CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING FLAX AND HEMP FOR THE PURPOSE OF HECKLING, AND ALSO MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUB- STANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PETER
FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, and PETER SWIRES
HORSMAN, of Leeds, aforesaid, Flax Spinner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of May, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Peter
Fairbairn and Peter Swires Horsman, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires
Horsman, our exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as we, the said
Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires Horsman, our exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS
OF PREPARING FLAX AND HEMP FOR THE PURPOSE OF HECKLING, AND ALSO MACHINERY
FOR HECKLING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, the
said Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires Horsman, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires Horsman, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The first feature of our improvements consists in a particular mode of
treating flax and hemp, viz, by rolling it in a wet state after it has been
suitably retted and scutched in any of the known modes, or in some instances
without having been previously retted, but simply scutched by any ordinary
swingling or scutching machinery or apparatus. We take the scutched flax
or hemp, and having saturated it' (say, for four or five hours,) in water,
either hot or cold (but hot water we prefer), we then pass the material in its
wet state between heavily weighted plane pressing rollers, for the purpose of
flattening the fibres, to prepare the material for the after process of heckling
in our improved machinery, by which means we are enabled to obtain much
more attenuated fibres of the material than is attainable by the ordinary modes
of treating flax or hemp. The flax or hemp having been so treated is then
dryed gradually in the atmosphere, and when nearly deprived of moisture the
material is ready to be submitted to our improved heckling machinery.
The second feature of our improvements consists in certain constructions
and arrangements of machinery designed to divide and separate the fibres of
flax and other vegetable materials without the danger of breaking or tearing
the finer fibres and drawing them out of the strick as tow, which has been
too much the case in carrying on the ordinary or known modes of heckling
by machinery. It is well known that the substance of flax, hemp, and other
vegetable materials is capable of being divided into minute filaments. This
has hitherto been effected in the heckling machines in ordinary use by inserting
the points of heckle pins into the stricks of flax and other materials, and then
causing the pins to be drawn down through the remaining length of the strick,
which by the successive operation of the heckles had the effect of breaking
and tearing away the fibres, and consequently of reducing the quantity or
yield of dressed material without producing a sufficient division of the
filaments.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a Diagram exhibiting the
manner in which we move the heckle bars in our improved machinery.

page_text: From the upper part of the stationary frame of the machine A, two curved
brackets H, H, extend for the purpose of carrying the compound levers that
work the two opposite heckle bars G, G. The upper of the compound levers
I, I, have their fulcrums, and vibrate on studs fixed in the brackets. To the
inner or shorter arms of these levers I, I, are attached the rods L, L, which
are connected at bottom to the back parts of the respective heckle bars. To
the outer or longer arms of the levers I, I, are attached the rods K, K,
which at their lower ends are respectively connected to the crank rods F, F.
These rods leading from the cranks D and E are at their reverse ends
severally united with the rods L, L, at the backs of the heckle bars.
From the framework A at top there are also extending two straight
brackets M, M, having studs, from which are suspended guide rods N, N;
these rods are connected at bottom to arms 0, 0, affixed to and carried out
from the backs of the heckle bars. Rotary motion being given to the crank
shafts D and E, in the direction of the arrows, by the driving parts of the
machinery, the compound levers will cause the heckle bars to reciprocate and
move the points of the respective heckles in the forms of the curves shewn by
dots, and the strick of flax or other material being suspended perpendicularly
between the heckle points, the fibres will by these means be progressively
separated and opened.
Figure 2 represents the front elevation of a complete machine with. our
improvements embodied therein.
and
Figure 3 is a horizontal or top view of the same, some parts of the machi-
nery being removed to shew the working parts within more distinctly;,
Figure 4 is an end elevation of the machine complete, with the driving parts
and appendages by which the stricks of flax or other materials under the
heckling process may be operated upon; the similar letters of reference
indicating the same parts in all the Figures.
A, A, A, denote the cast-iron frame and standard of the machine. B, the
driving pulley mounted upon a stud fixed in the framework, and having a
spur pinion upon its boss, which takes into the intermediate spur. wheels
C and C. The first-mentioned intermediate wheel C takes into another
wheel mounted upon the end of one of the crank shafts D, and the second
mentioned intermediate wheel C takes into a similar intermediate wheel,
which latter takes into and drives the wheel mounted on the end of the other
crank shaft E. These shafts D and E are mounted upon suitable bearings
in the standard frame, and are formed with two corresponding cranks on each.
To each of these cranks is connected a rod F; that is, two to the cranks D,
and two to the cranks E. The opposite ends of these rods being, as before

