IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTING MADE OF FABRIC
Year: 1885

page_text: I, JOHN VAN DUSSEN REED of 28 Gt James Street, Bedford Row in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of said invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTING MADE OF FABRIC" a communication to me from
abroad by Benjamin L. Stowe of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State of
New York, United States of America and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to fabric belting, and is directed to means for protecting
the edges of such belting from wear due to the contact therewith of the shipper
forks or striking gear ordinarily employed for shifting belts from one pulley to
another. To this end I combine with the body of a fabric belt, projecting fabric
edges which receive all the friction and consequent wear that the belt would
otherwise be liable to receive from shipper-forks, and which are independent of the
belt, in the sense that they may be worn away and destroyed without injuring the
integrity of the main body of the belt, the latter being in the meanwhile itself
fully protected from injury arising from the cause above referred to.
In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a face view on a greatly enlarged
scale of a portion of a fabric belt embodying this improvement in its preferred
form. This belt is a knit belt, and on each edge (one only being shown) it has a
projecting edge knit simultaneously with the kuitting of the belt itself.
Figure 2 is a section of the same on line X-X Figure 1.
In the actual web or fabric the strands are of course packed closely together.
They are however represented in the drawing enlarged and widely separated in
order that the structure of the fabric may be more readily discerned.
In the face view (Figure 1) the fabric, for convenience of illustration, is
represented as developed, or spread out at the projecting edges, but in the actual
[ Price G

page_text: fabric each projecting edge is rolled up partly onto itself as seen in Figure 2, being
caused to assume this position by the draft or tension upon the weft.
Figures 3, 4 and 5, are views of modifications to be hereinafter referred to.
In the body of the knit fabric shown there are 3 sets of warp threads A B
and C. A and C are worked by a set of horizontal needles and B are worked by a
set of vertical needles, and the guide for these threads B has a longitudinal
reciprocatory motion equal to the distance from one needle to the second one from
it, said guide supplying a separate warp thread to each needle, and each warp
thread being fed alternately to one or the other of two contiguous vertical needles.
Warps A are fed to the needles by a similar guide-bar, but one that has sufficient
motion only to feed an individual warp to one and the same needle for each stitch.
Warps C which are small binding warps, are fed to the horizontal needles by a
guide which feeds a warp alternately to one or the other of two contiguous
needles. D are straight longitudinal strands laid in the fabric during the process
of knitting. E is the weft.
Having indicated in a general way the structure of the body of the belt, I come
now to the feature in which the improvement is found. Each edge of the fabric
belt (only one edge being shown) consists of an additional row of looped
stitches A similar to stitches A in the body of the fabric, but unlike the latter
they are not connected directly to, or interlaced with. the stitches B, but are
connected to the fabric only by the weft or filling E which passes through them,
and by the small binder warp C¹ which is knitted into each alternate looped
stitch A. These stitches A¹ forming an edge extending beyond the body of the
belt, are caused to assume the position shown in Figure 2, by drawing in the
weft E at the point where it passes through them sufficiently to cause them to
fold over upon the adjoining row of stitches B¹, and to fully protect all other parts
of the weft. I remark that on each edge, the outer row of stitches B¹, of the
main body of the belt are so manipulated that they will in the absence of the
projecting edge B₁ form in effect a selvedge as shown.
The stitches A¹ form a projecting edge which can be worn away and destroyed
without impairing the integrity of the body of the belt. The weft E is
comparatively safe from wear, the small binder warp C¹ which enters alternate
loops or stitches A¹ will be worn away with the loops into which it enters, but as
the office of said warp is merely to prevent the stitches A' from ravelling it will
at such time have already served its purpose. Figure 3 illustrates the application
of my improvement to a woven belt. The Figure is a plan view of a part of a
belt representing one edge only. F is the body of the belt and G is the projecting
fabric edge, which in this instance is a braided edge.
The manner in which this combination can be made will be readily understood
by those versed in the art, and requires no further explanation. In this Figure, as
in Figures 1 and 2, the strands are represented as very much enlarged and spread
apart, for convenience of illustration.
The projecting fabric edges just described are, it will be noted, ones which
criss-cross or zig-zag threads or strands to receive the wear of shipper forks so that
no long threads will be released when the edges become worn.
I prefer to obtain this result with edges which are incorporated with the body
of the belt during the process of manufacture, but the same result can measureably
be attained by the employment of separate projecting strips of fabric, cut bias,
and secured one to each edge of the belt by rivets, as in the sectional view,
Figure 4, where a is the belt, b the-bias strip, and c the rivet; or by stitching as
in the sectional view, Figure 5, where a bd represent the belt, the bias strip,
(in this instance folded) and the thread respectively the strips may also be attached
by cement or other convenient means.
The edges may be treated with rubber, oil paint or other substance that will
increase their resistance to friction.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim as my invention is
The combination with a fabric belt of separate projecting fabric edges secured
thereto or incorporated therewith, and having criss-cross or zig-zag threads to
receive the wear, substantially as herein before set forth.