EVOLUTION OF THE FAN BELT

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Thought we might talk about the change from the FLAT Model T belt, to the "V" type belt. START THINKING!!!

[DaWizard]

Bill, you are such an instigator.

[BudP]

Interesting-never thought of this. Would assume more side surface equal more holding power:sort of like a mortise and tenon joint in carpentry having more strength than a butt joint.

[Rowdy]

I am pretty sure that it has alot to do with the added loads (generator, waterpump, etc.) added to the belt. While a flat belt will run a fan even in wet conditions it lacks the grip and strength to handle theoads without being so tight that it affects the bearings in an adverse way. The V belt grips tighter into the tapered pulley and is layered for strength and will not slip with the loads without being so tight it affects the bearings of components. Just an observarion from a farm boy who has ran a hammermill ran with an endless belt. The flat endless belt had to have a near exact alignment, what a pain to line up. Rod

[Mitch]

and now were back to the flat serpentine belts with grooves. Maybe Henry should have grooved his pulleys and belts and kept using them

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

With a serpentine belt, anything running on the INSIDE turns CW, anything running on the OUTSIDE turns CCW.
Some Jeep Cherokees ran the water pump on the inside & some on the outside. You had to make sure you put a pump on, with the vane angles the right WAY. WRONG angle would run the water the wrong way & UN-COOL the engine---NO, WAIT, to do that, you'd have to flip the thermostat!!!----There I go, OVERTHINKING stuff TOO MUCH, again!!!
Dad Idiot

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

THIS can be DANGEROUS, but when I've had a perfectly GOOD belt, except for having a hard glaze on it, while running, I carefully scrape the sides with the end of a LARGE file, then it grips good, again!----(SORRY for such a LOOOOONG sentence!--You could forget the subject, before you finished it!)
"Maybe" my brain's COOKED??---106 here today!!! I could fry eggs on my truck tarp, except I'm out of PAM!
Bill Longwinded

[CarlG]

The "intermediate " step would be the cogged v belt. Makes going around the pulleys easier.

[Chuck Sea/Tac]

The reason for cogs I'm told, is they run cooler. Therefore they last longer.
What about belt grip? In cars, I've never used it. On kitchen exhaust and ac units, it will make the belt last up to 50% longer. There's a belt driven mixer called a varidpeed. When you shift gears both pulleys (tensioned together) open and close, changing ratios. I made the mistake of belt grip on one, and it made the belt slip, so I had to replace it.

[Chuck Sea/Tac]

PS Also, I've found customers that have went to the auto parts store and used an automotive belt on their appliance. They are different configurations so the auto belt won't last. Never seen an appliance belt on a car, but guessing it wouldn't last either.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

I SAW a driver wrap a NYLON around his pulleys, stretch & tie it & drove SLOWLY, to a parts store!
There was an EMERGENCY belt, a piece of soft PLASTIC hose & a barbed connector, just stretch & cut it & "plug" in the connector!--Our Dealership sold them!!!
Bill Nolie

[Mitch]

PB and places like that still sells those

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

On ANY car, when replacing belts, save the OLD ones in the jackets for "emergencies" & future part number reference, but be sure to carry them IN THE CAR!!!
Dad Prepared

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Can you IMAGINE if you had to maintain ALL those flat belts in the Ford Factory!!!---I "wonder"--Do those clips & pins ever WEAR out!!!!
Were they belting or leather"--Are there WAYS to splice leather ones???---I don't know of an ANIMAL THAT looooong????---AND, I've watched a LOTS of NATURE shows! Did you know that the ELEPHANT is the ONLY 4 legged animal, where their knees all bend forward, like us?
Friend, TED, (RIP) had a kit with pins & clips.
Bill Amazed

[H. L. Chauvin]

I remember vintage flat belts with flat pulleys operating single pieces of machinery; remember several flat belts running several pieces of machinery off of a single jack shaft turned with one engine; and even built metal, flat pulleys from scratch and installed new flat belts with a single metal hinged splice joint.

If flat belts were slightly loose and slipped, rosin was applied to the in-sides of these belts ...... same type of rosin as violin bow rosin.

With any slight misalignment between pulleys, the improved rubber vee belt will stay in the metal pulley's vee; however, with any slight misalignment between flat pulleys, flat belts will gradually move sideways off of the pulleys ............ that is unless the metal pulley has a high, protruding raised metal circular shoulder to prevent the flat belt from moving further outwards.

For Model A flat belt installation, my guess is the way most restored Model A pulleys for the crankshaft, generator, and water pump are "misaligned" today, with metal flat belts and flat pulleys, one could start his Model A, and before one had time to adjust the spark handle downwards, the water pump or generator would have cease to function because the flat belt had moved sideways off of the flat belt pulley.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

A GENIUS Friend ran experiments separating ground fibers from ground rubber. He used STATIC electricity from the MAIN belt, atop an OLD Machine Shop, here in town, called "ACME MACHINE SHOP"---
Homer was a "self" taught GENIUS--I could write a BOOK of THINGS HE TAUGHT ME!! He & another Man perfected the method of turning Vegetable Oils into MARGARINE!!! He even designed & built separating equipment, for a TUNGSTEN mine!!!--Along with first opening up & exploring Boyden Caverns!!
Bill W.