Who invented conveyor belts

Facebook Twitter Email. History of Conveyors. Previous Next. View Larger Image. History of Conveyors The beginning of Conveyors Conveyor belts and systems go back pretty far in time, helping to ensure the manufacturing industry has been able to prosper and grow.

First Invented The first primitive and basic conveyor belts were invented and used in the 19 th century, with some basic systems even seen in the late 18 th century.

Industrial revolution Inventions and developments continued, with Henry Ford introducing conveyor-belt assembly lines at the Highland Park, Michigan factory of Ford Motors in and by the B. Improve your assembly line or product handling system by contacting Falcon Pro Solutions today. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Houston, TX Accessories All Accessories. As low-tension systems, plastic modular conveyor belts can be wider than they are long. They can travel around corners and along inclines and declines more efficiently than traditional belt conveyors.

Since their original use in agriculture to transport grain and other materials, conveyor belts have been adapted to many applications across many industries. Today, belt conveyors transport goods throughout production facilities in food processing, bottling and canning, automotive manufacturing, printing, logistics and warehousing, paper goods, textiles and more.

Here are some examples of conveyor belts throughout history and their specialized uses:. In , conveyor belts were adapted for underground mining applications.

The first six underground belt conveyors were installed in the Glass Houghton Colliery Company. The belts were 20 inches wide and yards long. They moved at feet per minute and together moved tons of coal per day. Another improvement came with the Turnover Conveyor Belt system, which the B. Goodrich Company patented in The conveyor belt was shaped to form a Mobius strip rather than a loop. By incorporating a half-twist into the belt design, the belt formed a one-sided shape, rather than the two sides formed with a regular loop.

Since the belt could expose its entire surface area to wear and tear, it had a longer lifespan than traditional belt conveyors. Now, belt conveyors can achieve longevity through more durable materials and more layers, making the twisted design obsolete. Conveyor belt sushi restaurants today are a fun novelty experience, born out of a need for efficiency. The conveyor let him serve customers quickly without increasing his staff. He opened his first restaurant and patented the concept in before moving on to open franchises throughout Japan.

Stretching for 61 miles, the current world record-holder for longest conveyor belt was built in in the Western Sahara. It runs from the Bou Craa phosphorus mines to the coastal city of El-Aaiun. It transports 2, tons of rock per hour to the port for loading onto cargo ships.

The Internet of Things IoT and other smart manufacturing technology has been transforming the industry over the last several years. As with much of the other equipment found throughout the shop floor, manufacturers are now equipping conveyor belts with smart technology. The technology allows the belt conveyor to communicate with other machines in the production facility and uses a system of sensors and artificial intelligence AI to make smart, automated decisions. They can also detect safety hazards, such as an item being caught in the belt.

They can inspect themselves while in operation and use statistical analysis to predict when and where the conveyor might fail before it causes unnecessary downtime. While the IoT is already here, the conveyor belt will improve as AI gets more sophisticated. Less than a decade after conveyors were initially created, the first steam-operated conveyor was put into use by the British Navy.

The year was , and while you may think that this new, machine-driven conveyor would have been tasked with loading ships, it was actually located in a bakery operation that produced biscuits for sailors to eat! In any case, this improvement meant that conveyors no longer had to be hand-cranked, which made them more useful for more applications. Machine driven conveyors caught on quickly and began appearing in all sorts of industries, though it would still be almost years before they would be put to work in mining operations.

Railcars were still the preferred method of moving aggregate and coal from within mines to surface operations for much of the s. This began to change, though, as new belt materials like rubber and steel appeared. In , inventor Charles Goodyear patented Vulcanized rubber. And while some sources report that rubber had been used as a conveyor belt material in earlier days, it certainly was not ideal. It became hard and rigid in cold environments and tended to melt and get sticky when warmed.

Sandvik was the first manufacturer to produce these belts beginning in At that time, steel belts were adopted more widely in the food production industry, while rubber-covered belts became the norm in mining, quarrying, and mineral processing due to their superior durability and flexibility.