Improvements in the Manufacture of Leather Belting.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application. 27th June, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 26th Mar., 1897-Accepted, 26th June, 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Leather Belting.
I, EDWARD FRANK SARGEANT of Linden Villa, Lower Street, Stroud, in the
County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Belts known in the trade as Sampsons leather belts are made by uniting the
edges of long leather strips cut spirally out of the butt by sewing them by hand
with a kind of welt stitch, while they are stretched and tacked to a table. Double
belts are made by pegging two such single belts back to back, so that the sewing
is entirely concealed and protected from injury.
Under my invention propose to accomplish this sewing by a machine as
follows:-
I take the strips after they are cut and stretched and mount them side by side
on a backing which may, or may not, be in long continuous strips, with some
adhesive compound or with pegs, tacks, or brads. The strips so mounted are then
passed through a sewing machine arranged to sew the strips together with a welt
stitch, or to sew the strips to the backing with an ordinary stitch with thread or
wire in which case the backing is the means of holding the strips together; or
the machine may be arranged to drive metal binders across the joints, or to sew
with wire or thread trausversely across the belt from edge to edge through the
substance of the leather.
For some purposes I prefer to omit the sewing altogether and to mount the
strips on a backing by means of a strong cement which together with the backing
may in some cases be preferably waterproof.
Double belts I make by pegging or sewing two single belts together back to
back.
Dated this 27th day of June 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Leather Belting.
I, EDWARD FRANK SARGEANT, of Linden Villa, Lower Street Stroud, in the
County of Gloucester, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Belts known in the trade as Sampsons leather belts are made by uniting the
edges of long leather strips cut spirally out of the butt by sewing them by hand
with a kind of welt stitch, while they are stretched and tacked to a table. Double
belts are made by pegging two such single belts back to back, so that the sewing
is entirely concealed and protected from injury.
Under my invention I accomplish this sewing by a machine as follows:-
I take the strips after they are cut and stretched and mount them side by side on
a backing which may, or may not, be in long continuous strips, with some adhesive
compound or with pegs, tacks or brads. The strips so mounted are then passed

page_text: through a sewing machine arranged to sew the strips together with a welt stitch,
or to sew the strips to the backing with an ordinary stitch with thread or wire in
which case the backing is the means of holding the strips together; or the machine
may be arranged to drive metal binders across the joints, or to sew with wire or
thread transversely across the belt from edge to edge through the substance of the
leather.
For this purpose I employ any of the machines mentioned in my Specification
No. 10512 of the year 1896 and I add to the sewing tables of these machines the
arrangement shewn in sectional elevation at Figure 1 of the accompanying
drawings. TT is part of the table shewn in Figure 5 of No. 10512, the feed
rods, SS is the side view of the leather strips between the tension apparatus at
one end and the finished roll at the other; A are standards resting on the floor
with a vertical slot A in which is placed a shaft A carrying a drum A' on which
is wound a roll of the backing C. A weight W having pins W₁ and W' which
are guided by the slot A³ rests on the top of the roll of canvas and acts as a brake
to keep it in tension as it is pulled off. The canvas passes between two glueing
rollers G and G2 and over a roller R to the underside of the strips resting on the
table; a roller R¹ held down by helical springs R2 presses on the surface of the
leather. Rollers G G and R are preferably made hollow, and their shafts have
stuffing boxes through which steam or hot water can be circulated. G₁ revolves
in a tank heated by gas jets or otherwise containing melted glue. On the shafts
carrying G and G are ratchet wheels G and G and oscillating feed arms P
and Pa carrying at their ends links P3 and P which are reciprocated by the side
rods e (see Figure 5 of No. 10512) and also pawls Ps and P. The shaft carrying
reller G is preferably mounted in bearings which slide horizontally and having
springs which press roller G2 against G. The action is as follows:-At each
forward motion of bar e the strips S S are drawn forward and carry with them
the canvas; glue rollers G' and G2 are also revolved from the bar e by links P³
and P, oscillating arms Pl and P and pawls P and P; the glue is carried by G
from tank G and is transferred to the canvas and at the same time the roller G¹
warms the underside of the strips S S. As the strips pass forward roller R' presses
the leather and canvas together. The sewing can either be done now or the belt
can be wound up and the sewing done at some subsequent time without the
intervention of some special device to individually stretch the strips.
Instead of the roller R¹ I prefer to employ the arrangement shewn in Figure 2
to press the leather and canvas together. P is a heavy platten preferably covered
on the underside with indin-rubber; it is provided with lugs / pivotally connected
to links themselves pivotted to the side frames of the table; the side rods e
carry a pawl S engaging in a single notch in segment S rocking on shaft S'. The
action is as follows; As bar e moves forward pawl S2 turns segment S until it is
raised from out of the notch owing to the pawl having to rise as it comes in contact
with the curved part of the segment; segment S is connected to the links
carrying the platten by link P and as it revolves it raises the platten and allows
the strips S S to travel forward; when the notch escapes from pawl the platten
falls back on to the strips and the segment returns to its first position.
If the strips are to be joined by staples the backing should as shown be fed in
below them but if by a welt stitch sewing machine above them and the apparatus
should be placed above instead of below the table.
The whole glueing device may be omitted and the canvas may be simply sewn
to the strips.
According to another method I proceed as follows:-I prepare the leather to
receive glue by scraping and roughing as is at present done in making ordinary
double leather belts; I next fasten one end of each strip to one end of a long
table and apply a strain at the other end till the strips lie flat side by side; if the
etrips do not lie perfectly straight I keep them in their proper places by means of
wood pegs driven through the leather into the table; I then apply to the upper
surface of the strips by means of belt makers glue a backing of canvas or other

