352 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



IJULY 1, 1911. 



8. 



9. 

 10. 

 11. 

 12. 



Strip 

 1. 

 2. 



3. 

 4. 



Strip 

 1. 

 2. 

 3. 

 4. 

 5. 

 6. 

 7. 

 8. 

 9. 

 10. 



Reeling from drum or pan to reels for braiding. 

 Braiding and twisting. 

 Saturating and finishing. 

 Lead covering or armoring. 

 Electrical testing. 



Machine (10 strand) : 



Wire in frame holding 10 coils. 



Spewing machine for applying core. 



Strand strip machine. (Production 10 hours, 2(X),0CK) feet.) 



Receiving drum. 



Machine (single wire or stranded conductor) : 



Coil of wire on reel stand, to 



Strip machine (production 10 hours 1S,(XX) feet.) 



Taper, to 



Receiving drum, to 



Vulcanizer, to 



Reeling off and distributing. 



Braiding and twisting. 



Saturating and finishing. 



Lead covering or armoring. 



Electrical testing. 



SOME THOUGHTS CONCERNING CONVEYOR 

 BELTS. 



BY JOHN J. RIDCEVVAY. 



ly^Y attention was first drawn to belt conveyors some twenty 

 ^^ ^ years since, and the idea appealed to me, especially when 

 contrasted with what was then in use, the common type of scrap- 

 ing conveyors with flights, either chain, knuckle jointed or wire 

 connected, working in metal troughs and carrying material in 

 bulk or packages. Without any particular claim to a musical 

 ear, I could not help but hear some of the Wagnerian music 

 played by these appliances, and it seemed a fair inference that 

 anything so ear-piercing and rest-disturbing could not be pro- 

 duced by machinery unless at a fearful cost of wear and tear. 

 The silent efficiency of the belt conveyor, the proof in bicycle 

 and auto tires of the ability of caoutchouc to withstand abrasion 

 under conditions far more exacting than ever obtain in belt 

 conveying, the quantity possible to be conveyed, the extremely 

 small power needed, the flexibility of delivery, the low operating 

 and maintenance cost convinced me then that the belt conveyor 

 would be the most efficient aid to economy in the transportation 

 of material in bulk or package, within the possibilities of its 

 utilization. That is where items like quality have not been sacri- 

 ficed in order to obtain a low price, driving pulleys minimized, 

 in order to get traction, and the belt depreciated in quality until 

 it gives too high a maintenance cost. 



The belt fer se, leaving out the question of quality for the 

 moment, has certain items of cost inherent in it — factory cost, 

 advertising and selling, freight, transportation and cartage, from 

 which items the consumer receives no benefit whatever. The 

 fabric is the only item from which the consumer receives any 

 direct benefit in a poor quality belt. To illustrate : dig founda- 

 tion for a house, build sub and superstructure and get as far 

 as the roof. The man who would roof with tissue paper instead 

 of tar paper would be considered woefully deficient in ordinary 

 comjnon sense, and yet that is what some have done in conveyor 

 belts. The purchaser ignorant and anxious for low price and 

 in his ignorance listens to arguments of "just as good" and 

 won't be moved by intelligent argument and proof. The sales- 

 man fearing loss of contract and thoughtless of the ultimate 

 result, makes the quality to conform, to his own detriment and 

 that of the user. They indulge in mutual recrimination, whereas, 

 they should stop and show a disposition to coolly consider the 

 proposition, mutually bear the onus, shake hands and reform. 



In an article like a rubber belt, where the man who made it 



can't identify its quality after it has left the vulcanizing press — 

 how necessary it is that care should be exercised to do business 

 only with those who have firmly imbedded in their minds the 

 absolutely necessary maintenance of quality. 



The engineer in charge of the construction of new plants or 

 the renovation of old ones leaves a space for the installation 

 of a belt conveyor so circumscribed as to occasion unavoidable 

 wear and tear and the purveyor to suit his customer concedes 

 what he knows is wrong, to the detriment of both. 



For instance, one often sees the leads or noses of feeding 

 chutes extended four or five feet parallel with the belt, causing 

 any material that was falling through the chute, when it should 

 spread, to be ground the full length of these leads. The result 

 is the wearing of the belt with absolutely no justification when 

 the remedy is simple, namely, to set the chutes at an angle to 

 the travel of the belt so that any material falling through would 

 constantly free itself. 



Those who have belt conveyors in charge are often thought- 

 less of the risks they run when they permit a workman, in clear- 

 ing the transfer chutes, to use a shovel or hoe. This is often 

 dropped, and before anything can be done, hundreds of dollars 

 worth of damage occasioned. A remedy for this is equally 

 simple. The instrument used to clean transfer chutes ought 

 to be attached by chain or otherwise, so that by no possibility 

 could it drop through. 



Conveyor belts are often left fully loaded and without the 

 necessary motor control are started up at full speed, a condition 

 absolutely unjustifiable and yet one that often occurs. 



The troughing idlers are often constructed more for the im- 

 mediate convenience of their individual manipulation than with 

 the thoughtful consideration of the wear and tear of the belt 

 which first, last and always being the large item, ought to be 

 considered. Pulleys in line, when driven, have a tendency to act 

 like a pair of shears, and this is continuous and intensified when 

 the loads are heavier than they ought to be or the carriers are 

 spaced too wide apart, and this also is a fruitful source of 

 destruction to the belt. 



.'\s a rule, in belt conveyors of any appreciable length, the belt 

 represents at least two-thirds of the initial cost of installation, 

 and it would hardly seem the part of wisdom to prejudice two- 

 thirds which is subject to constant wear, for a saving in one- 

 third which, in the nature of the material and the character of 

 the work that it performs, should last almost indefinitely. 



The criterion of merit in an article for commercial uses is 

 that it should represent, in service or efficiency, the greatest 

 possible return for the amount of money expended and right 

 here comes in this everlasting question of last cost. The writer 

 knows of cases where conveyor belts have cost $12 per foot, in 

 contrast with others that have cost $1.75 per foot, operating for 

 the same time under almost identical conditions and handling 

 the same type material. In the first case the sharp pencil was 

 used with telling eff^ect, and in the second case a more far-seeing 

 judgment was exercised. 



It is impossible in a short article of this kind to go into this 

 subject much more fully, but if enough has been made clear to 

 occasion a little more thought to the essential requirements of 

 intelligent purchase of this type of machinery, the writer will 

 consider himself amply repaid. 



The United States Consul at Sandakan, Borneo, reports 

 40,000 acres under cultivation to rubber in British North Borneo, 

 in 1910. On the various plantations some 15,000 coolies are em- 

 ployed, and the number will have to be increased to 50,000 as 

 soon as the trees become productive. Large plants have been 

 established at Sarawak and other points to handle the crudt 

 gums — gutta-percha, gutta-jelutong, gutta-jangkar and caout- 

 chouc — which are being purchased in increasing quantities from 

 the natives. 



