>Can you tell
> me why the old guys would flip one end of the belts between machines and
> form an x instead of just running flat? Where are you located? ctb

Old guys (and young ones like you and me) cross belts for two reasons.

1) To dampen oscillations in the moving belt that could grow to disastrous
proportions like the Galloping Girdy bridge at Tacoma, Wa.   The longer the
belt, the more the flapping up and down as it moves across space.
Sometimes the bounce is due to slight variations in the diameter of a pulley
or the precision of its placement on the shaft, and sometimes it is due to
the leather lacing or metal clips that join the ends of the belt together.
Each time they pass over a pulley, they change the effective length of the
belt by their little extra thickness, pulling it a little tighter or looser
for a moment.   The result can be like a potter at a wheel, giving little
kicks to add to the overall motion.  If you allow it to keep flapping, the
inertia of each bounce can build, and the thing can actually move the
machinery it is attached to or make you want to run away for fear.   Cross
the belt and you cut the length of the vibration in half.   As well, the
flappings of each section then tend to cancel each other out, making for a
nice even running belt.   Many people think the crossed belts will wear out
from rubbing at the middle touching point, but in fact they never do.   The
beauty of the geometry is that it is a perfect tangential moment and they
hardly contact at all.

2)  To change the direction of rotation of the receiving pulley.   Since
they work by being pulled, they can rotate either way.   One machine might
require a certain direction of rotation, and its neighbour another.

There is a nice belt-work challenge:  to throw a belt on a running pulley
without taking time to stop the shafts and then start it all up again.   It
is sort of like riding a bicycle with no hands, or seeing how far you can
drive with your eyes closed.   It is sort of a combination of a focused
yogic moment and playing auto-chicken like in the '50's Rock & Roll movies.

The Grist Mill & Gardens is at Keremeos, BC, at the northern tip of the
great Sonora Desert, just north of central Washington State and about 5
hours drive from Vancouver.   The nearest big towns are Osoyoos, Penticton
and Kelowna if you look at a map.   You can see it at
www.heritage.bc.gov.ca/grist or at www.keremeos.com   That's me with the
straw hat.

I have been wanting to post a picture of the new water wheel, but
Yahoo-Groups keeps asking me to register anew for membership every time I
try to sign on to Pighabit and there are now cuylers of every description in
their database with every personal code number imaginable and I can never
get in again without registering all over again again and finally gave up
trying.   (Hi Deb.  Help.  Sounds like we have to have a chat about this.
I can throw a belt but I can't fake out Yahoo.)

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