Editing Conveyor belt (section)

== History ==
Primitive conveyor belts have been in use since the 19th century. In 1868, an English shipwright Joseph Thomas Parlour from [[Pimlico]] patented a [[grain elevator]] with a conveyor belt<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvpivFvV6RoC&pg=RA13-PA1 |title=English Patents of Inventions, Specifications: 1868, 1911 - 1979 |date=1868 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |language=en}}</ref> while Illinoisan Charles Denton of Ames Plow Co. patented a [[reaper]] with a belt "conveyer".<ref>{{US patent|79452}}</ref> By the 1880s conveyor belts were used in American elevators,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Engineers |first=American Society of Mechanical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yAI_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA400 |title=Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers |date=1885 |publisher=The Society |language=en}}</ref> [[Sugarcane mill|sugarcane mills]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiley |first=Harvey Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPhFAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA6-PA11 |title=Diffusion: Its Application to Sugar-cane and Records of Experiments with Sorghum in 1883 |date=1884 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref> and [[Sawmill|sawmills]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DF5bN48RKTkC&pg=RA1-PA1 |title=American Lumberman |date=1883 |publisher=American Lumberman. |language=en}}</ref> as well as British [[Malt house|maltings]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stopes |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVk7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA267 |title=Malt and Malting: An Historical, Scientific, and Practical Treatise, Showing, as Clearly as Existing Knowledge Permits, what Malt Is, and how to Make it : with Full Descriptions of All Buildings and Appliances, Together with Detailed Definitions of Every Matter Connected Therewith : Illustrated by 150 Woodcuts |date=1885 |publisher=LBS Archival Products |language=en}}</ref>

In 1892, [[Thomas Robins (inventor)|Thomas Robins]] began a series of inventions which led to the development of a conveyor belt used for carrying coal, ores and other products.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thomas Robins, Inventor, 89, Dies. Developer of Heavy-Duty Conveyor Belt Had Headed Hewitt-Robins Company |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/05/archives/thomas-robins-inventor-89-dies-developer-of-heavyduty-conveyor-belt.html |quote=Thomas Robins, founder and former chairman of the board of the Hewitt-Robins Company here, died today in the Nestledown Convalescent Home after an illness of several months, His age was 89. He invented the heavy-duty belt conveyor. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 5, 1957 |access-date=2013-12-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225084844/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A13F73955137A93C7A9178AD95F438585F9 |archive-date=December 25, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Robins, Thomas}}</ref> In 1901, [[Sandvik]] invented and started the production of [[steel]] conveyor belts. In 1905, [[Richard Sutcliffe (engineer)|Richard Sutcliffe]] invented the first conveyor belts for use in [[coal mines]] which revolutionized the mining industry. In 1913, [[Henry Ford]] introduced conveyor-belt assembly lines at [[Ford Motor Company]]'s Highland Park, Michigan factory.<ref name="Hounshell-1984">{{Hounshell1984}}</ref>

In 1972, the French society REI created in New Caledonia the longest straight-belt conveyor in the world in that moment, at a length of {{convert|13.8|km|mi|abbr=in}}. Hyacynthe Marcel Bocchetti was the concept designer.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}. The longest conveyor belt is that of the [[Bou Craa]] phosphate mine in Western Sahara (1973, 98&nbsp;km in 11 sections). The longest single-span conveyor belt is at the [[Boddington, Western Australia|Boddington]] bauxite mine in Western Australia (31&nbsp;km).

In 1957, the B. F. Goodrich Company patented a [[Möbius strip]] conveyor belt, that it went on to produce as the "Turnover Conveyor Belt System". Incorporating a half-twist, it had the advantage over conventional belts of a longer life because it could expose all of its surface area to wear and tear. Such Möbius strip belts are no longer manufactured because untwisted modern belts can be made more durable by constructing them from several layers of different materials.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/Mobius_band.html |title=Mobius band |publisher=Daviddarling.info |date=2007-02-01 |access-date=2013-03-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403215935/http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/Mobius_band.html |archive-date=2013-04-03 }}</ref> In  1970, [[Intralox]], a Louisiana-based company, registered the first patent for all plastic, modular belting.