Coil the belt loosely and place it on edge in a tank in which it may be covered with naphtha; a half barrel makes a good receptacle, but something with a tight cover would save the loss by evaporation. Put in enough naphtha to cover the belt completely and allow it to remain for ten or twelve hours; then turn the belt over, standing it upon the other edge. The vertical position of the belt surfaces allows the dirt to settle to the bottom of the receptacle as it is washed out, and permits naphtha to get at all the parts.
After the belt has remained in the naphtha another ten or twelve hours, or until sufficiently clean, raise it and allow the naphtha to drip back into the tank. Then lay the belt flat, stretching or shaking it until almost dry. You will find that the naphtha will not affect the leather nor the cement in the center of the belt, but may open the joints at the edges; in which case the old cement should be scraped off and the edges recemented. Your belt man will know how to do this. The belt will now be somewhat hard, and should be treated with a reliable belt dressing before being replaced on the pulleys.
X
BELTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE[7]
There is no class of appliances so little understood by the ordinary steam engineer and steam user as belts, which may be seen by the quantity of belting sold annually. Where one can point to a belt that has been in continuous use for twenty years, you can find hundreds that do not last one-fourth as long. Why? Not always because the buyer has tried to get something for nothing, but as a rule, when they do, they get nothing for something.
[7] Contributed to Power by Wm. H. McBarnes.
The average belt is a poor one, and the average buyer will not find it out till he has used it for some time. If you weigh the belt dealer up as a man who is trying to rob you, beat him down in price, then get him to give from 5 to 40 per cent. off, he will enter a protest, and, after some explanation, will come to some terms with you. Have you gained anything by your cleverness? Well, hardly. Belt dealers and makers, like almost all other dealers in supplies, aim to get nothing but first-class goods; but second and third, and even fourth-class goods, are made, and you get the quality you pay for. In the second place, belts wear out quickly because they do not get proper care. To let a belt run one moment after it gets too slack is bad practice, for it is apt to slip and burn all the staying qualities out of it. Another good reason why it should not be run slack is that the engineer or belt man, to save work, would be tempted to put on a dressing or, worse yet, put on resin to make it pull, and, in the language of Rex, "the man who will put resin on his belts is either a fool or a knave," for it is sure to spoil his belt if continued for any length of time.
In an emergency, as when some unforeseen substance has found its way to the belt, it may be necessary, to keep from shutting down between hours, to use some of the so-called dressing. We know from experience that engineers will go to almost any extreme to get out of a tight place—circumstances sometimes make it necessary to keep a belt running when it should not—but this should not be allowed to any extent. To allow a belt to run too tight is just as bad, for it will make short life for the belt, hot boxes and scored shafting. There is not one in twenty who takes the time or can splice a belt properly; it is generally done in a hurry, any way to make it hold together, with the understanding that it cannot talk; but it does. How often we see boards nailed up or rims tacked on to keep belts from getting off the pulleys. All of this is good for the belt dealers.