Leather Machine-Belt Making.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 3, 2 January 1906, Page 64

Leather Machine-Belt Making.

Leather machine-belt making at an American factory is a long and interesting process. First, the " butt " of leather is curried — that is, it is thoroughly saturated with water and shaved on the flesh side. It is then scoured to remove dirt that has got into the pores of the leather during the tanning and drying One kind of scouring machine has a large cylinder upon which the wet butt is clamped, and as the cylinder revolves the water and dirt are pressed out of the hide. The machine then reverses, and on arriving at the starting position the clamps on the butt are released. Another and a better kind of machine consists of a frame work supporting a horizontal beam, upon which is a reciprocating carriage carrying a piece of brass Under this brass piece, and supported

on rollers, is a table on which the butt is placed. The butt is kept saturated with water, and the table is turned round and round, while the reciprocating brass rubs the dirt out of the butt, much in the same way that a washer-woman rubs clothes with her knuckles The butt is then " tempered " — that is, dried out, and it is stuffed with grease to make it pliable. It is then " set out " and rubbed with stones to make it flat, or ,as the curriers say, "to get the pattern out of the hide." It is then jacked to close the pores, and make the leather hard and firm The jack is a machine carrying a reciprocating head of agate, brass, or hgnumvitae, which rubs against the leather. The leather is then stretched and the grease is " run " off, actually scraped oft. The leather is " stripped " to width in a " chopping " machine, which has blades 96 in. long, which cut the leather very rapidly. The pieces are sorted for thickness, and the ends are tapered and cemented. One lap undergoes hydraulic pressure while the next lap is being cemented. When the belts are narrow, a man can make two at a time, side by side. The finishing machine trims the belt to width with round edges, stamps each foot, stamps the trade mark every so many feet, stretches the belt, and winds it in a roll. The roll is then laid on a revolving table and the sides polished with brushes, this completing the belt.

Sydney inventor Frank Cotton, whose oil-burn-ing furnace excited some attention, has now on hand a patent process for making steel from iron ore m one process.