DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention relates to a belt, of the type used as a motion transmission means or as a transport means. There are many types of belts, which can be distinguished not only by the variety of materials of which they are made, but also mainly by the shape of their sections. Therefore, among the most common forms, we can define flat belts with a rectangular straight cross section, toothed belts, i.e. with at least one side provided with a transverse toothing, designed for gearing with corresponding toothed pulleys, and "V" or trapezoidal belts, specially designed to "work" with both their sides and the corresponding sides of the grooves made in special pulleys.

Normally the use of the belts provides for a closed loop configuration, to obtain which a head joint of the two opposite ends of a belt segment of a predetermined length must be provided.

In practice, a head joint is made between the ends of two different belt segments, simply to form a single belt of greater length.

In any case, it is necessary to make a head joint of the belts which, in most cases, are made of polyurethane or rubber.

In order to make the joint more resistant than that which can be made by simply merging the two edges to be joined, it is already envisaged that metal or other material pins are used, which are housed in the belt body in transverse holes previously provided by using special machines. These holes are made in the body of the belt, in a direction transverse to the median plane of the cross section, which includes the longitudinal axis of the belt itself, i.e. the axis along which the belt is pulled. To make sense of this operation the ends of the belt to be joined are die-cut to produce protruding portions and indentations in one belt, which are complementary with the protruding portions and recesses of the other belt, so as to be longitudinally connected by interlocking according to a pre- established pattern.

Once that the coupling has been made to snap into place in the flat link, transverse drilling is carried out in the thickness, at least in the joint section, for the insertion of the pins. This well-known technology including interlocking joints makes it possible to obtain a valid joint between the two ends, but through the use of a relatively complicated machining cycle, especially for the part concerning the drilling process, performed to obtain the transversal holes in which to insert the pins. In fact, the working cycle is relatively long and delicate, requiring high quality helical drills, generally cooled by cold air, and which, in many cases, are required to drill deep holes, and therefore characterized by a high length/diameter ratio. Due to the difficulty of the operation, frequent breakages can occur, which inevitably lead to lengthening of the working cycle. It should also be borne in mind that the drilling operation, because of its delicacy, requires appropriate equipment which is not suitable to be used with profit on belts that are packaged in customized length, and/or mounted directly at the place of use outside the workshop.

The main purpose of this invention is to overcome the limitations and disadvantages mentioned above, and those deriving therefrom, by providing a belt with transverse holes aimed at accommodating pins or reinforcing bars as a perfect fit, which are capable of forming a sort of reinforcement, particularly in belt joints.

An advantage of the invention is possible joining through the use of a reduced equipment, that can be used directly on site by an operator.

The invention, due to the advantage of facilitating and simplifying significantly the operation of joining and the consistent reduction of the total time of the processing cycle by the use of certain equipment, makes it possible to assemble and replace belts directly on site during ordinary and extraordinary maintenance operations. These and other objects and advantages are obtained by the present invention as described, illustrated in the enclosed drawings and claimed hereinafter.

The characteristics of the present invention will become more evident from the following description of some of its preferred embodiments illustrated by way of non-limiting example with the help of the enclosed figures, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment;

- Figure 2 shows a schematic longitudinal cross section as viewed according to the X-X plane of the following figure 3;

- Figure 3 shows a schematic plan view from the top of Figure

2;

- Figure 4 shows a schematic longitudinal cross section as viewed according to the Y-Y plane of the following figure 5; - Figure 5 shows a schematic plan view from the top of Figure 4;

- Figure 6 shows a schematic perspective view of a second embodiment shown in Figures 4 and 5;

- Figure 7 shows a schematic perspective view of a further embodiment shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10;

- Figure 8 shows a generic cross section of the following figure 9;

- Figure 9 shows a schematic cross section as viewed according to the Z-Z plane of the following figure 10;

- Figure 10 shows a schematic plan view from the top of Figure 9;

- Figure 11 shows a plan view from the top as the ones shown in Figure 10 in which the invention is represented in a step preceding the assembly of the components of the joint.