page_text: described, connected to the back parts of the heckle bars G, G, the rotation
of the crank shafts will cause the heckle bars to vibrate in the course
described and shewn by dots in Fig. 1.
We now proceed to describe the modes of working the strick holders, in
order to bring the stricks of material into suitable positions to be operated
upon by the heckle pins. The trough or groove in which the strick holder
is held is shewn in the Figures at U, U, fastened to two forked upright
bars T, T, at the ends of the machine. These upright bars are attached to two
weighted levers S, which have their fulcrums on studs fixed in the lower rails
of the end frames. These levers S are acted upon by two revolving cams Q, Q,
cut round their peripheries into various indentations, which cams are fixed
upon a longitudinal shaft P, mounted in the end frames, and driven by gear con-
nected with the first-described train that actuate the crank shafts D and E.
A strick of flax or other material having been fixed in a holder in the ordinary
way, that holder so charged is put into the trough U, and the cams Q placed in
such positions that the work may commence; that is, those parts of the peri-
pheries of the cams marked V, and shewn by dots in Figure 4, are to be
brought exactly over the friction pullies in the levers S, in which situation of the
cams the fork bars T will have raised the strick to its highest position. The
moving power being then made to set the driving pulley and train of wheels in
motion, the cams Q will slowly revolve in the direction shewn by the arrow in
Figure 4. The heckle bars G, G, will, at the same time, be actuated by the rota-
tion of the crank shafts D and E, and the heckle pins be made to reciprocate
as described in reference to Figure 1. These movements of the heckle pins
will uniformly continue, whilst the ascents and descents of the strick holders
will be determined by the inequalities on the peripheries of the cams.
These
cams are so formed that the stricks of flax or other material under the heckling
process will, by the action of the lever S, be subjected to alternate ascending
and descending movements, increasing in extent as the operation goes on,
so that every time the strick descends, the heckle pins will be made to pene-
trate a little higher up into the strick; and then, in the rising of the strick,
comb or heckle out the tow from the separated fibres. The tow having been
thus drawn out of the strick, it is taken off the lower en ls of the fibres by
an endless band of brushes W, shewn in Figure 4. This endless band is
passed over a tension roller X, mounted in bearings in the standards, and
is actuated by the driving gear. The other tension roller Z turns in bearings
in the upright forked bars T; therefore, as these bars ascend in rising the
strick they bring the endless band of brushes up to the heckle pins, and as
the brushes travel, the tow is wiped off from the ends of the strick and from

page_text: the heckle points, and is carried to a cylinder covered with wire card, which
receives the tow, and it is afterwards doffed in the ordinary way. The
weighted lever R and snail cam Y', on the outer end of the shaft P, are by
the agency of the mechanism A, B, C, D, and E above, intended to conduct
the strick holders along the trough U, so as to shift the stricks from the
coarse to the finer heckle in the ordinary way.
A modification of our improvements is shewn in Figure 5, which represents
the operating parts of a screw gill machine for heckling flax and other
materials detached from its frame. a, a, and b, b, represent portions of the
ordinary screws placed vertically, carrying a series of heckle bars which pass
down the groove in one screw, and up the groove of its fellow screw by means
well understood, and in common operation. To these we adapt a vibrating
lever A, which carries the strick holder c; and to the lever A a crank rod B
is attached, which, by the rotation of the crank C, causes the strick of flax
or other material to be alternately thrown upon the points of the heckle pins in
the screws a, a, and b, b. The vibrating lever A is suspended from a vertical
bar D, which at its lower end is mounted upon a lever E, E, turning upon a
fulcrum d set in the frame work. A cam wheel F as it revolves, acting
against the under side of the lever E, causes that lever to vibrate, and by so
doing to raise and depress the bar D, thereby raising and depressing the
strick and its holder; the upper part and fulcrum of the lever A sliding in
As the heckle bars descend in the screws a
a groove in the standard frame.
and b, they severally bring down the tow taken from the strick, and two
rotary brushes e and f take the tow from the heckle pins, and deposit it upon
the card cylinders g and h below.
Another modification of our improvements is shewn in Figure 6, which
represents little more than the working parts of a screw gill heckling machine.
In this instance, the pairs of screws a and b are placed horizontally, and the
heckles are carried through the strick of flax or other material by the rotation
of the screws. The strick is placed in a horizontal position on the top of a
frame A, which is made to vibrate for the purpose of throwing the strick of
material upon the points of the heckle pins, and drawing it partially through
them. The mode of effecting this is as follows:-
The lower end of the legs of the frame A are attached to a crank, or by
crank pins e to revolving discs upon the pulley shaft B, which crank as it
goes round raises and depresses the frame A, and with it the strick of material
under operation. A lever C, moving upon a stationary fulcrum set in the frame-
work at 6', is jointed to the upper part of the leg of the frame A at g, consequently
as the crank raises and depresses the leg A, the upper part of the leg being

