with a third wheel T, and thus giving to the cylinder H
a movement in inverse direction to that of cylinder G. In the latter
case motion will be transmitted to the shaft O by means of pulleys and
cog wheels in the ordinary manner. The alternate motion is obtained
by means of self-acting reversing gear governed either by the table
itself or by any kind of click according to the position in which
the machine is to be set up. At each end of the cylinder H is a flat
bar of iron X furnished with a weight and intended to give the required
pressure upon the leather. The weight is moveable so that the pressure
may be regulated by shifting its position on the lever. These levers
might also have suspended at their ends a plate to carry the weights
intended to give the pressure to be increased or lessened according to
the breadth or the thickness of the leather under treatment, and when
very great pressure is required a second set of levers may be used. As
it will be necessary to operate upon various breadths of belting the
rules E, E, may be brought closer or be set further apart by adjusting
screws, in which case the cylinder H must be replaced by another either
larger or smaller according to the space between the rules. To facilitate
this substitution the levers X are raised and the upper part removed

page_text: from the cylinder of the shaft; this latter is then itself removed, the
rings or nuts unscrewed or slid off, and, finally, the cylinder H is itself
removed for the substitution of another in like manner.
The table A, B, C, D, may be made of wood or of metal, and even of
marble or stone, and the other parts of the machine of any metal or
material which may be found suitable. The rules or straight edges may
be fixed instead of moveable, and might even be dispensed with by
making a groove of the desired width in the table, but in such case
as many tables would be needed as widths of band required. The
cylinder H might also be of one piece with its shaft, but then also as
many cylinders would be required as there might be widths to obtain.
Finally, to facilitate the work, and prevent the sliding of the leather
under the pressure of the cylinder, the leather is held at the end by
a claw.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Third day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)