Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 14th May, 1886.
Complete Left, 14th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 15th Mar., 1887.
I CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY of Silvertown Works, Silvertown in the County of
Essex, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
Hitherto, in the manufacture of Belting from plies of Cotton Duck, it has been
usual to fold over the cloth longitudinally until the requisite number of plies to
produce the required strength of fabric has been obtained, a coating of cement of
India Rubber having been previously given to the cloth. Belting thus made is very
liable, while in use, to open up between the plies, and destroy the homogeneity of the
fabric. Moreover, the cost of the manufacture, owing to the necessity for employing
skilled labour, is considerable.
I now propose to cut up the Cotton Duck into strips the full length required for the
belt, and of the width of the belt to be manufactured, the fabric having been
previously coated with india rubber cement. By means of pressure rollers, I effect
the adhesion of any desired number of layers of these strips, and subsequently secure
them by rows of stitches. The fabric I then face, as usual, with india rubber com-
pound, either by hand, or by passing it through a die, as when coating wire cables.
In this way, I not only obtain a firmer and more lasting fabric, but I am enabled
greatly to reduce the cost of manufacturing the Belting.
NEWTON & SON.
Agents for the Applicant,

page_text: I CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY of Silvertown Works, Silvertown in the County of
Essex, Engineer 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-
Hitherto in the manufacture of Belting from plies of Cotton Duck, it has been
usual to fold over the cloth longitudinally until the requisite number of plies to
produce the required strength of fabric has been obtained, à coating of India Rubber
cement having been previously given to the cloth. Belting thus made is very liable,
while in use, to open up between the plies, and destroy the homogeneity of the fabric.
Moreover the cost of the manufacture, owing to the necessity for employing skilled
labour, is considerable.
I now propose to cut up the cotton duck into strips the full length required for the
belt, and of the width of the belt to be manufactured, the fabric having been previously
coated with india rubber cement. By means of pressure rollers, I effect the adhesion
of any desired number of layers of these strips, and subsequently secure them by
rows of stitches. The compound fabric I then face, as usual, with india rubber com-
pound, either by hand or by passing it through a die, as when coating wire cables,
and I complete the manufacture of the india rubber belting in the usual way.
In order that my new mode of working may be clearly understood, I will proceed
to describe the several stages of the manufacture, reference being had to the accom-
panying drawings
:-
The cotton duck which I employ is woven of any desired width, say, for example,
4 feet, and will measure some 300 feet in length. A piece of this kind (the thickness of
which will depend on the judgment of the manufacturer) I submit to the action of
rollers for applying thereto a coating of india rubber on both its faces. An arrange-
ment of rollers suitable for this purpose is illustrated in the diagram, Fig. 1, where
A is the cotton duck to be faced with india rubber, B is the supporting roller for the
fabric, C is a friction roller for applying the india rubber coating to the woven fabric,
and D is a feeding roller which is geared with the friction roller C, and rotates at the
same surface speed.
The india rubber compound is fed into the bite of these rollers, and being carried
round in a thin film by the roller C, is deposited upon and rubbed into the upper face
of the cotton duck. A travelling motion is given to this fabric by means of the
supporting roller B, which having an inferior surface speed to that of the roller C,
presents the fabric to the rubbing action of that roller in the manner well known to
manufacturers of india rubber belting.
When one face of the fabric has been submitted to the action of the roller C, the
other face is brought into contact therewith, and is similarly coated with the india
rubber compound. In this manner I proceed to prepare any given number of pieces
for conversion into belting according to my invention; thus far the old process of

