Newspapers / The Echo (Pisgah Forest, … / Sept. 1, 1944, edition 1 / Page 8
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PAGE EIGHT THE ECHO SEPTEMBER, 1944 Endless Belt Started During 1st World War SOURCE OF BELT Belts Are Carefully Inspected As Well As Manufactured mIm fiSw WM Shown in the picture at the top are four women examining and inspe,cting belts before shipmcot is made. In the lower view there are a number of warpers and weavers busy making the famed E®^* less Belts that are used in the manufacture of cigarettes and which carry the famed Ecusta paper* SUPPLY CUT OFF BY HOSTILITIES Two Problems Presented By Increased Demand For Cigarettes A new industry had its beginning in the United States when Mr. Harry H. Straus founded the End less Belt corporation during World War I, after the source of supply of these belts from Europe was stopped. War thus gave birth to Endless Belt corporation as it did to Ecusta nearly a quarter of a century later. Like our cigarette paper, these endless belts.are essential to the production of a cigarette. On a cigarette machine this belt carries the paper made by Ecusta to pick up the shredded tobacco in the endless process of making a cigar ette. The tobacco flows onto the paper as the belt carries it past. A revolving paste wheel applies paste as the paper is carried by and a tunnel completes the rolling process. After passing under a re volving electric iron to dry the paste, the endless cigarette goes ahead on its own power and our endless belt returns to pick up more Ecusta paper. World War I created such a demand for cigarettes that we were confronted with two prob lems—first, to develop and build necessary machinery and equip ment for manufacturing, and sec ondly, to design and manufacture a much better belt than hereto fore could be obtained. The pro duction from belts at that time averaged 300,000 cigarettes per belt. It was, therefore, found nec essary to manufacture an endless belt, the strength of which would far surpass anything ever produc ed before. As the demand for cig arettes increased from year to year, it was necessary to meet J;hat demand by producing either more or better belts. Ebco brand belts are averaging at the present time more than 500 per cent more cigarettes than was produced by the old European belts. The average production on .cigarette machines today is from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 cigarettes per belt. Some large manufactur ers of cigarettes have told us that they got as many as 4,000,000 cig arettes from one belt. Up to the beginning of the pres ent war, endless belts were made of pure Irish linen thread, which was bought directly from mills in Ireland and made according to our specifications. Since it was im possible to continue importing linen thread, we were compelled to look for another material in this country. Before the imported supply was cut off, we found through research and development that one of our own domestic products made just as good a belt as the imported material. The home grown product was our finest American long sta ple cotton which is spun and .twisted according to our specifi- .cations. This thread must have an un usually high tensile strength, and above all, it must be very soft. ;Softness of thread is probably the most important factor in the suc cess of the endless belt. This fea ture enables thread to lie flat when woven into endless belting, pro ducing a smooth, flat surface. A flat surface is necessary, particu larly in the manufacture of oval or crimped cigarettes, which elimi nates the marks of the belts bear ing the cigarette paper. The pre-war belts became nar row in the process of stretching. The loss of width resulted in ad ded length and the belts often stretched beyond the range of the cigarette machine take-up device, rendering them unfit for further use. We have, improved our belts to the extent that most of the stretch has been removed before we send them out. Our belts never stretch beyond the range of the belt tightening device on the cig arette machine. The old European-made belts were of a twill weave or herring bone type. A thorough study of this type of weaving proved it not to be the most desirable and most durable form of weaving for end less belts. The structure of this weave is such that each warp thread or lengthwise thread passes over two weft or crosswise threads, which exposes a great deal of thread surface to undue wear and also forms a very loosely woven belt. After carefully weighing all of the facts, we decided to use the plain weave, and developed ma chinery for the most durable form of webbing known, the plain or straight weave belt. You will find that most common articles are manufactured in the plain square weave. Only the heavy clothing materials are manufactured in other forms of weave, and their durability can be attributed main ly to the amount of heavy threads employed. Today Endless is employing 100 persons and producing over 2,000 belts per day, of approximately 600 different sizes. It has always been the desire of Endless Belt corporation to im prove methods and to produce more and better belts, and tliis we propose to do. CHINESE HUMOR A sailor, after placing some flowers on a grave in a cemetery, noticed an old Chinaman placing a bowl of rice on a near-by grave and cynically asked: “What time do you expect your friend to come up and eat rice?” The Chinaman replied with a smile, “Same time your friend come up to smell flowers.” Basketball Teams (From Page One) league for both men and woiw®**' Much interest was shown the short basketball season was held last season and requests have been made to ha a long season this year. g Plans have been made to ^ the Brevard College Gym for j tice and games again this year as soon as the teams are enter and leagues are set up, pract will begin. Thursday Picture (From Page One) ^ John), Flash Gordon Part 8, good is a Gun? and an aniu^ cartoon. .. g Oct. 19-20 — Army SerVi Forces, Flash Gordon Part 9, SJ subject and Terry Toon cart^n^g Oct. 26-27—On The Great Trail (James* Newill), Flash .^4 don Part 10, For Distingu^^’J^j, Service and an animated Wives and husbands of ees are cordially invited to ^ the Thursday night shows- tures are also shown to while they are receiving checks on Friday afternoons*
The Echo (Pisgah Forest, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 1, 1944, edition 1
8
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