For comparatively narrow belts as, say, four inches wide, a single row g would be placed in the middle, additional middle rows should for wider belts be about 11⁄4 inches apart.
The rivet holes should be a close fit to the rivets, the latter being left just long enough to hold the washer or burr and sink with it, in the riveting, to the level surface of the belt.
The heads of the rivets should be on the side of the belt that is to run next to the pulley.
The strongest method of forming a belt is by means of small taper wooden pegs, such as are used in boot and shoe manufacture, the joint being cemented, and the pegs inserted. In this case the belt is merely pierced with an awl, hence none of the leather is removed.
Fig. 2696.
The arrangement of wooden pegs should be as in [Fig. 2696], the rows a and b being respectively about 5⁄8 inch from the edges c d, the row e being about 1⁄4 inch from the edge of the joint, and h about 3⁄4 inch from that edge. The pegs are placed about 1⁄2 inch apart in the rows.
A cemented and pegged joint is the strongest made, and it preserves a more equal tension throughout the belt than any other, while the belt is strong, since the hole for the pegs may be pierced with an awl, which does not remove any leather from the belt, as is the case with punched holes.
The length of the lap in some of the best practice is as follows: