Patent attributes
Belts and methods of their manufacturing are provided. In one aspect, belts are manufactured by the steps of weaving the belt from a plurality of warp yarns and at least one weft yarn, the belt having a central region and two opposed edges. The warp yarns in the central region have a predetermined shrinkage characteristic. The belts also have at least one edge region between the central region and an edge of the belt has a predetermined number of warp yarns, each having a lesser shrinkage characteristic than the warp yarns of the central region. The method further includes the steps of passing the weft yarn across the warp yarns to effect a weaving in the central region of the belt. Further in the edge region, looping the weft yarn, on each pass, around a selected warp yarn, so that on a plurality of successive passes the weft yarn is looped around each of the warp yarns in the edge region. Subsequently, the yarns in the belt are shrunk.