IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS AND BELTING GEAR FOR DRIVING MACHINERY
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jones, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS AND
BELTING GEAR FOR DRIVING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 11th October 1878, and dated the 10th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said William Jones at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th August 1878.
WILLIAM JONES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS AND BELTING GEAR FOR DRIVING MACHINERY."
This Invention relates to belts or bands and belting gear such as are used for
driving machinery, and has for its object to secure greatly increased strength whilst
reducing the weight and first cost of the belting.
The inconvenience attendant on the stretching of ordinary belts is also by the
present Invention entirely removed.
The improvements consist, principally, in employing as a substitute for the
expensive leather or rubber belts at present in use one or more thin strips of steel,
iron, or other suitable metal, which may be rivetted, brazed, or otherwise connected
at the ends to form an endless band or bands of the desired length. The pulleys
to be used with these bands in transferring notion from one shaft to another, or in
driving machinery, instead of being turned smooth as usual are, by preference, left
rough as cast in the foundry, and a coating of vulcanized rubber is applied to the
peripheral surface of each pulley either in the form of a rubber band passed over it
or when more convenient by wrapping a band of rubber cloth round the pulley, and
causing it to adhere by means of rubber solution or other similar substance. By
this arrangement a very strong but extremely light band or belt may be used to
drive machinery at any speed, and the slip of the belt on its pulleys is reduced to a
minimum.
Instead of covering the pulleys with rubber other substances, such as gutta
percha, cloth, or any similar material offering considerable frictional resistance to

page_text: the slipping of the bands may be used; and in some cases, as when the belts or
bands are made to fit tightly, the covering of the pulleys may be entirely dispensed
with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Jones in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th October
1878.
"IM-
WILLIAM JONES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
PROVEMENTS IN BELTS OR BANDS AND BELTING GEAR FOR DRIVING MACHINERY."
My said Invention relates to belts or bands and belting gear such as are used for
driving machinery, and has for its object to secure greatly increased strength whilst
reducing the weight and first cost of the belting.
The inconvenience attendant on stretching of ordinary belts is also by my present
Invention entirely removed.
The improvements consist, principally, in employing as a substitute for the
expensive leather or rubber belts at present in use one or more thin strips of steel,
iron, brass, or other suitable metal, which may be rivetted, brazed, or otherwise
connected at the ends to form an endless band or bands of the desired length. The
pulleys or wheels to be used with these bands in transferring motion from one shaft
to another, or in driving machinery, instead of being turned smooth as usual are,
by preference, left rough as cast in the foundry (but existing smooth-turned pulleys
may also be used), and a coating of vulcanised rubber is applied to the peripheral
surface of each pulley either in the form of a rubber band passed over it, or, when
more convenient, by wrapping a strip of rubber cloth round the pulley, and causing
it to adhere by means of rubber solution or other similar substance. By this
arrangement a very strong but extremely light band or belt may be used to drive
machinery at any speed, and the slip of the belt on its pulley is reduced to a
minimum.
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same,
may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
presently to be referred to, and representing one modification of my improvements.
In these Drawings the same reference letters are used to mark the same or like parts
where they are repeated.
Figure 1 is an elevation and Figure 2 is a plan of one form of my improved belts
and gearing, in which a metallic belt A is shown in position as communicating
motion from a pulley B on one shaft C to a second pulley D on another shaft E.
The peripheries of the pulleys B, D, in this example are covered with cloth impreg-
nated with rubber, and the belt A which is passed over the pulleys is connected or
joined at the ends by a hinge F, rivetted to them so as to form an endless band.
This mode of connecting the ends of the belt is very advantageous in cases where
the shafting is so arranged that an endless band cannot be passed over the pulleys;
and by the interposition of the hinge F instead of directly joining the ends together
the risk of the belt breaking at the joint is avoided,

page_text: When belts of considerable length are required, and the metallic strips are not
easily procurable sufficiently long, two or more strips or lengths may be joined
together by means of a hinge or hinges to form a single band; and in like manner
when by accident a breakage occurs the belt may be quickly repaired by joining
the broken ends together with a hinge.
Instead of covering the pulleys with rubber other substances, such as gutta
percha, cloth, or any similar inaterial offering considerable frictional resistance to
the slipping of the bands, may be used; and in some cases, as when the belts or
bands are made to fit tightly, the covering of the pulleys may be entirely dispensed
with:
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is performed, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated; but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The construction of belts or bands for driving machinery of iron, steel, or other
similar metallic strips, substantially as herein-before described.
2. The application of a covering of rubber, cloth, or other adhesive material to
pulleys to prevent slipping of metallic or other belts thereon, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Jones, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Vitness,
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER, C.E.,
Patent Agent,
134, St. Vincent Street,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM JONES. (L.S.)