CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND MANUFACTURING FLAX, HEMP, SILK, AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
PARKER, late of Broomward, in the County. of Lanark, and now of the City
of Glasgow, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, and WILLIAM
TELFER and ALEXANDER AFLECK, of the said City, Mathematical Instrument
Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third hath been
graciously pleased to grant unto us, the said Thomas Parker, William Telfer,
and Alexander Afleck, our executors, administrators, and assigns, His Royal
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Third day of February, in the forty-first year of His reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and one, for the sole use
and benefit of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND MANUFACTURING FLAX,
HEMP, SILK, AND OTHER MATERIALS," within His said Kingdom of England,
for the term of fourteen years, agreeable to the laws in that case made and
provided; and which said improvements, and the means by which the same are
to be performed, are particularly set forth in a Specification, as required by
the said Letters Patent; and enrolled in the Chancery of the said Kingdom. of
England, the
and we, the said Thomas
Parker, William Telfer, and Alexander Afleck, having proceeded in applying
the said improvements to the purposes, intended, by which their utility has
further appeared to us, the said Patentees, in their application to the articles
specified, and also to others of the like nature, but not comprehended in His
Majesty's said Letters Patent, nor described in the said Specification; and we,
the said Patentees, having discovered that the said improvements are likewise
further applicable to the preparing and manufacturing flax; hemp, silk, and

page_text: other materials, in their raw or unfinished state; and also to the recovering
of materials of manufacture from articles that have been made of flax, hemp,
silk, wool, cotton, and other materials of the like nature, or of various mixtures
thereof, by the use of the machinery invented and constructed on the principles
of the said improvements by us, the said Patentees, for reducing or teazing
down all the said articles or materials into states capable of being again manu-
factured, or otherwise made use of in a manner not hitherto known to have
been in the public practice of the manufacturers within the said Kingdom;
and His Majesty having been further graciously pleased to grant unto us, the
said Thomas Parker, William Telfer, and Alexander Afleck, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, His Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of April, in the forty-second year of His reign, for
the sole use of
our said Invention' and improvenients as they apply to raw and
unfinished materials, as well as for our Inventions and improvements for pre-
paring and reducing or teazing down cloths and other manufactured, articles,
whether made of flax, hemp, silk, wool, cotton, or other materials, or of various
mixtures thereof, so as the same may be again manufactured or otherwise
made use of; and for making, using, and licensing or vending machines for
the purposes aforesaid, within the said Kingdom, the Dominion of Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Isle of Man, and other Islands, Colonies,
and Plantations belonging to His Majesty, according to the laws in that
case made and provided; in which last-mentioned Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that we, the said Thomas Parker, William Telfer, and
Alexander Afleck, or one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of our said Inventions, and in what manner the same were to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, and cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery of the said Kingdom of England within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, other-
wise the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void,-as-in-and-by-the-said Letters
Patent, references being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.
7
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso in the said
last-mentioned Letters Patent contained, we, the said Thomas Parker, William
Telfer, and Alexander Afteck, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Inventions, and the manner in which the same are performed, is and are
described and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-
The principle, nature, or end to. be answered by the said Inventions, are to

page_text: prepare, and manufacture flax, hemp, silk, and other materials in their raw or
unfinished state, so as to render the same capable of being made use of in
manufacturing the articles to which they may be applied; and also to recover
materials of manufacture from articles that have, been made of flax, hemp, silk,
wool, cotton, and other materials of the like nature, or of various mixtures
thereof, by reducing or teazing down all the said articles or materials into
states capable of being again manufactured or otherwise made use of.
Figure I and II. are the opposite sides of a machine for preparing the raw
materials above mentioned, the length three feet, the breadth eleven inches,
and two feet eight inches high. A is a sheve, six inches diameter, on the axis
of the large cylinder B, the rims of which, C, are of cast iron covered with
pieces of, hard wood d, two and a quarter inches square, which are screwed to
the rims and form the cylender, which is twenty inches diameter, and nine
inches long, set with steel teeth drove into the wood, and standing half an inch
above the surface of the cylinder, where there are about three-sixteenths of an
inch diameter, tapering to the points, which are sharp and incline in an angle
of about forty-five in the direction in which the cylinder, is turned. There are
thirteen teeth in each row in the length of the cylinder; the points of the teeth
half an inch from each other in direct lines, and thirty-six rows at equal dis-
tances from each other round the cylinder. E. is the upper cylinder, made of a
solid piece of hard, wood, into which teeth of the same size are drove in the
same angle, and at the same distance from each other, as in the large cylinder,
and also in direct lines in twelve rows round the cylinder, which is seven and a
half inches diameter, and nine inches long; and when the cylinders are put in
motion they turn the contrary way to each other, and the teeth of each
in direct lines without striking each other. F is a band from the sheve A
round the sheve.g on the axis of the upper cylinder, by which it is turned on
the opposite side of the frame of the machine.
pass
Figure II.: H is a nut or pinion on the end of the axis of the large
cylinder, one and a quarter inch diameter, with ten teeth. This nut turns
a stud wheel I, seven inches, diameter, with sixty teeth, on which is a
pinion K, three inches diameter; and with twenty-three teeth, which turns
La wheel eighteen inches diameter, with one hundred and forty-four
teeth, which turns a pair of rollers, in Figure I., with flutes three-eighths
of an inch deep working into each other. These rollers are eight inches
long, and three inches diameter; on the axis of the lower of these rollers
is a sheye N, three inches diameter, which with a band O round, another
sheve P, five and a half inches diameter, on the end of a roller 9, which
drives the feeding cloth R,, on which the article is spread to be drawn

