Rubber is often combined with various textiles, fabrics, filaments, and metal wire to obtain strength, stability, abrasion resistance, and flexibility. Among the laminated materials are the following:
V Belts. These consist of a combination of fabric and rubber, frequently combined with reinforcing grommets of cotton, rayon, steel, or other high-strength material extending around the central portion.
Flat Rubber Belting. This laminate is a combination of several plies of cotton fabric or cord, all bonded together by a soft-rubber compound.
Conveyor Belts. These, in effect, are moving highways used for transporting such material as crushed rock, dirt, sand, gravel, slag, and similar materials. When the belt operates at a steep angle, it is equipped with buckets or similar devices and becomes an elevator belt. A typical conveyor belt consists of cotton duct plies alternated with thin rubber plies; the assembly is wrapped in a rubber cover, and all elements are united into a single structure by vulcanization. A conveyor belt to withstand extreme conditions is made with some textile or metal cords instead of the woven fabric. Some conveyor belts are especially arranged to assume a trough form and made to stretch less than similar all-fabric belts Rubber-Lined Pipes, Tanks, and Similar Equipment. The lining materials include all the natural and synthetic rubbers in various degrees of hardness, depending on the application. Frequently, latex rubber is deposited directly from the latex solution onto the metal surface to be covered. The deposited layer is subsequently vulcanized. Rubber linings can be bonded to ordinary steel, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, concrete, and wood. Adhesion to aluminum is inferior to adhesion to steel. Covering for brass must be compounded according to the composition of the metal.
Rubber Hose. Nearly all rubber hose is laminated and composed of layers of rubber combined with reinforcing materials like cotton duck, textile cords, and metal wire. Typical hose consists of an inner rubber lining, a number of intermediate layers consisting of braided cord or cotton duck impregnated with rubber, and outside that, several more layers of fabric, spirally wound cord, spirally wound metal, or in some cases, spirally wound flat steel ribbon. Outside of all this is another layer of rubber to provide resistance to abrasion. Hose for transporting oil, water, wet concrete under pressure, and for dredging purposes is made of heavyduty laminated rubber.
Vibration Insulators. These usually consist of a layer of soft rubber bonded between two layers of metal. Another type of insulated consists of a rubber tube or cylinder vulcanized to two concentric metal tubes, the rubber being deflected in shear. A variant of this consists of a cylinder of soft rubber vulcanized to a tubular or solid steel core and a steel outer shell, the entire combination being placed in torsion to act as a spring. Heavy-duty mounts of this type are employed on trucks, buses, and other applications calling for rugged construction.
