CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF DRESSING OR PREPARING HEMP, FLAX, NEW ZEALAND FLAX, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, TO RENDER THEM FIT FOR SPINNING, PAPER MAKING, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
GIBBS, of the Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
.. WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Ninth day of January, in the third year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Gibbs, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Joseph Gibbs, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Joseph Gibbs, my 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESSES OF DRESSING OR
PREPARING HEMP, FLAX, NEW ZEALAND FLAX, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES, TO RENDER THEM FIT FOR SPINNING, PAPER MAKING, AND OTHER
PURPOSES; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Joseph Gibbs, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joseph Gibbs, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
Figure 1 is a front view or elevation, Figure 2 an end view, and Figure 3
a top view or plan of part of a machine for dressing, preparing, or rubbing
hemp, flax, New Zealand flax, or other vegetable fibrous materials or sub-
stances, in all which Figures the same letters of reference indicate the similar
parts. A is the wooden or other support of the machine, which is firmly affixed
to the floor of the workshop. B is one of a series of cast-iron plates, which are
affixed upon the top of the wooden frame A or support of the machine, and a
separate top view of which is shewn in Fig. 4. C, C, C, C, C, C, C, C, in the
latter Figure represent eight sets of grooves, furrows, or channels made in the
cast-iron plate, and D, D, D, D, are four oblong holes or apertures made
through the plate. E, E, E, E, are four circular holes or apertures, with
shoulders in them for the heads of the screws to lodge upon, by means of
which the plate is affixed upon the top of the frame A, the heads of the screws
being sunk below the surface of the plate. Other top and moveable cast-iron
plates F, the under surfaces of which are grooved, furrowed, or channelled, so
as to correspond exactly with those in the bottom plate B, and which are also
furnished with four corresponding oblong holes or apertures D, D, D, D, as
shewn in Fig. 3, are also provided, one for each of the fixed plates. These
top plates Fare guided and caused to move backwards and forwards in
the following manner :-G, G, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, is part of a wooden
bar, which extends along the entire length of the machine, and is lined
with iron plates underneath and partly on its sides, as shewn in Fig. 5,
which is an end section of it, and in Fig. 6, which is a side view of part of
it. This wooden bar G is supported at each end upon a friction roller, one of
which, H, is shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, and is lodged within two cheeks or side
plates I, I, which are formed upon the upper surface of the moveable plate F.
The bar G has also iron studs J, J, projecting from its sides, as shewn in Figs.
3 and 5, and one of them in Figs 1 and 6, which are received into upright caps
made in the middle of each cheek, and one of which is shewn at K in Fig. 1,
and both of them at K, K, in Fig. 3. This bar G is continually moved
backwards and forwards by means of a crank or other well-known contrivance,
and which is actuated by the steam engine or other first mover of the
machinery, and thus carries the several moveable plates along with it, as above
mentioned. The hemp, flax, or other fibrous materials to be operated upon by

page_text: the action of this rubbing machine, after having been previously roughly
hackled, their fibres laid straight, and slightly twisted into slivers, are passed
over two loose guiding cylinders or rollers L, M, mounted or affixed on each
side of the machine to the wooden bar G, and are then passed down through the
oblong aperture D, D, D, D, made in the moveable and fixed plates F and B,
when the apertures are placed opposite to each other, and are laid between the
two pairs of pulling or drawing channelled or grooved rollers N, O, N, O, on
each side of the machine, and as shewn in Figs. 1, 2, and 3; and as these
pulling rollers are slowly turned by the action of the machinery, the flax, hemp,
or other fibrous materials are exposed to the rubbing action of the grooves,
furrows, or channels, or of the ribs formed between them upon the cast-iron
plates B and F, for a longer or shorter period, and according to the nature of
the said fibrous materials, and as experiments shall determine. The outer
channelled rollers 0, 0, &c., are pressed into contact with the inner ones,
N, N, &c., by the bent levers P, P, &c., and the weights Q, Q, &c., hung upon
their outward ends, the weights being capable of being shifted nearer to or
farther from the fulcrum of the levers, as the pressure may require. R, R,
&c. are wooden boxes to contain and deliver the fibrous materials to the
machine, and to receive them after being exposed to its action. The hemp,
flax, and other vegetable fibrous substances are thus continually rubbed,
dressed, or prepared between the furrowed or channelled cast-iron plates by
the backward and forward alternate movements of the upper plates, they being
carried to and fro by means of the oblong apertures in the upper plates through
which they were passed, as above mentioned; and if the weight of the said
upper plates should not be sufficient to open the fibres properly, they may be
loaded with additional weights placed in partitions S; S, provided for that
purpose in the middle of each plate, as shewn in Fig. 3; and as the fibrous
substances become sufficiently opened they are gradually drawn forwards from
between the furrowed or channelled plates through the oblong apertures in the
lower or fixed plates by the action of the grooved rollers. The fibrous mate-
rials, when so treated, may then be finished in any of the usual modes, and
prepared for spinning, but with considerably less waste of fibre than has
generally hitherto been effected; and the shortest of the fibres may be used for.
paper making or other purposes with considerable advantage. Although I
have stated the furrowed or channelled plates as being placed horizontally, yet
they may also be used in a vertical or upright or other position, and kept in
contact with each other by means of springs or otherwise; .I likewise some-
times find it adviseable, when working harsh materials, to soften them by
causing steam to pass through or between the fibres; and should they not be

page_text: found to be sufficiently separated, opened, or divided by passing them through
the machine once, the operation may be repeated as often as may be found
necessary...
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Gibbs, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
JOSEPH (L.s.) GIBBS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1833, the aforesaid Joseph Gibbs came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
Inrolled the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-three.