With reference to the attached Figures, with 1 , 2 and 3 a total of a first, second and third belt have been indicated, constituting three embodiments, which have different conformations and cross sections. The belts are made of polyurethane or rubber or in any case an elastomeric material, conventionally used for the manufacture of transmission and transport belts.

The first belt 1 is a fully flat belt. The second belt 2 is a toothed belt designed to gear with a toothed pulley. Belt 3 is a V-belt, designed to operate in contact with the opposite sides of a special pulley with "V" grooves.

All three belts 1 , 2, 3 represented, used as transmission components or as transport members, including other types of belts such as, for example, the double toothed belts, an example of which is shown in figure 4, are provided with a plurality of transverse holes 5.

In spite of their diversity, the belts, which are used as transmission member or as transport component, have a common characteristic. In fact, each of them has a plurality of transversal holes 5, parallel to each other or almost parallel to each other, which are located at the sides of the belts themselves.

The transverse holes 5 are obtained through the use of a toothed belt 8 on a toothed side of which a closing band or belt 7 is firmly arranged and coupled in a firm manner, with the task of covering the grooves between the teeth, thus forming a plurality of transversal holes 5. The latter are used to accommodate pins or pegs 6 thereinside, in a perfect fit, which are generally used as reinforcement elements arranged in correspondence to junction areas 4 of the belt.

The transverse holes 5 in-fact cross the thickness of the belts and are distributed neatly along the longitudinal extension of the same with transverse disposition with respect to the longitudinal median plane that is plane of symmetry and contains the geometric, longitudinal axis of the single belt, so composed of the firm joint between the band or closing belt 7 and the heads of the teeth of the same toothed belt 8, so as to close at top the groovesand so create the transverse holes 5.

In this way, in each of the belts 1 , 2, 3, the transverse holes 5, in addition to being parallel to each other, have the same section. In addition, they pass through from one side to the opposite side of the single belt.

The transversal holes 5 are therefore straight, have the same section, are equi-distanced from each other and separated by a predetermined thickness according to the mechanical resistance characteristics desired for the belt.

In particular, they are specifically designed to house custom-made reinforcement pins or pegs 6, which are usually made of steel.

As already mentioned, the use of the transversal holes 5 of the belts 1 , 2, 3 takes place through the insertion in them of the pins or pegs 6, in particular in the junction area of the belts.

This joint is frequently made at the head between two ends to be joined, which are specially prepared by performing a sort of "die cutting" of the two ends to be joined, which consists in cutting shaped portions of the belt at both ends to be joined. These portions are arranged so that the externally protruding portions of the one belt are received in perfect fit in corresponding recesses between the protruding portions of the other belt, so as to form a sort of longitudinal joint, so that a junction area is defined.

Once the joint has been completed, working in such a way that the externally protruding portions of the one belt are accommodated in perfect fit in the corresponding recesses between the protruding portions of the other belt, so as to form a sort of longitudinal joint, the pins 6 can be introduces inside the holes 5 in correspondence with the junction zone 4. In this way, each pin 6 is inserted into sections of hole 5 belonging to the externally protruding portions of both ends of the belts.

The insertion of the pins 6 inside the holes 5 in the junction zone 4 gives a remarkable solidity and strength to the junction without jeopardizing its flexibility and increasing its resistance.

And this resistance can be further increased by subjecting at least the junction area 4 itself to an action of hot pressing, by virtue of which softening and/or melting of the belt material and subsequent cooling result in a consistent consolidation of the adhesion of the pins 6 to the material itself.

The advantage of this invention is that it provides a belt for the construction of which common toothed belts can be used in a simple manner.

The invention allows industrial production of belts with 5 holes for the proper insertion of the pins 6 in the junction areas in a simple way, so as to have a product, the belt, ready for the insertion of the transverse pins in the junction for the realization of which only an appropriate die-cutting is necessary.