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SCIENCE 



LEntered at the Posi-Offlce of New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Matter.] 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



Seventh Year. 

 Vol. XIV. No. 355. 



NEW YORK, November 22, i{ 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 b.50 Per Year, in Advance. 



LEATHER LINK BELTING. 



The first impression on seeing a piece of linked belting such as 

 -we show illustrations of in this week's Science is that the inventor 

 has gone far astray to make a complicated arrangement to take the 

 place of the simple band of leather we are all so familiar with as 



the contacts of the older form of linked belting, and of that with this 

 so-called American joint, on a curved faced pulley. 



The last illustration given (Fig. 4) shows the belting as used in 

 driving a dynamo, the slack side of the belt being on top. In this 

 way the amount of contact with the pulleys is considerably in- 

 creased and the slip correspondingly diminished. At one time it 



used in transmitting power. It is only a few years since such belts 

 were first introduced into this country, and till recently they have 

 been looked on as more novel than useful. But as now made they 

 are said to have proved their capabilities of doing all that the old 

 solid belts would, and more. Their great flexibility is one of the 



was supposed that this new belting would give the best results 

 with slow-running machinery ; but the actual tests, it is claimed, 

 show it to be well adapted to the fast work called for in driving 

 dynamos. 



It will be readily seen that the making of an endless belt is a 



FIG. 



LINKED LEATHER BELTING. 



FIG. 3. 



strong points in their favor, as they can adjust themselves to almost 

 any angle, so that they can be used in positions where the shafts 

 are out of line with each other, and the belt needs to be twisted. 



In the centre of the belt, as shown in Fig. i, is a series of twisted 

 links. These enable the belt to bend transversely, so that it can 

 adjust itself to the rounded face of a pulley. Figs. 2 and 3 show 



matter of passing rivets through the links at the point of union, 

 and that such a belt can be made longer or shorter with but little 

 difficulty. 



It has thus resulted that a most eccentric invention has ap- 

 parently found its place among those that make modern machinery 

 more effective. 



