1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to drive belts for motorized apparatus, and more particularly, to a temporary drive belt that can be installed without the use of a wrench.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Drive belts, such as fan belts to be installed on an automobile engine in emergency situations when a conventional fan belt breaks or is in an unsafely weakened condition, are well known in the art. For example, the following U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose emergency drive belts: 3,747,165 of Brown; 4,207,776 of Helt et al; 4,376,631 of Garza; 4,795,410 of Alderfer; and 4,861,322 of Reddick. The belt of Brown requires an extraneous razor blade to cut off excess belt material when the emergency belt is installed. The belt of Helt et al requires a plurality of connectable links to obtain a belt of the desired length. The belt of Garza employs a plurality of teeth projecting from a rigid external sleeve to dig into the two ends of the belt and retain the two ends of the belt to form an endless loop. No external force is used to assure that the teeth continue to dig into belt material under the stress of use on the engine. Also, the digging into the belt ends can cause damage to the belt ends. The belt of Alderfer requires a tubular belt and uses a barbed shank, and end of which is inserted into each of the respective ends of the tubular belt. The barbs dig into the two ends of the tubular belt. The tubular belt is hollow, and as such, contains a reduced amount of belt material, whereby the strength of the belt is diminished. Moreover, the hollow belt undergoes an excessive amount of flexing, compared with a solid belt, and the excessive flexing can contribute to excessive heat build up and premature wear. The belt of Reddick uses a simple coupling strip of material for connecting two ends of the belt. No outside force is exerted on the coupling strip. As a result, the strength of the connection between the two ends of the belt may be overcome by the stresses of an operating engine, especially when the engine is started from a non-running condition.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use emergency drive belts generally, the provision of a simple, cost effective, easily installed, and secure device is not contemplated. The prior art described above teaches the use of an extraneous razor blade to cut off excess belt material when the emergency belt is installed. Also, the prior art discloses a plurality of connectable links to obtain a belt of the desired length. The prior art provides digging into the belt ends with barbs which can cause damage to the belt ends when the belt is in use. In addition, the prior art discloses a hollow belt which may undergo an excessive amount of flexting, compared with a solid belt, and the excessive flexing may contribute to excessive heat build up and premature wear. The prior art provides a connection between two ends of a belt in which the strength of the connection between the two ends of the belt may be overcome by the stresses of an operating engine, especially when the engine is started from a non-running condition. The foregoing disadvantages are overcome by the unique emergency drive belt apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.