RELATIVE MERITS OF RUBBER AND LEATHER FOR BELTS.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 90, 26 November 1872, Page 3

RELATIVE MERITS OF RUBBER AND LEATHER FOR BELTS.

] sm\ rubber belts -will not last one fourth as long as leather ones. When once the rubber begins to give out, it is next to impossible to repair it; while wide bands cannot be used for or cut up into narrow ones, as leather ones can Leather belts maybe used over anil over again, and when no further value for belts, can be sold for other purposes. •V rubber band may be spoiled in a few momeuts by the lacim* raving out, and the band being run off into the <'carin.il? or by being caught in any manner so as to damage the ciVe, or by stoppage of- either the driving or driven 1)1 Should a rubber belt begin to tear by being caught in the machinery, if the rout strikes the seam, it is most likely to follow it, even the entire length, if the machinery is not stopped. It would be impossible to tear leather in 1 OiTiii contact with rubber belting-will soften the gum ; and rubber or gutta percha belts will continue to stretch as long as in use, rendering it necessary to shorten them continually. . - , . Duriiv freezing weather, if moisture or water rinds its «-av into the seams, < r between the different layers of canvas composing these bands, and becomes frozen, the layers are torn apart, and the band is spoijed ; or if a jjuljey become* frosty, the parts of bands in contact with it will bo torn off from the canvas and left on the pulley. Also rubber belts will not answer for cross or half cross belts, for shifting belts, conp pulleys, or for any place where belts are liable to slip, as friction destroys them. well made leather band, if properly looked after—the ■width and pulley surface proportional to the amount of work to be done- will last twelve., fifteen, or twenty years ,-ind yet be of value to work over into narrow belts. - ' . ♦- - An old farmer said of his whose sermons lacked point, "Ah, yes, he's a,good.man, but he will rake with she i#eth, upward..."