A conveyor belt is the moving loop of material that carries goods or bulk material such as coal, grain or ore along a belt conveyor system, driven around a powered pulley and an unpowered idler pulley and typically built in three layers, a top cover, a strength-bearing carcass and a bottom cover. Joseph Thomas Parlour patented a grain elevator using a conveyor belt in 1868, Thomas Robins began a series of inventions from 1892 that led to the modern coal and ore conveyor, and the engineer Richard Sutcliffe invented conveyor belts built for use in coal mines in 1905; Henry Ford introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines at the Ford Motor Company in 1913. Conveyor belts became a basic tool of factories, warehouses and mines because they let material move continuously over long distances with far less manual labor than earlier methods.
Facts
SignificanceThe conveyor belt made possible Henry Ford's 1913 assembly line at the Highland Park plant, a method that became foundational to modern mass production. 1 Sources
1. Conveyor Belt (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, Thomas Robins 1892 sentence
In 1892, Thomas Robins began a series of inventions which led to the development of a conveyor belt used for carrying coal, ores and other products.
History section, Ford 1913 assembly line sentence
In 1913, Henry Ford introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines at Ford Motor Company's Highland Park, Michigan factory.
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