The History of Drive Belts

In the very early days of the automobile, there were no accessories, which meant that there was no need for accessory drive belts. The very first use of a drive belt was to power radiator fans in early water cooling systems, and when water pumps were introduced, they were also belt-driven. These early belts were v-belts, but they were made out of leather, and as of 1916, the angle of the wedge varied widely from one application to another.

The first rubber v-belt was created in 1917 by the Gates Rubber Company, which is still one of the leading manufacturers of drive belts in the world today. Another early innovation was the multiple v-belt drive, which was patented in 1925. This setup used multiple v-belts in parallel, which is a technique that was widely used until the eventual transition to serpentine belts.

Drive belts remained relatively unchanged for decades, although production materials and techniques were incrementally improved. The next major development was the introduction of the serpentine belt, which first appeared for the 1985 model year of the Mercedes-Benz 190 series.

Today, most vehicles use a single serpentine belt. However, some engines utilize multiple serpentine belts, and there are even some examples where a serpentine belt and a v-belt are both used.

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