I suspect that the original Edison belts were punched from a flat sheet and then rolled to shape. I have never found a seam in an original Edison belt. All of the modern material is lacing leather which is not the proper stuff for belting. If you look at an original you can spot the different grain angles.
On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:12:45 -0700, Andrew Baron wrote: >Thanks, Rich for this insight. >About the only time I wouldn't want to replace an intact leather belt >is if I were fairly certain it were an original. And, if it's that >precious, I wouldn't coat it with non-slip compound which would >stain the inside and edges dark, even if it were a viable repair. I >appreciate your letting me know that it isn't. >Leather belts aren't hard to replace; lapping the ends to maintain >constant thickness takes a few minutes, but isn't particularly >difficult. For installation, drawing it to the proper tension by >holding the loose, overlapped ends over the top pulley, against the >pressure of the tensioning idler, and holding it in this position >while making the initial bond requires both hands and a few fingers, >but it works well to get the tension just right -- Not so tight as to >restrict free movement of the pulleys, but taught enough to lift the >idler to within a few degrees of having a straight belt. >My method might be flawed, and I'm not convinced it's the best >approach. If others have better ways to do this, I'd love to hear >any comments. >Andy Baron
