IMPROVEMENTS IN HACKLING, COMBING, AND TREATING FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS BEFORE BEING SPUN
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Bradford, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HACKLING, COMBING, AND
TREATING FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS BEFORE BEING SPUN."
Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 7th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1855.
I, SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HACKLING, COMBING,
AND TREATING FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL BEFORE BEING SPUN,"
to be as follows:--
My improvements in hackling, combing, and treating flax, wool, and other
fibrous material before being spun consist of a new and improved hackling or
combing machine, also in mixing certain fibres before or after being hackled or
combed. The machine is made to work in the following manner:-The fibrous
material, being first carded or otherwise brought into a slivre, is fed into a
feeding head, which has a to and fro motion given to it by a crank or other
A pair of jaws take hold of the ends of the fibres protruding from the

page_text: feed rollers, and as the feeding head recedes détaches a portion of the fibre.
The jaws are so arranged that each of them forms the segment of a circle, and
they are fixed to a frame so as to form a complete circle of nipping jaws, which
open and shut by an excentric race acting upon both jaws when required; the
jaws having detached a portion, open again and receive a further quantity; and
in order to prevent the piece first detached from falling when the jaws open to
take a second-quantity, two rows of fine teeth are placed in the lower jaw,
which holds the fibres until the jaws close again. The nippers then travel
forward, and the ends of the fibres are hackled or combed, by being worked as
they move along past a toothed roller or other pointed surface or instrument.
After the ends of the fibres have been sufficiently worked, a second pair of
nippers placed in front of the first pair take hold of the cleaned ends of the
fibres, the jaws which had first hold of them opening and leaving the uncombed
end to be operated upon by a toothed roller or other pointed surface, placed
inside the circle, so that both ends will thus be combed or hackled. The jaws
which bad first hold of the fibres then take hold of them from the second pair
of jaws, which open as they travel along: The object, of the first pair of jaws
taking the fibres is, that, by reason of the jaws being made nearly to close, they
force the fibres into the teeth, (which, as I have before explained, are placed
in the lower jaw,) which are then drawn out by an ordinary pair of drawing
rollers in the form of a sliver. Before or after combing or hackling, I find it
advantageous to mix flax cotton, whether produced by mechanical or chemical
means, or both combined; also flax, and more particularly tow when reduced to
a short fine fibre like flax cotton, with cotton, also with wool; also in mixing
silk with cotton after or before being combed; also in mixing silk with flax
cotton or similar fibre after being combed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
Cunliffe LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
. Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her

page_text: :
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the
said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, Her special licence that I, the, said Samuel
Cunliffe Lister, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter, during the term therein expressed, should, and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within, the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for IM-
PROVEMENTS IN HACKLING, COMBING, AND TREATING FLAX, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS BEFORE. BEING SPUN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,,
the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors or administrators, by, an
instrument in writing under my, or, their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain..the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent. :
..:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in, what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
1
My improvements in. hackling, combing, and treating, flax, wool, and other
fibrous material before being spun consist of. a, new and improved hackling or
combing machine, also in, mixing certain fibres, before or after being hackled.
or, combed. The machine is made to work in the following manner-The
fibrous material, being first carded or otherwise brought into a sliver, is fed into
a feeding head, which has a to and fro motion given to it by a crank, or other
means. A pair of jaws take hold of the ends of the fibres protruding from the
feed rollers, and as the feeding head recedes detaches a portion of the fibre.
The jaws are so arranged that, each of them forms the segment of a circle, and,
they, are fixed to a frame so as to form a complete circle of nipping jaws, which.
open and shut.by an excentric race acting upon both jaws when required; the,
jaws having detached a portion, open again and receive a further quantity; and,
in order to prevent the piece first detached from falling when the jaws open to
take a second quantity, two rows of fine teeth are placed in the lower jaw,
which holds the fibres until the jaws close again. The nippers then travel
forward, and the ends of the fibres are hackled or combed, by being worked as
they move along past a toothed roller or other pointed surface or instrument..
After the ends of the fibres have been sufficiently worked, a second pair of

