IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING AND CLEANING FLAX STRAW
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Joun
and EDWARD LAWSON, both of Leeds, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John and Edward Lawson, our exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that we, the said
John and Edward Lawson, our exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said John and Edward Lawson, our exors, adñiors, 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING AND
CLEANING FLAX STRAW;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that we, the said John and Edward Lawson, or one of us, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and scal of one of us, to be inrolled in
Her 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Lawson and Edward Lawson, do hereby declare that the nature of our

page_text: said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon; that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of combining machinery in such manner that flux
straw contained in holders may be submitted to the action of fluted breaking
rollers, the holders being moved both vertically and horizontally to bring every
part of the flax straw to be operated upon. And in order that our Invention
may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed
to describe the means pursued by us.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 show an end and front view of machinery, combined
according to our Invention. This machinery, in regard to the action of the
holders in respect to their rising and falling and moving from end to end of
the machine, is very similar to backling machinery, and the means of obtaining
the motions are like those used in such machines, and which being well under-
stood it will not be necessary to enter at length into a description of the same.
The flax straw is successively operated upon pairs of rollers, on the surfaces of
which are segments with parallel ribs and grooves. Each pair of these rollers
is set so that the ribs of the one work into the grooves of the other without
coming into contact. The flax straw, as the holder is first operated upon by
the coarser pair of rollers to which it is delivered by the gradual lowering of
the trough, the ribs and grooves of the rollers bend and break the outer part
of the flax straw, and the surfaces of the rollers moving at a much greater
speed than the flax straw itself, the ribs and grooves not only break the "boon"
but scrape and shake it off. The trough having been lowered until the flax
has been operated upon, it is then raised, and the holder is passed on to the
next pair of rollers fitted with finer or closser ribs and grooves, by which the
flax straw is operated upon in a similar manner as by the first pair of rollers,
then passed on to one or more pairs of rollers, each successive pair having
still finer or closser ribs and grooves, all which will readily be understood on
examining the Drawings, aided by the description thereof here given. A, A,
are the end framings of the machine. B, B, are two shafts or axes, which are
caused to revolve in the directions indicated by the arrows. c, c, are ribbed and
grooved segments, which are fixed on to the cylinders carried by the shafts or
axes B, B; each segment has three parallel ribs thereon, but this may be
varied, and it will be seen that the ribs of one roller enter into and gear with
the ribs of the other roller, the flax being scraped and bent in varied directions

page_text: between them. D, D, are shafts or axes which have arms fixed thereon, which
carry blades or bars of wood which are to have heckle pins for the purpose of
clearing away the tow or waste. These instruments revolve in the directions
indicated by the Drawings. E, E, are the holders which hold and carry the
flax straw at one end, and they are progressively slided in the trough, as is well
understood. Fis the trough on which the holders traverse through the
machine, and which being caused to rise and fall, the holders, as is also well
understood, alternately rise to the highest position, where they are moved
forward a stage and then descend to the lowest position, the flax straw being
acted on by the ribbed segments of the rollers as the same descends and rises.
G is the wheel for moving the trough up and down and for giving motion to
the holders.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim to
the mechanical parts separately, nor do we confine ourselves to the details, so
long as the peculiar character of the Invention as herein described is retained.
But what we claim is the combining of ribbed and grooved rollers working
into each other and moving at a greater surface speed than the flax straw.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lawson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named John Lawson, in the
presence of
HENRY NELSON,
JOHN (L.S.) LAWSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid John Lawson came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged 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 Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord