IM- PROVEMENTS IN BELTS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY OR COMMUNICATING MOTION, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO STRAPS AND BANDS FOR HARNESS AND SADDLERY, AND FOR ANALOGOUS PURPOSES, AND TO THE CARDS USED FOR CARDING FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Watson at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd April 1879.
RICHARD WATSON, of Selkirk, in the County of Selkirk, North Britain. “IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BELTS FOR DRIVING MACHINERY OR COMMUNICATING MOTION,
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO STRAPS AND BANDS FOR HARNESS AND
SADDLERY, AND FOR ANALOGOUS PURPOSES, AND TO THE CARDS USED FOR CARDING
FIBROUS MATERIALS."
The said Invention relates to improvements in belts for driving machinery or
communicating motion, which improvements are applicable to straps and bands for
harness and saddlery, and for analogous purposes, and to the cards used for carding
fibrous materials, and consists in utilizing for the said purposes as hereafter described
the strength, lightness, durability, and elasticity of steel.
A friction or
The first part of the said Invention relates to belting for driving machinery, or
for communicating motion generally. The said belts are made of finely tempered
flat steel galvanized or ungalvanized, the ends being joined by overlapping and
rivetting or bolting, or by studs, or in other convenient manner.
adhesive surface is given to the said belts by coating or covering them on one or
both sides with lead or other soft metal or with india rubber, a fabric, or with pieces
of leather, the said leather or material being fastened to the steel by rivetting,
sewing, cementing, or in other manner according to the nature of the material, as,
for instance, by applying thereto pieces which are wider than the belt, and which
are turned up over the edge and sewn or otherwise fastened to each other or to the
steel. Or the said leather or material may be applied to the edges of the belt, a
sufficient portion overlapping the sides to give the necessary adhesive surface
where the leather and steel are to be sewn together. I effect this by an ordinary
sewing machine of sufficient power, and I use fine steel wire as thread to sew with,
but other or ordinary thread may be employed for this purpose, The leather or
material may be applied to the pulley instead of to the belt. By this part of my
Invention the main body of the belt is of steel, and where leather is used sinall
pieces of waste leather can be utilized for the adhesive surfaco. The said belts con-
structed according to my Invention are lighter, cheaper, more durable, and less
liable to contraction and expansion than are the ordinary belts.
The said Invention relates further to the application of steel to the manufacture
of reins, traces, and other harness or saddlery straps and bands, and to straps and

page_text: bands, such as waist bands and the like, the said straps and bands being made of
finely tempered flat steel covered with or enclosed by thin leather. This part of
the Invention can be applied to straps for other purposes, such, for instance, as the
straps for railway carriage windows.
"
The Invention further consists in the application of steel sheets or strips to sheet
cards or filletting" between or upon the leather or foundation, so as to give
strength and elasticity thereto and preserve the said cards from contraction and
expansion.