AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING STRAPS OR BANDS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sussex Place, Lough
borough Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING STRAPS OR BANDS."―
A communication.
Scaled the 3rd October 1856, and dated the 24th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th July 1856.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING STRAPS OR BANDS,"
to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of waterproof fabrics by applying india-rubber to woven
fabrics, much waste or scraps takes place; and my improvement consists of
masticating or grinding up such waste or scrap into a plastic compound, which
is rolled or pressed into sheets, vulcanized, as is well understood, and cut into
driving straps and bands; and in vulcanizing driving straps or bands they
are each first rolled up with a layer of fabric between the rolls of the strap or
band.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George. Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George.
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DRIVING STRAPS OR BANDS," a
communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should particularly
.describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Leather banding or belting, in ordinary use, is objectionable on account of its
great expense, and the numerous splices or joints necessary in making a belt
or band of any considerable length. To obviate these objections, belts and
bands have heretofore been manufactured by coating long pieces of heavy
duck with a thin sheet of rubber, then folded in several thicknesses, to form
the belt desired. But these bands or belts do not possess the requisite
strength, and on account of their peculiar formation, are very liable to
accidents; the folds of the duck also separate, particularly when the edges
are at all worn. The object of the Invention is to form a material as nearly

page_text: like leather as possible, which would possess the requisite strength, and also
be susceptible of being made of any requisite length in one piece, and further,
which would present a better friction surface to the drum over which the belt
passes than any belts now in use. The materials of which these belts or
bands are composed is india-rubber, compounded with the cotton or fibres of
flax; the process is as follows:-I take the rubber when compounded with
sulphur, in any of the ordinary compounds used in vulcanizing rubber goods,.
and when it is in the state ready to be submitted to the vulcanizing process,
that is, a substance like stiff dough or paste, and mixed with fibres of cotton or
flax, by grinding the material between heated rollers in the mode usually
practised by rubber manufacturers, until the fibre is thoroughly incorporated
with the rubber. The proportions I prefer are three pounds of rubber to one
pound of flax or cotton, although these proportions may be varied according
to the quality of fabric desired. Instead of mixing pure cotton or flax with
the rubber, an economical and simple method of obtaining a like result is that
of grinding between heated rollers the rags or scraps of cloth covered with
rubber compound, which are made to waste by manufacturers of shoes and
other rubber goods. To these rags may be added in grinding more or less
rubber compound, according to the nature of the rags, and the quality of the
fabric desired. The fibrous compound obtained in either of the above modes
is passed through heated callender rolls, and formed into a sheet of the
requisite length and width, and of the thickness of one-sixteenth part of an
inch; this sheet is to form one side of the belt; and in this process of
grinding and passing the fabric through the heated callender rollers, the fibres
of the cotton and flax are laid in a direction parallel to the length of the belt
or band. This position of the fibres give great strength to the belt length-
wise; but in order to prevent it from being torn, and for other reasons, it is
necessary to have strength in a crosswise direction also. For this purpose I-
take a similar sheet prepared in the same way, and cut it into pieces as long
as the width of the first sheet; these pieces are cut with bevel edges, and laid
crosswise on the first sheet, with the edges overlapping each other. A third
sheet, similar to the first, is then laid on top; the whole is then passed again
through the heated callender rollers, for the purpose of consolidating and
uniting the fabric, and is then vulcanized in the mode well known to all india-
rubber manufacturers. I have described a belt or bandths of an inch thick,
and made of three layers, but the thickness of the belt may be increased or dimi-
nished, according to the wish of the manufacturer. ; I have described the mode
of forming the belt or band, with its fibres arranged so that a portion of them
are laid lengthwise and a portion crosswise, this being the best method; but

page_text: the crosswise fibres may be dispensed with, and yet a very good band or belt
produced. In manufacturing, the most economical method is to make the
sheet or belt of nearly the width of the callender rolls, which are usually a
yard or more in width; these sheets may then be cut into the desired width
for belts, either before or after vulcanizing. The fabric thus obtained will be
found to be of great strength, and to possess a remarkable resemblance to
leather in the internal arrangement of its fibres. One great advantage of this
fabric over india-rubber belts or bands, herein-before described, is that it can
be cut into a number of smaller bands, if any accident happens to it; this, for
obvious reasons, is impossible where the belt is formed of layers of duck.
The belt or band, on account of the peculiar nature of its fabric, is not
liable to slip on the drums or pullies, as is the case with leather belting, and
thus saves powers and gives uniformity to the motion of machinery.
I do not claim the modes of preparing the rubber, or of compounding or
vulcanizing the fabric, nor the machinery and therefor, as these are all well
known to manufacturers of rubber goods; nor do I claim the compounding of
fibres of cotton or flax with india-rubber, as this has been done for the purpose
of packing steam joints, and for other similar uses; but it has never been done
in the manner described in the foregoing Specification, nor has it ever before
been used to constitute the fabric known in commerce as belting or banding; nor
do I desire to claim, by this Patent, the new process of making fibrous rubber
goods in such a form that the fibres are arranged crossing each other in
the manner above described for the purpose of making the fabric to resist
tension in all directions, and giving it flexibility without elasticity, as this new
process and fabric I intend to make the subject of a separate application for
Letters Patent; but what I do claim, and desire to have secured by Letters
Patent, is the improvement in the manufacture of rubber belting or banding,
which consists in compounding fibres of cotton or flax with india-rubber; sub-
stantially in the manner and by the processes above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. H. SMITHERS, Bank.
GEO. T: BOUSFIELD: (L.S.)