page_text: through between the two fluted rollers to receive the action of the teeth of the
large cylinders, as it is termed, from the rollers; and again that of the teeth of
the upper roller as it receives its reverse motion. S is a brush, of the same
length as the fluted rollers, one side of which rests upon the upper roller to
prevent any of the fibres of the articles passing between the rollers from being
turned round the upper roller, and the other side of this brush rests against
the surface of the large cylinder to press the article against. the teeth; and
according to the nature of the article, different means may be used for
brushing or taking it off from the teeth of the cylinders; if it is long, when
the teeth are so nearly filled as to abate in producing a sufficient effect, the
motion of the machine may be suspended till the article be taken off by hand
with any small instrument to be passed under the article between two rows of
the teeth lengthways of the cylinders, turning them slowly round the reverse
way in which each of them work; if the article is short, the teeth of the
cylinder may be kept free by circular brushes turned at greater speed than the
cylinders by which the article may be bushed off, and received upon such a
grate or corded frame as may retain the article long enough to be freed
from dust, shows, or the shortest or least valuable of its fibres, an effect
which may be the better.produced by giving the frame such a motion from the
machine by a crank or otherwise as may best answer the purpose. The upper
feeding or fluted roller is loaded by hooks I, hung upon it, and connected
with levers W on the side of the frames below, eighteen inches long, the
fultram two inches from the center W, with a weight a sufficient to press
down the upper roller to such a degree as to prevent the article from being
drawn from between the rollers, by the action of the teeth and the force of the
cylinder, before the effect to be performed is produced to the degree in which it
can be done each time of being passed through, and which may be repeated
till the article may be prepared to the degree required by this operation for
the after stages of manufacture.
Figures III. and 1V. are the opposite sides of a machine for recovering or
teazing down articles made of the materials before mentioned, the frame.
of which is four feet long, two feet broad, and two fect ten inches high. A, on
the side of the machine, Figure II., is-a-sheve or pully turned by a band or
belt connected with the drum or cause of motion. On the inside of this sheve
is a catch made to lay hold of or to be disengaged from the axis of the
cylinder by shifting the lever No. 1, so that the machine may be stopt when
it is working without displacing the band or belt. B, B, B, are the
opposite ends and surface of the cylinder, which is nineteen inches long
and sixteen inches diameter. The rims of the cylinder are cast iron, and the

page_text: surface is formed of. pieces of .bard wood fixed to the rims. The surface is
indented with groves three-eighths of inch deep, and angled. In each of
these groves are .laid two brass bars, No. 2, of equal length, in a direct line
cross. the surface of the cylinder, and fastened to it by screws through three
cocks on cach bar.. The bars are three-sixteenths of an inch broad, and five-
sixteenths high, flat at the bottom, and.groved in the middle of the upper sides,
leaving the two edges standing up, which are pierced with fourteen holes in
an inch of the length. of the bar, through which sharp steel points are driven of
about half an inch long, the points standing up near three-sixteenths of, an
inch after passing through the upper edge of the bars as they are fixed in the
groves of the cylinder, and inclining with their points the way the cylinder
turns, so as to strike the article to be teazed in the most favorable manner for
producing the effect. Each of these bars are nine inches long, so that two of
them, when placed with their ends to each other, extend the whole, length of
the cylinder; and there are thirty-two rows of these bars at equal distances
in the whole circle of the cylinder, the axis of, which works on two. brass
bolsters resting on cast-iron sliding cocks, bolted to the frame.No. 17, which
admit of the cylinder being brought nearer to. the first pair, of feeding rollers
next the cylinder II, or set at a greater distance, as the material to be teazed
down may be found to require to produce the best effect on the side of the
machine.
.
Figure IV. No. 3 is a pinion on the opposite end of the axis, of the
cylinder A, the diameter of which pinion is one inch three-sixteenths, and bas
ten teeth, and turns a wheel No. 4, eight inches diameter, with eighty-four
teeth, on the socket of which is a pinion. thirteen-sixteenths diameter, with
sixteen teeth, fixed on a sliding plate No. 5, screwed to the side of the frame.
The pinion of the wheel, No. 4 turns the wheel No. 6 fixed on the end of the
upper of the first pair of feeding rollers H, on the other end of: which is a
stud wheel No.. 7, which turns the pinion of the upper of the second pair of
feeding rollers No. 9, and the upper rollers 7 and 9 turn the two under rollers,
between which, the upper and under rollers, the materials to be teased pass
from the feeding cloth No. 13 to the cylinder. On a stud-wheel No. 8 is
fixed another wheel No. 10, which turns a- pinion No. 11, on the end of the
roller of the feeding cloth next the cylinder, and on the end of the frame.is
another roller No. 12, round which the feeding cloth No. 13 is turned towards
the cylinder... No. 14 is a lever, to which is hung a weight; No. 15 is
suspended on a saddle across the upper feeding rollers H,. to press them down
upon the lower rollers, so as to prevent the materials to be teased from being
drawn through between them by the force with which the points on the bars