page_text: nippers placed in front of the first pair take hold of the cleaned ends of the
fibres, the jaws which had first hold of them opening and leaving the uncombed
end to be operated upon by a toothed roller or other pointed surface, placed
inside the circle, so that both ends will thus be combed or backled. The jaws
which had first hold of the fibres then take hold of them from the second pair
of jaws, which open as they travel along. The object of the first pair of jaws.
taking the fibres is, that by reason of the jaws being made nearly to close they
force the fibres into the teeth, (which, as I have before explained, are placed
in the lower jaw,) which fibres are then drawn out by an ordinary pair of
drawing rollers in the form of a sliver. Before or after combing or hackling,
I find it advantageous to mix flax cotton, whether produced by mechanical or
chemical means, or both combined; also flax, and more particularly tow when
reduced to a short fine fibre like flax cotton, with cotton, also with wool; also
in mixing silk with cotton after or before being combed; also in mixing silk,
with flax cotton or similar fibre after being combed.
Having thus stated the nature of my improvements, I will now proceed
to describe the best methods with which I am acquainted for carrying the
same into practical operation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a transverse section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section, of
so much of a machine for combing or hackling fibrous material, constructed
according to the first part of my Invention, as will enable me to explain the
same. The other Figures in the Drawings shew some of the parts of the
machine separately, and as a description of them is written on the Drawings
a repetition of the same will not be required bere. And I would here remark,
that the machine as shewn in the Drawings is adapted more especially to the
combing and hackling tow, cotton, and other fibres of short staple; but it will
be evident, that the machine, with suitable modifications, which a competent
mechanic accustomed to this class of machinery would readily supply, will be
equally applicable to the combing and hackling of fibres of longer staple than,
and different description to, those above mentioned.
a, a, is the framing of the machine; and 6 is an axis, to which motion is
communicated by means of a pulley 6'. The axis b gives motion to the axis c
by means of the bevilled wheels b, c, and the axis c gives motion to the
axis d by means of the bevilled wheels c, d. On the axis d is placed the filling
head e, and as it is of the ordinary and well-known description there will not be
any necessity to enter into a minute description of it here; and the form of the

page_text: feeding head may be varied.
e', &, are the feed rollers of the filling head e,
from between which the end of the sliver of fibre is protruded, and by the
motion of the filling head the protruding end of the sliver of fibrous material
will be placed in the comb fixed in the lower jaws or nippers f, and upon the
descent of the upper nippers f¹ and the recession of the filling head, the pro-
truding end of the fibre will be detached and left between the nippers f,f':
By the repetitions of the above movements a series of layers of fibre will be
accumulated between the nippers f and f¹. The combs formed in the lower
nippers f serve to hold the already accumulated layers of fibre, while the upper
nippers f¹ are raised preparatory to a fresh portion of fibre being detached.
The nippers fand f¹ together with the nippers 9 and g¹ are constructed and
arranged in a circle, so as to form continuous series, and they are caused con-
tinually to travel round by the rings ƒ and g (supported by the framing of
the machine), which form the slides and supports for the nippers f,f¹, and g, g'.
The rings ƒ and g have teeth formed within them at f³ and g³, and the rings
f, g, are caused to travel round by the following train of toothed gear:—
63 is a toothed wheel, fixed on the axis b, which takes into and drives the
toothed wheel h, turning on a stud h¹; h³ is a toothed wheel attached to the
wheel h, and the toothed wheel h² takes into and drives the toothed wheel h³,
turning around the axis 6; h' is a bevilled pinion formed on the boss of the
wheel h³, and the bevilled pinion h* drives the bevilled wheel hs, on the vertical
axis he. The vertical axis he communicates its motion to the ring g² by means
of the pinions h', he, which last takes into the toothed portion g³ of the ring g²,
there being a similar arrangement of pinions (not shewn in the Drawings) on
the upper end of the axis he to give motion to the upper ring f². The upper
nippers f¹ are caused to rise and fall, so as to detach portions of fibre from
between the rollers of the filling head by the surface m, attached to the slide
rods m³, acting on the trucks or rollers f*, carried by the nippers f¹; and the
surface m is caused to rise and fall by means of the cam d' on the axis d of
the filling head acting on a truck on the lever arm m³, fixed on the axis m*.
m is a lever arm fixed on the axis m, and the lever arm m³ by means
of the connecting rod m° causes the surface m to rise and fall. The
nippers f, f, g, g', at other portions of their revolution are caused to open
and close by the fixed cam surfaces fe, f, g, g, acting on the trucks or
rollers f, f, g, g', moving on studs attached to the nippers f, f¹, 9, 9².
During the travelling of the nippers fif, past the feeding head e, a suffi-
cient quantity of fibre will have been accumulated between them, and upon
this fibre the nippers f,f, remain closed while they carry the ends of the

