CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HECKLING MACHINES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Fairbairn, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
HECKLING MACHINES."
Sealed the 13th October 1853, and dated the 18th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Fairbairn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th August 1853.
I, PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN HECKLING MACHINES" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in a novel mode of constructing,
arranging, and working the heckle bars of intersecting heckling
machines, and also of constructing the stationary "slides" or grooves
in which the ends of the heckle bars work, so that the peculiar motion
required to be imparted to the heckle bars may be obtained.
The slides or grooves in which the ends of the heckle bars work are
at or near the intersecting parts made straight, or nearly so, that being
the form which I find will give the peculiar motion required.
The heckle bars are connected to the driving arms by links, and the
ends of the heckle bars being made to work in the grooves or slides
Sp

page_text: at the side of the machine, the peculiar motion required is easily
obtained, and the whole machine will be found to work easier than
those machines hitherto constructed upon the intersecting principle,
and in which the heckle bars were pushed forward by the driving
bars; whereas, according to my improvement, they are dragged or
pulled forward by the arms.
I may here remark that by this construction and arrangement of parts
I am not only enabled to obtain precisely the motion required, but that
an additional number of heckle bars may be employed in a machine of
given size, and consequently a greater quantity and a better quality
of work may be done than in machines of the ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Fairbairn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Fairbairn, Her special licence
that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said Peter Fairbairn, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN HECKLING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Peter Fairbairn, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to

page_text: 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 Peter Fairbairn, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the intersecting
heckling machine, the object being to expedite and otherwise improve
the operation of that class of machinery.
"
To this end I form the
slides " or stationary endless guides in
which the ends of the heckle bars work so that the heckle pins, when
brought round to act upon the fibre under operation, shall be caused to
move through a vertical plane, or nearly so, until they leave the strick;
and in order to drive the heckle bars I connect them by means of links
to radial arms or their equivalent, which by their rotation carry round
the heckle bars, while the guides adjust the heckle pins to the proper
position for combing or heckling the fibre.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1, shews in end elevation so
much of a heckling machine with my improvements applied as will
serve to explain the nature and operation of the Invention; Figure 2, is
a partial side elevation thereof; Figure 3, shews one of the guides
detached; and Fig. 4, shews the arrangement employed for carrying
the heckle bars. A, A, is the framework of the machine. B, B, are
the shafts for carrying circular plates C, C, which support the heckle
bars; or, instead thereof, radial arms might be employed. D, D, are
links jointed to lugs on the periphery of the plate C, C, by means of
coupling rods D*, D*, extending from end to end of the machine.
E, E, are the heckle bars, carrying at their ends friction pieces, which
enter and work in the endless grooves formed in the stationary guides"
F, F. G, G, is the main driving shaft, from which rotary motion is
communicated by means of the spur wheels H, H, to the shafts B,
upon which the circular plates C, C, are mounted. Motion being com-
municated from any hrst mover to the driving shaft G, so as to propel

page_text: the circular plates C, C, in the direction of the arrows, the heckle bars
E, E, will be drawn or pulled forward, and as the ends of the heckle
bars work in the stationary guides F, they will, as the pins enter the
strick of flax or other fibre under operation, be caused to traverse down-
wards in a right line, as is indicated by the shape of that part of the
groove which guides the heckle bars while they are in the act of
intersecting.
I may here remark that by this construction and arrangement of
parts I am not only enabled to obtain the precise motion required for
the heckle pins, but that in a machine of a given size I can apply a
larger number of heckle bars than could be employed in an intersecting
machine of the ordinary construction, and that I am consequently
enabled to increase the working capacity of intersecting heckling
machines, and at the same time improve the quality of the work
produced thereby.
Having now described my Invention of certain improvements in
heckling machines, and set forth the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the means above explained with reference to the Drawing for
guiding the heckles of intersecting machines in a straight line while
acting upon the strick; and,
Secondly, the arrangement for supporting and driving the heckle
bars, as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Fairbairn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
PETER FAIRBAIRN. (L.s.)
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM NAYLOR.