IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR REDUCING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS INTO TOW
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rowan, of the Firm of John Rowan and
Sons, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR REDUCING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS INTO TOW."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 4th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
4th May 1861.
I, WILLIAM ROWAN, of the Firm of John Rowan and Sous, of Belfast, in
the County of Antrim, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE ALSO FOR REDUCING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS INTO Tow," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in scutching flax, hemp, and other fibrous materials.
by means of a revolving cylinder fixed in a frame, and around which are
placed combs and beaters, and to which the flax or other fibrous material is
pressed by the hand through an opening provided for the purpose in the front
of the machine. After having been sufficiently acted on, the flax is withdrawn
and reversed end for end; this done, it is then put through the same operation

page_text: when it is finished. I sometimes use rollers to pass the flax or hemp into the
machine. When flax, hemp, or other fibrous material is to be reduced to tow,
I then place around the cylinder fine combs or hackles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rowan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROWAN, of the Firm of John Rowan and Sons, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rowan, Her special licence that I, the said William Rowan,
my executors, administrators,. and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Rowan, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, APPLICABLE ALEO
FOR REDUCING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS INTO Tow," upon
the
condition' (amongst others) that I, the said William Rowan, 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 William Rowan, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
This Invention consists in scutching flax, hemp, and other fibrous materials
by means of a revolving cylinder fixed in a frame, round which cylinder are

page_text: placed combs and beaters, and to which the flax or other fibrous material is
pressed by the hand through an opening provided for the purpose in the front
of the machine. After having been sufficiently acted on, the flax is withdrawn
and reversed end for end; this done, it is then put through the same operation
when it is finished. I sometimes use rollers to pass the flax or hemp into the
machine. When hemp, flax, or other fibrous material is to be reduced to tow,
I then place round the cylinder by preference five combs or heckles.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation of a machine
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a front view; and
Figure 3, a plan of the same.
a, a, a, a, is the revolving drum or cylinder mounted on a shaft or spindle g,
and fitted with a comb h, and with beaters s, s, round its periphery. I find
one comb and five beaters to act well, but the number of either may be
altered. Figures 4, 5, and 6 are views on an enlarged scale in front
elevation, plan, and vertical section of a comb detached, and Figure 7 is a
front view of a beater detached; Figure 8 is an end view of this drum or
cylinder detached. B is a side or framework enclosing the upper part of the
drum; C, C, are louvre plates inclining downwards to allow of the broken
boon or woody particles detached from the flax or other fibre under treatment
passing off freely, and being blown down to the floor by a current of air
passing from the cylinder through the louvres. The object of the louvres is to
prevent the boon getting embedded with the fibre. D is the feeding board;
it is made as shewn to enable the attendant to feed and handle the straw and
flax during the operation with safety. A set screw is connected to the plate b
for the purpose of regulating the distance thereof from the comb and beaters,
which distance requires to be modified according to the nature of the fibres
being operated on. F is the front plate of the louvre casings, one of which is
shown over the louvres and the other removed.
c, c, are passages or channels
by which the boon is led to the openings e, e, through which it falls to the
ground; f is a fast and f¹ a loose pulley mounted on the spindle g. The
flax, hemp, or other material to be scutched is fed by the hands of an atten-
dant to the drum or cylinder by means of the board D, and is submitted
to the action of the comb and beaters; the material is allowed to pass on into
the machine until one hand of the attendant comes nearly in contact with the
front plate F, when the material is withdrawn, turned upside down, reinserted,
and submitted to the same operation, and so on until it is sufficiently scutched.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment

page_text: in machinery for scutching flax and other fibrous, substances, applicable also
for reducing flax, hemp, and other fibres to tow, of a cylinder armed with a
comb or combs and beaters; and of: louvre plates let into the casing thereof,
the machine being fed and operating substantially in manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rowan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
WILL". ROWAN. (L.S.)