Our leather links are saturated with a mixture of tallow, neatsfoot oil, etc.  This makes them very pliable and increases their toughness, so that they will stand a strain three times as great as a piece of hard rolled sole leather.

In manufacturing this belt, the joining together is important.  The links must be accurately assorted as to thickness, and the outer links countersunk, to admit the bolt.  Then the most valuable improvement of all is our “American joint” (see Fig. 1).

By close inspection you will observe that it is absolutely necessary to use half length bolts for the width of wide leather link belts.

Examine Figs. 2 and 3.  In the latter you will notice one length of bolt placed on a round faced pulley.  That belt must either bend or break, and in any case it will not give satisfaction; but, on the other hand, examine Fig. 2; here two half length bolts are used, and ingeniously joined in the center.  It gives just pliability enough to lay the belt flat upon the pulley.  We experimented for some time before perfecting this important improvement.

We also took out four patents for different methods of joining, but abandoned them all and adopted the “American joint” system (Fig. 1) as the most efficient, simple, and reliable.  It gives the belt an unbroken flat surface and is far superior to anything so far introduced for that purpose.

We have not stopped at flat link belting, but have turned our attention to manufacturing round solid leather link belting, and believe that we have almost attained perfection in that line.  As the illustrations clearly show, there is quite a demand for inch and upward solid round belting, and the difficulty always has been to join such a belt together.  All steel hooks, etc., do not seem to satisfy.  This, our new invention, is so simple that it hardly needs explanation.  A belt of this kind can be taken apart in a short time, and shortened or lengthened at pleasure.

Now, Mr. President and gentlemen, I shall be glad to answer any questions in reference to these link belts, or give any further explanation you may desire.

Question.—­Can these link belts be used on dynamos for electric lights?

Answer.—­Yes.  In England they are used almost exclusively on dynamos.  However, they run only 700 revolutions per minute there, whereas our slowest dynamo runs 1,100.

[Illustration:  Fig. 2.]

Quest.—­Would you advise link belts for high rate of speed?

Ans.—­No; they give better results on slow running machinery.

Quest.—­Have these belts any special advantage over flat leather belting?

Ans.—­Yes, decidedly.  When belts are run half crossed, or what is termed quarter turn, it is very hard to make flat belts lie perfectly even on the pulleys.  These link belts, however, cover the entire face of the pulley (see illustration), and therefore are superior for that purpose.