IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING BELTS, STRAPS, AND BANDS FOR MACHINERY
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Blaikie at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th November
1854.
I, JOHN BLAIKIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING BELTS, STRAPS, AND BANDS FOR MACHINERY,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation and manufacture of belts, straps,
and bands, such as are used for driving machinery, and for other purposes, in
such manner as to produce perfect uniformity, as well in the main body of the
leather or material employed as at the junctions, where the overlapping of the
ends is effected. The leather or other material to be used in the manufacture
of the belt or band is first passed through a machine, for the purpose of
equalising the thickness of the material, by shaving or slicing off the superfluous
thickness of material wherever such superfluity may exist. This machine
consists of a rectangular frame, having at one end a roller or guide piece,
capable of being set up at a greater or less distance from a stationary cutter or
I.

page_text: knife. The band to be treated is entered by one end between the cutter or
knife and the roller or guage piece, and it is then forcibly drawn through
between these contiguous surfaces by a pulley or other suitable action. This
treatment causes the cutter or knife to slice off all the superfluous material,
and bring the band down to its requisite thickness and uniformity. After this
process, the band or piece of leather is passed through a somewhat similar
machine, or through the same machine, suitably arranged for the purpose of
bevilling the junction ends of the leather. To accomplish this action, the
thicknessing roller or guage piece, which is set parallel with the knife, is carried
upon the ends of the shorter arms of two curved or inclined levers, set on fixed
studs in the machine framing. The band is then drawn through as before
between the cutter and its guage piece or roller, this tractive action being
conveniently effected by a rack and pinion movement driving the holding clamp
for the end of the band. This traversing holder carries adjustable stud pins
made to bear on the upper sides of the longer arms of the two levers, with which
the cutter roller or guage piece is connected. Hence, as the traverse goes on,
and the leather is drawn through, the adjustable studs upon the transverse
details bear down upon the shaping levers, and cause the roller or guage piece
to gradually approach the cutting edge, and thus cause the cutter to make an
inclined or bevilled slice. The bevilled ends of such bands may be joined
together for use either by cement or stiching, or in any other convenient
manner. Bands or belts made in this way are perfectly uniform in thickness,
and they are for this reason far more effective in action than bands of the
common kind.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BLAIKIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Machinist,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Blaikie, Her special license that I, the said John Blaikie,

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Blaikie, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING BELTS, STRAPS, AND BANDS FOR MACHINERY," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Blaikie, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Blaikie, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the preparation and manufacture of belts,
straps, and bands, such as are used for driving machinery, and for other
purposes, in such manner as to produce perfect uniformity, as well in the main
body of the leather or material employed as at the junctions, where the over-
lapping of the ends is effected. The leather or other material to be used in
the manufacture of the belt or band is first passed through a machine, for the
purpose of equalising the thickness of the material, by shaving or slicing off
the superfluous thickness of material wherever such superfluity may exist. This
machine consists of a rectangular frame, having at one end a roller or guage
piece, capable of being set up at a greater or less distance from a stationary
cutter or knife. The band to be treated is entered by one end between the
cutter or knife and the roller or guage piece, and it is then forcibly drawn
through between these contiguous surfaces by a pulley or other suitable action.
This treatment causes the cutter or knife to slice off all the superfluous material,
and bring the band down to the requisite thickness and uniformity. After this
process, the band or piece of leather is passed through a somewhat similar
machine, or through the same machine, suitably arranged for the purpose of
bevilling the junction ends of the leather. To accomplish this action, the
thicknessing roller or guage piece, which is set parallel with the knife, is carried
upon the ends of the shorter arms of two curved or inclined levers, set on fixed
studs in the machine framing. The band is then drawn through as before