page_text: fibres projecting from between then past. the card rollers n, o, which are caused
to revolve in opposite directions, so as to work first one side and then the other
of the fibre while it passes them. The rollers n, o, are caused to revolve by
the skew. wheels c³, c, on the axis c, giving motion respectively to the trains of.
wheels marked n and o¹. When one. end of the fibrous material has thus
been operated on, the nippers g, g', are caused to close upon such cleaned ends.
of the fibre, the nippers f,f', then opening so as to allow the uncleaned ends of
the fibrous material to be carried past the card rollers p, r, which are caused...
to revolve in opposite directions, so as to work first one, side and then the other..
of the fibrous material by the skew wheels b, b', on the axis b, giving motion
respectively. to the train of wheels marked p¹, r¹. When both ends of the
fibrous material between the nippers 9, 9', have thus been worked, the nippers..
ff,.are, caused again to close. on the fibrous material, and the, nippers 9, 9',:
open. The nippers f₁f, are closed sufficiently tight to put a slight tension
on the fibres as they are drawn, off in the form of a sliver by the drawing.
off rollers at t, which are of the ordinary description. The nippers ff
having, thus been relieved of the fibrous material with which they were
charged,, will be in, a position. to be recharged when, passing the filling, head,,
as before described.
Having thus stated the nature of, and the best manner. I am acquainted.
with; for carrying out, the, first part of my Invention, I would here observe,/
that a mechanic will readily perceive that the details and mechanical move-
ments may be greatly., varied, and that other forms of filling, working, and,
drawing off apparatus may be used, without departing from this part of my
Invention; and I would further state, that I make no claim to such details,
or mechanical parts or movements separately; but what I claim is, the mode
herein described. of combining mechanical parts into a machine
}
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which is as follows:
When flax has been reduced to a state of short fibre, whether by, the action of
mechanical or chemical means, or both combined, so as to resemble cotton so
much so as to be commonly known as "flax cotton," then I find it a great advan-
tage to mix cotton with it, as the fibres of the cotton have more cohesion, and,
will add greatly to the spinning properties of the flax fibre. The fibres of the
flax should be well combed or hackled before being mixed, or in some cases,,
especially when the fibres of the flax have been reduced to a short fine fibre by
chemical action, they may be carded together or otherwise prepared before
being combed. Also, a good and valuable yarn may be made by mixing combed
or hackled flax cotton with wool, or combing the two after being carded or

page_text: otherwise mixed and prepared before being combed. I would remark, that I
do not claim mixing flax cotton with cotton or wool unless combed or hackled
either before or after being mixed, as I am aware that flax cotton and cotton
have been mixed, but without results, as the flax cotton is so full of thick and
also short fibres as to spoil the yarn unless the fibres be properly combed or
hackled. After combing also, the short noil of silk waste may with advantage
be mixed with cotton or flax cotton, so as to produce a good and cheap yarn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
S. C. LISTER. (L.S.)