page_text: manufacture is preserved. The next operation is to submit any desired number of the
india rubber coated fabrics, say, for example, four, to pressure between heated pressing
rollers, to consolidate them into a compound fabric while the india rubber is still tacky,
and next to cut up the compound fabric into strips of such width as may be required
for forming belting.
Fig. 2 shows in diagram plan the arrangement of mechanism employed for this
purpose, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same. The coated fabrics, as they leave
the machine, Fig. 1, are wound upon drums similar to those shown at E E, Fig. 3.
These drums, when placed in the consolidating and dividing machine, are mounted at
different elevations, so as to admit of the fabrics with which they are charged passing
to the bite of a pair of heated pressing rollers F F, without coming into contact with
one another until they have approached the bite of the rollers.
The upper roller is driven through gearing from the main driving shaft G, and
the bite of the roller F¹ is adjusted by screws actuated by worms and worm wheels in
the well known manner of setting up rollers. The several coated fabrics, in passing
between the rollers FF, are caused to combine together, thereby forming, as shewn at
Fig. 2, a four-ply fabric. The compound fabric may however have any desired
number of plies to suit the character of belting desired. Thus, I propose to make
belts with two plies, or any other number, extending to say twelve plies, which number
will seldom require to be exceeded. The compound fabric thus produced I lead under
a set of rotating knives, thence under a guide roller H to a compound take-up roller.
This roller is composed of a series of cylindrical cores 1, which are intended to receive
the several strips into which the compound fabric is severed. These cores I fit onto
a square axle I mounted, like all the shafts of this machine, in suitable bearings
carried by the side frames. The number of the cores I and their length will depend
on the number and width of the strips into which it is designed to cut the compound
fabric. A collar is formed on one end of the axle 1' to take the pressure of a disc i,
which is strung upon the axle. Pressed up to the disc are the several cores I com-
posing the compound roller. At the other end of this roller a second disc is fitted
to the axle I, and it is secured in place by a tightening nut working on a screw
thread cut on the axle I. Rotary motion is applied to this axle through a pulley I²
from a driving belt not shewn in the drawing.
When, therefore, the consolidated fabric is connected to this compound roller I, and
rotary motion is imparted thereto, the fabric will be drawn forward and wound up
upon that roller.
Situated immediately in front of the pressing rollers F F' is a squared axle K,
which rotates in bearings in the side frames, and is fitted to receive a rapid rotary
motion, say some 700 rotations per minute. It is upon the squared axle K that the
knives for cutting the fabric into strips are mounted. K K represent a series of
circular knives which are capable of lateral adjustment to suit the width of strips into
which it is desired to cut the compound fabric, a square hole at the centre of these
knives ensures their rotating with their axle, and they are spaced by inserting
between them sleeves K² corresponding to the width of the strips desired, and to the
length of the corresponding cores I, which are intended to receive those strips. Thus,
if the compound fabric is to be divided up into strips of uniform width, the length
of the cores and of the sleeves K will be uniform, but a variation in the width of
the strips will necessitate a corresponding variation in the length of the sleeves, and
of the cores, on which they are to be severally wound. When this consolidating and
dividing machine is set in action, the compound fabric will, by passing under the
the knives K, be severed into the determined number of strips, until the whole
length of the piece has been cut up, and the strips, as they are formed, will be wound
upon the cores I ready for removal from the machine.
On the completion of the consolidation and dividing up of one length of the pre-
pared fabric, the core axle l' is lifted out of its bearings, the nut and its adjacent dise
are removed from the axle, and the cores I, laden with the coiled strips, are withdrawn,
to be replaced by empty cores. The next operation is to coat the edges of the coiled

page_text: strips with a solution of india rubber compound, and this is done while the strips are
on their cores, the solution being applied by a brush.
In order to prevent the parting of the plies, I submit the strips to the action of a
sewing machine, laying therein some three or more parallel lines of stitches, which
will remove all tendency of the plies to part when submitted to the strain to which
driving belts are exposed. Having passed the sewn strips through a pair of pressing
rollers to flatten down the stitching, I coat the whole strip with thin sheet compound
rubber, by lapping it in a strip of thin sheet rubber of a breadth, equal in measure-
ment to double the width and thickness of the strip of compound fabric combined,
and I then submit it to the curing operation. Or I may, as already explained, coat
the strip by passing it through a suitably shaped die fitted to a machine such as that
employed in coating wire. In either case I submit the coated strip to the vulcanizing
or curing operation in moulds under pressure.
A convenient way of carrying out this operation is to provide two moulds which
will take the form of open shallow troughs as shewn in the diagrams Figs. 4 and 5,
which represent the same in cross section and plan view. These moulds will measure
say some 10 feet or more in length, and may be formed with steam jackets. The
moulds L L are closed each by a press follower M, which forms the top of the mould.
The curing mould press is heated by steam to the desired temperature for vulcanizing,
and the fabric is submitted, in lengths corresponding to the length of the moulds or
troughs, to the curing process.
Supposing the fabric to measure 300 feet, I first find the middle of this length, and
secure that part of the fabric in one of the heated troughs, and bring down the press
follower upon it. Having cured a length say of 10 feet of the fabric in the mould, I
shift the fabric to bring the cured portion outside the mould, and I then insert in the
two heated moulds the portions of the fabric adjoining the cured portion, and having
cured thus much of the fabric, I shift it forward in the moulds, and continue the
curing, the shifting of the fabric in the moulds, and the heating of the same under
pressure until the whole length has been cured. In order to finish the manufactured
fabric, I submit it to pressure between a pair of smooth rolls, after which the fabric
is ready to be made up into bands. By this mode of manufacture, I not only obtain
a firmer and more lasting fabric than heretofore, but I am enabled to greatly reduce
the cost of manufacturing the belting.
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 is :--
Manufacturing india rubber belting from prepared sheets of woven fabric in the
manner and for the purpose above set forth.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.