page_text: between the cutter and its guage piece or roller, this tractive action being
conveniently effected by a rack and pinion movement driving the holding clamp.
for the end of the band. This traversing holder carries adjustable stud pins,
made to bear on the upper sides of the longer, arms of the lever or levers, with
which the cutter roller.or guage piece is connected. Hence, as the traverse
goes on, and the leather is drawn through, the adjustable.studs upon the traverso
details bear down upon the shaping levers, and cause the roller or guage piece
to gradually approach the cutting edge, and thus cause the cutter to make an
inclined or bevilled slice. The bevilled ends of such bands may be jointed
together for use, either by cement or stitching, or in any other convenient
manner. Bands or belts made in this way are perfectly uniform in thickness,
and they are for this reason far more effective in action than bands of, the
common kind.
"
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed. to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached.
Figure 1. ou. the Sheet of, Drawings is a side elevation of my improved
machine for equalising the thickness of. belts for machinery; Figure 2 is a
plan; and Figures 3 and 4 are end elevations, looking on opposite; ends, and
corresponding to Figure 1. The details of the machine are carried in a
framing, consisting of a pair of parallel cast-iron side standards A, connected
together by tension rods B. The knife C, by means of which the belt is
reduced to the required uniform thickness, is situated close to the end D of the
frame, and it is fixed by having its two ends entered into slots in the side
standards A, being accurately adjusted by means of the external pinching
screws E. The. edge of the knife is towards the end D of the machine, and
the belt F to be operated upon passes under it, and between it and a roller G,
carried in eyes in the ends of two short levers H, indicated by dotted lines in
Figure 1. The levers H are fast on a transverse spindle I, turning in eyes
in the side standards; and this spindle has also formed or fixed upon it a long
lever J, which has a graduated segment K formed on its outer end. By raising-
or lowering the lever J, the roller G is made to recede from or approach the
cutting edge of the knife C, and by so doing the thickness to which the belt is
to be reduced is accurately determined, the graduated segment K serving as
an index by which the position of the roller G is regulated. The belt F is
stretched upon the surface of the roller G, so as to be presented to the knife
edge in a uniform tight manner, by means o
of a bar L, capable of adjustment to
suit the thickness of the belt under treatment. After passing under the knife C,
the belt F passes on over the roller M and the driving spindle N, and thence to

page_text: the-winding-up-barrel O. The spindle of this barrel has keyed upon it.a. spur
wheel P, in gear with a pinion Q, fast on the spindle,N, upon which is also
fixed a winch handle R. By turning this handle R the barrel O is made to
wind up. the, belt F, and so draws it through between the roller G. and the
knife C, and by these means the belt is reduced to a uniform thickness, the knife
taking off all the material of the belt which exceeds the thickness for which
the apparatus is set: Arrangements are provided in the same machine for
bevilling. or. tapering the junction ends of the belt. This bevilling is effected
by-causing the roller & to gradually approach the knife.C as the belt is drawn
through the machine. When the end of the belt is to be bevilled, it is not
drawn through the machine by the barrel O, but is held between a bar, S, which
is capable of, sliding in slots. Tyin, the side standards, A, and an adjustable
clamp piece U, linked to an upper, bar, V, which is adjusted upon the bar S by
means of a screw W, so as to draw the clamp, U up against the under side of
the bar, and so nip the belt between itself and the bar... A transverse horizontal
spindle, X is arranged to work in eyes formed on the ends of the bar S, and,
passing through the slots-T-in the side standards, has pinions. Y fixed on its
overhanging ends, these pinions being in gear with horizontal racks Z bolted
to the side standards. A winch handle a is fixed on one end of the spindle X,
and by turning it, the bar Swill be made to traverse, along the slots T, in
consequence of, the action of the pinions Y on the racks Z. At the part of
the bar S which is immediately over the lever J is a screw pin, b, which, as tlie
bar. S, traverses, away from the end D of the machine, gradually depresses
the lever J. By these means, as the end of the belt is being drawn between
the knife C and the roller G, the latter is made. to gradually approach the
knife,, which consequently cuts more and more deeply into the material, finally
getting quite through it, and producing a regularly formed bevil upon the end
of the belt. The length of the bevil or inclined portion of the belt is regulated
by adjusting the screw pin b, so as to commence its action on the lever J at a
point nearer to or further from its centre of oscillation. The length of the bevil
is also determined. means of a guage piece c, at the end D of the machine,
being held in an adjustable socket piece d, screwed to one of the tension bars B.
The guage c is set at a distance from the knife edge C, corresponding to the
length of bevil to be given to the end of the belt, and the belt is introduced in
such a manner that its extreme end will just reach the guage c at the com-
mencement of the bevilling action. It is obvious, that instead of making the
cutter fixed or stationary, the guide roller being adjustable or moveable, as
herein-before described, the same result may be obtained by making the
roller stationary, whilst the cutter is made moveable or adjustable, for deter-

page_text: mining the thickness of the belt, or for forming the bevil or taper upon it.
And it is also obvious that for the guide roller a guide guage piece of other
form may be substituted with the like result..
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-.
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery, apparatus, or
means to be employed in the manufacture of driving belts, straps, and bands
for machinery, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of reducing a driving belt, strap, or band to
a uniform thickness by drawing it between a cutting edge and a guide roller
or guage piece, adjusted at a suitable distance asunder, as herein-before
described.
Third, the system or mode of bevilling or tapering the end of a driving belt,
strap, or band, by passing it between a cutting edge and a guide roller, or guide
guage piece, one of which details is made to gradually approach the other as
the belt as drawn between them, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Blaikie, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
INO RI ALIIE A
INO RI ALKIE
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