An Improvement in Machines for Rolling or Breaking Flax, Hemp, Jute, and other Fibrous Substances in the Straw.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd July, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 27th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 8th Jan., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Machines for Rolling or Breaking Flax, Hemp,
Jute, and other Fibrous Substances in the Straw.
1, JOHN MCKELVEY HORNER, of Clonard Foundry, Belfast, Ireland, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improvement in machines for breaking flax, hemp, jute,
and other fibrous materials in the straw, for the purpose of removing the shives and
boon from the fibrous portion or hair.
Heretofore, it has been necessary that the fluted rollers employed in such breaking
machines should be of coarse pitch in order to avoid the cutting or chaffing of the fibre
which would otherwise ensue and the straw is, in consequence of such coarseness of
pitch, insufficiently broken, so that the after process of cleaning is attended with loss
of valuable fibre.
The object of this invention is to so construct the rollers that they may be made of
sufficiently fine pitch to effectually break and loosen the straw without causing any
injury to the fibre and so that they may be self-adjusting to the quantity of material
fed into them without the use of springs or weights.
The Invention consists in making the rollers in the form of skeleton or open drums,
that is to say of longitudinal bars fixed at their ends and at any required intermediate
points to suitable bosses, the bars being set radially edgewise to act as teeth or breakers
and being considerably narrower than the intervening spaces. The roller shafts are
geared accurately together at the ends, so that the teeth of the one enter between, but
do not bear against, the teeth of the other. As the rollers are hollow and the spaces
between the teeth are bottomless, the teeth cannot bottom and consequently the fibre
cannot be damaged by being crushed between the rollers.
Rollers of very fine pitch may be used without straining the fibre whilst the straw is
much better broken, being snapped instead of being crushed, and in this way it is
horoughly prepared for the after process of cleaning.
1
T-11000'
J. MºK. HORNER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: An Improvement in Machines for Rolling or Breaking Flax, Hemp,
Jute, and other Fibrous Substances in the Straw.
I, JOHN MCKELVEY HORNER, of Clonard Foundry, Belfast, Ireland, Machine Maker,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the saine is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention relates to an improvement in machines for breaking flax, hemp, jute,
and other fibrous materials in the straw for the purpose of removing the shives and boon
from the fibrous portion.
Heretofore, it has been necessary that the fluted rollers employed in such breaking
machines should be of coarse pitch in order to avoid the cutting or chafing of the fibre
which would otherwise ensue and in consequence of such coarseness of pitch the straw
is insufficiently broken so that the after process of cleaning is attended with loss of
valuable fibre.
The object of this invention is to so construct the rollers that they may be made of
sufficiently fine pitch to effectually break and loosen the straw without however, causing
any injury to the fibre and so that they may be able to accommodate varying quantities
of material without the use of rising bearings for the upper rollers loaded by springs or
weights as hitherto.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specifica-
tion, wherein figure 1 is a cross-section and figure 2 a plan (shewing the preferred
construction) of two of the pairs of rollers of a flax-breaking machine. Figure 3 is a
cross-section of a modified construction. The same letters of reference serve for like
parts in all the figures.
Referring to figures 1 and 2, AA¹, B B¹, are two of the pairs of rollers through which
the straw passed, as shewn. There may be any number of pairs of such rollers, all
being similarly constructed except that the successive pairs are of progressively finer
pitch. The roller shafts a a' b b are journaled in fixed bearings in the frames.
The Invention consists in making the rollers in such form and gearing them together
in such manner that the teeth of the one roller of each pair shall intermesh with, but
cannot bear against, those of the other roller of the pair, and the teeth of one roller
cannot "bottom" against the other roller, so that whilst the straw shall be effectually
broken the fibre cannot be damaged. The preferred mode of attaining this object is to
make the rollers in the form of skeleton frames, as shewn in figures 1 and 2, formed of
longitudinal bars c fixed at their ends, and at any required intermediate points, to suit-
able heads d, the bars being set radially edgewise at equal distances apart around the
circumference of the heads d. The bars are made considerably narrower than the
intervening spaces and are bevelled and rounded at their outer edges, so that although
the bars c of the one roller intermesh deeply enough with those of the other to break
the straw, they cannot touch them the roller shafts a a¹ and b 6' of each pair being.
geared accurately together so as to maintain the relative positions of the two rollers.

page_text: The bars c are made of iron, steel, or other suitable material, and are preferably secured
at their ends by tenons received in notches in the circumference of the heads d and
retained by an encircling boop d' so that the bars can be readily renewed in case of
breakage. But they might be made solid with the heads, or be otherwise constructed.
As the rollers are hollow and open to the spaces between the bars c, the bars of the
one roller cannot "bottom" between those of the other. Consequently, the fibre cannot
be damaged by being crushed between the rollers, but the straw is merely broken or
snapped into small pieces by being bent over and under the intermeshing bars and,
being held loosely in the rollers, there can be no tensional strain upon it. Should an
excessive bulk of material be fed between the rollers it will be forced between the bars
into the interior of the rollers instead of requiring to raise the upper rollers bodily as
when rising bearings loaded by springs or weights are used.
Instead of constructing the rollers of the skeleton form described, they might be solid,
as shown in figure 3, but have teeth much deeper than the depth to which they inter-
mesh and have the spaces between the teeth so much wider than the teeth, that the
teeth of the one roller shall not bear against those of the other roller. Whichever con-
struction be adopted, the rollers must be accurately geared together, as above mentioned,
preferably by pairs e e¹ and ff of spur wheels (indicated, by their pitch lines only, in
figures 1 and 3) the spur wheels of all the lower rollers being geared together by
intermediate wheels g in order to ensure uniform speed of the whole set.
Instead of spur gear, pitch chain gear may however, be used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :—
1. Constructing the breaking rollers of machines for rolling and breaking fibrous
materials, in the form of hollow skeleton drums constituted by longitudinal breaker bars
fixed at uniform intervals around supporting heads or bosses, substantially as and for
the purpose specified.
2. A flax breaking machine having hollow or skeleton rollers formed by longitudinal
bars, as specified, the rollers of each pair being geared together so that the bars of the
one intermesh with, but do not bear at any point against, those of the other roller of
the pair, as and for the purpose specified.
3. A flax breaking machine having the spaces between the teeth of the solid rollers
so proportioned to the size, depth, and pitch, of the teeth and having the rollers so
geared together that the teeth of the one roller of the pair will mesh with, but cannot
bear against, or bottom" between, those of the other roller, as specified.
יתית
"
1
ATL 1000
J. MCKELVEY HORNER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.
J. MCKELVEY HORNER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.