IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER MANUFACTURING PRO- CESSES.
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Albemarle Cator, of Selby, in the
County of York, Gentlenian, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER MANUFACTURING PRO-
CESSES.
Sealed the 13th October 1853, and dated the 16th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Albemarle
Cator at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th April 1853.
I, GEORGE ALBEMARLE CATOR, of Selby, in the County of York,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER MANUFACTURING
PROCESSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the combination, by means of one con-
secutive series of machinery, of the under-mentioned processes, or any
three or more of them, and in the following order-1st. Expressing
water and other liquid from flax, hemp, and other vegetable fibrous

page_text: substances after they have been retted, steeped, or steamed, or prepared
in any other similar manner. 2nd. Washing the substances from which
the water or other liquid has been expressed. 3rd. Expressing the
liquid absorbed in the process of washing. 4th. Drying the flax, hemp,
or other vegetable fibrous substances, by passing them between and
over heated rollers. 5th. Breaking the flax, hemp, or other vegetable
fibrous substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Albemarle Cator, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 15th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE ALBEMARLE CATOR, of Selby, in the County of York, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date, the Sixteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Albemarle Cator, Her special
licence that I, the said George Albemarle Cator, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Albemarle
Cator, 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, excrcise, 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 PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES. FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER MANUFACTURING
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Albemarle Cator; by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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

page_text: Qe rate of
the said Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Albemarle Cator, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
My Invention of improvements in machinery for preparing flax,
hemp, and other vegetable fibrous substances for scutching or other
manufacturing purposes, consists in the arrangement or combination in
one machine of several of the mechanical parts or contrivances suitable
for performing certain processes in the manufacture of flax, or other
similar fibrous materials preparatory to the fibres being scutched or
otherwise treated. One of the principal features consists in the mode
of washing the flax or other fibres when under operation in my machine,
by causing jets of water or steam to be thrown upon the flax, both on
upper and lower surfaces, so that the gummy and other extraneous
matters may be more easily removed.
its
In the accompanying sheet of drawings I have shewn the manner in
which I arrange or combine the machinery, so that the several processes
may be carried on consecutively. Fig. 1, is a side elevation of my
machine. A, A, is the framework of the machine; and B, is a feed
board affixed at one end for supplying the machine with the flax or
other fibrous material, which is fed into the machine after the fibres
have been steeped or macerated in the ordinary or any other suitable
manner. C, C, are a pair of plain wooden or metal rollers, the upper
one of which is weighted or forced down by a strong spring for the
purpose of expressing out the water or liquid from the flax or other
fibre as it passes between the rollers. By the revolution of these
rollers the flax is carried forward to a second pair of rollers D, D,
where any water or other liquid that may have been absorbed by the
flax when passing between the jets, next mentioned, is expressed
from it. Between the rollers C, C, and D, D, are two perforated
water or steam pipes F, which are so placed that the flax, when.

page_text: passing from the rollers C, to the rollers D, passes between them.
Jets of water or steam are caused to be thrown both upwards and
downwards from these pipes F, upon the flax or other fibres
when so passing, and this operation has the effect of thoroughly
cleansing the flax or other fibres on both sides. Passing from the
rollers D, the flax is carried to another pair of rollers E, which are
used for the purpose of thoroughly expressing any remaining. liquid
from the fibres. From these rollers it is conducted underneath the
large steam cylinder G', and between this latter and the carrying rollers
H. The cylinder G', and also the cylinder G", hereafter referred to,
are heated by steam, which may be admitted into them through hollow
axles, or in any other convenient manner which may be found best
adapted for the purpose. The flax is pressed against the surface of the
steam cylinder G', when passing underneath it by means of a series of
plain carrying rollers H, H. These carrying rollers are maintained in
their position by ordinary brackets, as shewn in the drawing. And as
the flax is by nieans of these rollers H, H, carried round the steam
cylinders by their revolution, it will become dried, as, after it is brought
from underneath the lower cylinder, it passes between both the
cylinders G, and G", and is carried round the upper side of the
cylinder G, where the flax is pressed against the upper side by a
similar series of carrying rollers also mounted in brackets. The flax is
conducted from the top side of the upper steam cylinder, by means of
two pairs of carrying rollers I, I, and J, J, to a series of fluted or plain
rollers, or 'fluted and plain rollers combined, by the operation of which
rollers the woody parts of the flax or other fibres will be broken,
previous to being scutched or otherwise, treated. When the woody.
parts of the plant are broken, the flax or other fibre is carried on
to a delivery board, and taken away to be scutclied or otherwise
treated.
...
The several pairs of rollers C, D, and E, are shewn in the drawing
as being weighted or pressed down by ordinary spiral springs, and
the rollers of the breaking machine are pressed down by a weighted
lever; but I do not confine myself to these modes of weighting the
rollers, inasmuch as. any of the known and ordinary means of

page_text: weighting or pressing them may be made use of as may be found most
desirable.
Motion is given to the under rollers C, D, and E, and the steam.
cylinder G, and the breaking rollers K, by means of; bevil wheels on
the shaft M, which runs the whole length of the machine, and upon
the end of which are placed the driving pulleys L. The upper rollers
C, D, and E, and the upper steam cylinder G", are worked by friction
of contact, but if it be found necessary, they can be driven by gearing
in the usual way. Motion is given to the series of carrying rollers"
H, H, both upper and lower, and the rollers I, and J, by an endless
chain or strap, or gearing, connected to any driving part of the
machine..
In the drawing, I have only shewn three pairs of expressing rollers,
and one pair of perforated water pipes, for casting jets of water or
steam on the flax or other fibre, two steam or drying cylinders, and
four pairs of breaking rollers; but I wish it to be distinctly under-
stood that I do not confine myself to this number of rollers, cylinders,
or pipes, but that any number or series of them may be used as shall
be found most desirable in practice. Neither do I intend to confine
myself rigidly to the particular arrangement of parts herein shewn and
described, nor to the precise mode of carrying the flax round the
steam cylinder, as shewn in the drawing, nor to the particular mode
of driving the machinery, as the arrangement of the machinery and
the mode of driving the same may doubtless be varied, without depart-
ing from the nature and object of my improvements. But that which I
consider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, is the combination in
one machine, of the washing, pressing, drying, and breaking processes,
or any three of them, which can thereby be carried on simultaneously,
the flax or other fibres to be operated upon being conveyed from one
part of the machine to the other by mechanical means. I also claim
the use of upward and downward jets of water or steam, which may be
made to act simultaneously on the upper and under surfaces of the
fibres while in the machine. I further claim the method herein shewn

page_text: and described, or any mere modification thereof, of drying flax or other
vegetable fibres after they have been submitted to a wetting or washing
process..
In witness whereof, I, the said George Albemarle Cator, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Witness, J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
G. A. CATOR. (L.S.)