page_text: suitable material. When the glue has set the leather strips and canvas are sewu
together or the edges of the strips are connected by a welt stitch or otherwise.
To accomplish this sewing however it is not necessary to sew the strips while
in tension, as the necessary individual tension or compression is preserved to each
strip by means of the backing which unites them all together.
Or I may dispense with the glue altogether, and instead of fastening the strips
down to the ends of the tables fasten them at one end, together with a suitable
backing to a clamp which can be pulled along the surface of the table but which
is held back by a chain passing over a pulley and having a weight on its lower end
which can rise and fall in a well passing through the floors of the factory.
1 attach the strips at their other ends, after having stretched them individually,
to the barrel of a windlass by means of a clamping bar running parallel with the
axle of the barrel and drawn to it by screws, or by any other suitable means;
I place on or under the leather strips the layer of canvas or other backing and
stretch it and fasten it to the windlass drum at one end by means of the clamp or
otherwise. I then turn the windlass and draw in the strips and canvas together,
wrapping them in a coil on the drum, the general tension being preserved by means.
of the chain passing round the pulley raising the weight. When the strips are
wound up the drum is removed from the windlass and placed in the stand A
Figure 1 with the weight W resting on the top of the coil. The glue rollers G¹
and G2 are removed and the end of the belt is taken over the roller R and along
the table to the roller a' (Figure 5 of Specification 10512), the sewing machines
are placed on the table between the roller R and the roller a¹ of No. 10512. As
the belt is wound up on roller a¹ of No. 10512 it is drawn off the drum in the
standards A a uniform teusion being put on the belt by the frictional resistance of
the weight W. A single sewing machine cau be used to sew a welt stitch or any
other suitable stitch down one seam at a time uniting two strips to the canvas and
to one another. When a seam the whole length of the belt is thus sewn all the
belt will be wound on drum a¹ (Figure 5 of Specification No. 10512). The end of
the belt must be fastened with tacks to the finished coil so that it will not come
unwound, and the drum a¹ removed from the shaft a² (of Figure 5 No. 10512) and
placed in standard A Figure 1; a new drum must be placed on shaft a² (Figure 5
of No. 10512) and the operation repeated down another seam, and so on till all the
seams are sewn. It is however preferable to use a separate sewing machine to
each seam.
For some purposes I prefer to omit the sewing altogether and to mount the
strips on a backing by means of a strong cement which together with the backing
may in some cases be preferably waterproof.
Double belts I make by pegging or sewing two single belts together back to
back.
By the use of the canvas a means is afforded of storing the strips for an indefinite
time while they are in a proper state of individual tension, without the necessity
for sewing them until the belt is actually wanted for use, the belt being much
better for being made some time before it is used, the sewing in belts however
deteriorates on keeping. The canvas is further of advantage in assisting the
sewing to keep the strips together when the belts are at work so that they do not
rely upon the sewing alone.
The canvas I prefer to employ as a suitable backing is merchant navy canvas.
Or 1 employ a backing of leather and so form a double leather belt at one
operation; where this backing is in longitudinal strips these strips 'must be
arranged to "break joint" with the leather strips.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Belts of the class referred to consisting of leather strips mounted on a backing
substantially as described.

page_text: 2. The use in the manufacture of belts of the class referred to of a backing for
the purpose of preserving the individual strain of the strips substantially as
-described.
3. The methods substantially as described for the manufacture of leather
belting.
E. F. SARGEANT.