page_text: restrained by the lever C, the strick of material will be made to work in the
elliptical course shewn by the dotted line at d. In order that the flax or
other material may be operated upon at its ends by the heckle pins, and then
the whole of the strick gradually brought over them, we place the shaft of
the driving pulley in a sliding carriage D, which is moved to and fro in a
groove of the frame by the following means:-A right angled lever E, E,
having its fulcrum on a stationary stud set in a rail of the machine at e, is by
a joint connected to the sliding carriage D, and the, other arm of the lever E
being weighted carries a roller F, which works on the periphery of a rotary
cam G. As, this cam. G. goes round, its larger radius acting against the roller
Fraises the upper arm of the lever E, and thereby causes the lower arm of
that lever to draw the carriage. D forwards in its groove which advances the
frame A, thereby gradually drawing back the strick from the heckles. When
the lesser radius of the cam G, acts against the lever Ẹ, the weight at the
end of that lever brings it down, and thereby forces the sliding carriage D
back again, causing the strick of material to be advanced and brought further
over the heckles. H is the rotary brush which cleans the tow from the
beckle points, and I is the card cylinder with a doffer for carrying away the
tow from the brushes..
Having now described our improvements in the process of preparing flax
and hemp for the purpose of heckling, and also our improved machinery for
heckling flax, hemp, and other vegetable fibrous substances, we desire it to
be understood that we do not lay claim to all the mechanical parts employed
or shewn in our Drawings, and described above, but that which we do claim
as new, and constituting the particular features of our present improvements
are,-
Firstly, taking flax or hemp after it has been scutched, and passing it in a
wet state between pressing rollers in order to bring the material into a
suitable condition to be afterwards operated upon by our improved heckling
machinery.
Secondly, the means of effecting a progressive extension of the ascending
and descending movements of the stricks of flax, hemp, or other material in
a machine for heckling or opening the fibres as described.
Thirdly, the manner of introducing the points of the heckles into the
stricks for the purpose of puncturing the material, and opening the fibres by
short downward strokes effected by the reciprocating actions of the heckles
in the course indicated by dotted lines in the Diagram, Figure 1.
And we
claim the two last mentioned features conjointly used, or either of them, in
combination with any other machinery for heckling.

page_text: We would here observe, that we do not intend to limit ourselves to the
employment of the two opposite series of heckles as shewn in the Drawings,
for several series of heckles so constructed and actuated may be adapted
in a heckling machine, the series being arranged one below the other.
Fourthly, the method of throwing the strick of flax or other material on to
the heckle points by a pendulous movement of the holder as represented in
Figure 5.
And, fifthly, giving to the strick of material under the heckling process,
reciprocating movements in an elliptical course by any means equivalent to
that shewn in Figure 6.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires
Horsman, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
(L.B.)
FAIRBAIRN.
PETER
PETER SWIRES (L.s.) HORSMAN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of November in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Peter Fairbairn and Peter Swires
Horsman came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.