A belt containing steel cords, the steel cords containing strands made of steel filaments wherein the largest diameter filaments are at least intermittently positioned at the radially outer side of the steel cord. Such a configuration can be obtained by using steel cord constructions wherein the thickest filaments are positioned outside of the steel cord which is contrary to the current practice. In a further embodiment the largest diameter filaments fill up some or all of the valleys of the strands at their radially outer side. These monofilaments thus have the same lay length and direction as the strands in the steel cord. The advantage of putting the largest filaments at the outside is that they will break first and thus will be readily detectable by electrical, magnetic or visual means. In this way a belt is provided that can be monitored easier and more conveniently than prior art belts.

A steel cord for the reinforcement of elastomer products such as elevator belts, conveyor belts, synchronous or timing belts or hoses or tyres is presented. The steel cord comprises strands and monofilaments made of steel filaments. The strands themselves are also made of steel filaments twisted together. The strands form the outer layer of the steel cord. The monofilaments are twisted into the cord with the same lay length and direction as the strands and are positioned in the valleys between the strands on the radial outer side of the steel cord. The steel cord has the advantage that it has a better fill factor and a rounder aspect. Furthermore the monofilaments may act as an early wear indicator of the elastomer product.

A steel cord containing a core layer and an sheath layer, the core layer containing a plurality of core wires with a number of n and the sheath layer comprises a plurality of sheath wires with a number of m, and the steel cord has a flat cross-section with a major axis and a minor axis, the flat cross-section has a flat ratio being the ratio of the length of the major axis and the length of the minor axis, the flat ratio is more than 1.2, the steel cord has a breaking load being BL.sub.cord, the core wires and the sheath wires have a sum breaking load being Sum BL.sub.wires when the core wires and the sheath wires are un-twisted from the steel cord, BL.sub.cord and Sum BL.sub.wires satisfies the following formula: BL.sub.cord/Sum BL.sub.wires >96%. The steel cord has higher breaking load.

A steel cord includes a two-layer stranded construction including a core in which two or three core filaments are twisted, and including a one-layer outer sheath in which outer sheath filaments are helically wound around the core and along a longitudinal direction of the core. The core filaments have same filament diameters as the outer sheath filaments, length of lay for the core is same as length of lay for the outer sheath, and length of lay/filament diameter, which indicates a ratio of length of lay to a filament diameter, is between 50 and 75. Two or more filaments selected from among the core filaments and the outer sheath filaments, are crimped filaments each including bent sections and non-bent sections that are repeatedly disposed along the longitudinal direction.

A method is provided for manufacturing a multistrand cable having a 1N structure and including a single layer of N strands wound in a helix. Each strand includes an internal layer of M internal threads and an external layer of P external threads. The method includes a step of individually assembling each of the N strands, during which, in chronological order, the M internal threads are wound, the P external threads are wound, and the M internal threads and the P external threads are elongated such that a structural elongation associated with the P external threads of each strand is greater than or equal to 0.05%. The method further includes a step of collectively assembling the N strands, during which the N strands are wound to form the cable.

A belt (100) for use as for example an elevator belt, flat belt, synchronous belt or toothed belt comprises steel strands (104) held in parallel by a polymer jacket. The steel strands have a diameter D and are separated by a pitch p. The ratio of diameter D over pitch p is larger than 0.55. Such belt arrangement prevents the cutting of the polymer jacket (102) between strand and pulley and abates the noise generation during use. The belts are best build with a type of parallel lay strands particularly designed for use in a belt. These strands do not show core migration during use of the belt.

A reinforcement strand (400) comprises a core (403) around which steel filaments (404) are twisted all with the same final lay length and direction. The steel filaments are arranged in an intermediate layer comprising N first steel filaments and an outer layer of 2N steel filaments circumferentially arranged around the intermediate layer. In the intermediate layer filaments will contact one another at a closing lay length that is determined by the number of steel filaments N in the intermediate layer, the diameter of the core and the diameter of the first steel filaments. By choosing the final lay length and direction equal to the between two and six times the closing lay length gaps will form between the intermediate layer filaments. The 2N outer layer filaments are further divided into a group of smaller (408) and a group of larger (406) diameter steel filaments.

An apparatus for producing an assembly of filamentary elements that are wound together in a helix includes a twisting device, a preforming device, and an assembling device. The twisting device is structured to twist at least first and second filamentary elements individually, such that each filamentary element is twisted separately from another filamentary element, to produce at least first and second twisted filamentary elements. The preforming device, which is arranged downstream of the twisting device, is structured to preform each of the twisted filamentary elements individually into separate preformed helixes, to produce at least first and second preformed helixes. The assembling device, which is arranged downstream of the preforming device, is structured to assemble the preformed helixes into an assembly.

A cord for reinforcing elastomers excellent in adhesion to elastomers such as rubber is provided. The cord is a cord for reinforcing elastomers (10) that includes metallic filaments (1) and a resin filament (2) twisted together, the resin filament (2) being made from a polymeric material having a melting point or softening point of 80 to 160 C. The cord for reinforcing elastomers includes a core and at least one sheath layer, wherein, after vulcanization, a distance w between metallic filaments (1b) forming an outermost sheath layer is 100 m or less, and, on a cross section of the cord taken along a direction orthogonal to an axial direction, a filling ratio, which is a ratio of an area of a polymeric material (3) derived from the resin filament (2) to a gap region is 52 to 120%, where the gap region is defined as a portion occupied by a material other than the metallic filaments (1) within a region formed by connecting the centers of the individual metallic filaments (1b) constituting the outermost sheath layer.

Provided is a multi-twisted steel cord for reinforcing a rubber article, the steel cord having cord strength with a small loss as compared to the total strength of filaments constituting the cord and a high rubber penetration. The steel cord includes a plurality of twisted strands in a multi-twisted structure, each strand including a plurality of twisted filaments in two or more layers, in which at least some of the filaments have a tensile strength of 3,000 MPa or more, the steel cord satisfying a filament occupancy of 48% or more and less than 54%, a cord twist angle of 78 or more and less than 84, an average crossing angle between adjacent filaments other than wrapping filaments of less than 17, and a gap between adjacent sheath filaments constituting the strand of 0.065 mm or more.