Belt Drives

Abstract

Belt drives have been consistently growing in use, and in the variation of types offered, ever since the invention of the steam engine by James Watt in 1769. Broadly speaking, there have been three ‘periods’ of development: (1) the Industrial Revolution when the steam engine came into use, which brought long line shafts from big stationary engines, and, driving the machines, flat transmission belts made of such materials as sewn canvas, balata, woven cotton, hair, leather, and rubber and canvas. (2) The arrival of the V-belt, in the USA in 1928, but in the UK not really catching on until the late 1930s. This made possible the use of small individual motors for each machine, giving greater flexibility of movement and cheapness of operation. (3) The third period, starting in the mid 1940s, covered the introduction of synthetic materials into belts and made possible great advances in performance in all types of belts and brought about the design of some new ones.KeywordsSpeed RatioShock LoadPower CapacitySteam EngineBelt DriveThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.