page_text: round the cylinder lay hold of the materials as they are presented from between
the first pair of rollers. The short ends that unavoidably escape from between
the rollers, which in the machine here described are one inch diameter, and
fluted, when picked out from the teased materials are again passed through a
smaller. machine, by which they are more entirely teased down and prepared
for carding. These smaller machines are constructed in the same manner..as
the larger. 6 is a pully on the end of the axis of a cylinder brush placed
within the frame of the machine, .which is inclosed. The pully 6 is turned
by a band No. 16. D, D, are the opposite ends of the cylinder brush, which
is nearinineteen inches. long and fourteen inches diameter, and is set. with
fourteen rows of flat brushes, which strike against the points on the cylinder B;
and by this brush. being turned at greater speed than cylinder B, and in the
same direction, the materials teased are brushed off within the covering of
the frame of the machine,.and taken out at the door E. F is a flat brush
to keep lown the materials to the points; -and g is.a cover, which is made to
inclose tlie cylinder as it is wrought; and. No. 18 is a board.attached to.it by
hinges to shut down over the flat brush Fand rollers II, and to open, or the
whole. to take off..when required. In constructing the first of the above
machines the teeth in the cylinder may be of the size, and placed.<at the
distances herein described, for the purpose of being applied to all the articles
mentioned in the said Patent, as well as to the waste thereof, and in that of
the waste. of flax, in which the machine described is found to answer in
recovering so much of the valuable part thereof as can be obtained, and
prepared,by the operation of the machine with advantage for the after processes
of manufacture, whether..the waste arises from scutching the flax, or otherwise;
but the size and distances of the teeth may be varied, as.also in the manner.of
being sét, as they may be found to answer best in producing the different
degrees of fineness in the several. articles of flax, hemp, silk, and other
materials, and the last machine for teazing down the different articles. The
points may be of different sizes, and set in different directions, and at different
distances from each other, as they may be found to produce the recovered
materials in the ibest.or finest: state. The machine last mentioned is found to
answer in teasing down articles made of wool by points placed at the.distances
above-mentioned. . But whether the machines above described may be made.of
different dimensions, or however variously constructed, for the purposes both
of preparing the raw or unfinished articles,, or for teasing down the materials
mentioned in the said Letters Patent, the purposes to be answered ;being the
same as those mentioned in the said Letters Patent, and herein described,
as. to the nature, and manner of being performed, they are comprehended

page_text: therein without regard to the power by which any number of the machines
may be wrought, which, as it will appear to any mechanic, may either be by
that of a water mill, steam engine, horse mill, or by hand, or any other power
producing motion.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Parker, William Telfer, and
Alexander Afleck, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the
Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and two.
W LAWRIE, Writer and Notary Publick,
Glasgow.
ALEX MORRISON, his Ctk.
William Lawrie, of the City of Glasgow, in that part of Great Britain called
Scotland, Writer and Notary Publick, maketh oath and saith, that William
Telfer and Alexander Afleck, of the City of Glasgow, in that part of Great
Britain called Scotland, Mathematical Instrument Makers, two of the persons
in the annexed Decd Poll or Instrument named and described, did sign,
seal, and as their act and deed in due form of law deliver, the said annexed
Deed Poll or Instrument in presence of this deponent, and of Alexander
Morrison, his clerk, the other subscribing witness thereto; and saith that the
several names, William Telfer and Alex Afleck, set and subscribed opposite
the respective seals affixed thereto, as the parties executing the same, and
the names Wm Lawrie and Alex Morrison, thereto also set and subscribed as
witnesses attesting the due execution thereof by the said William Telfer and
Alexander Afleck, are of the respective proper hands writing of the said
William Telfer, Alexander Afleck, Alexander Morrison, and this deponent.
Sworn at Glasgow, this Thirteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1809 before me Lord
WM. LAWRIE.
Sworn at Glasgow, this Thirteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1809 before me, Lard
Provost and Chief Magistrate of said City,
JOHN HAMILTON.
WM. LAWRIE.