ENGINEERING EVALUATION OF ALTERNATE MATERIALS 

 FOR REDESIGNED MOORING SYSTEMS 



Anthony Franco 



Abstract 



The load-carrying capacity of four types of conveyor belts was investigated to 

 test their applicability for use in both navigational aids and boat moorings. 

 Different methods of fastening the belt to itself were also investigated. 

 Control sample and six-month exposure test results are presented. One-year 

 test samples are still in the water. 



Introduction 



The purposes of this research were to: 



1- Obtain strength data for conveyor belting in a systematic way. 



2- To develop an alternate material which is cheaper initially and 

 would have longer service life than the materials being used 

 presently, and still have adequate strength. 



3- To make this information available to people responsible for the 

 maintenance, installation, and replacement of navigational and 

 boat moorings. 



Consequently, the author dealt primarily with marina owners and townships on 



Long Island and in Westchester. 



The choice of conveyor belt size to test was dictated by the hardware these 

 people use in their marinas. Since the marina owners that the author had dis- 

 cussed fastening techniques with preferred to bolt the belting together, a 

 simple bolt pattern was tried as well as glueing the belt together with various 

 compounds. Their main concern was that the fastening should be easy to 

 fabricate and cheap. 



Test Plan 



To test the actual strength of the belt, three test specimens were made up from each 



of the conveyor belts according to the drawing shown in Figure 1. Then a tensile test 



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