Improvements in Machinery for Scutching and Hackling Flax and other Vegetable Fibres.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Feb., 1899-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1899
35
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Scutching and Hackling Flax
and other Vegetable Fibres.
I, FRANÇOIS VALLET-ROGEZ, of 223, Boulevard de la Liberté, Lille, France,
ventor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
1
This invention relates to machinery for scutching and hackling flax and other
egetable fibres hereinafter included under the term flax.
The two processes of scutching and hackling flax have hitherto been usually
a single
fected separately; the scutching process being effected in the country at the
etters, and the hackling process being effected in a factory by the spinner. Now
ccording to the present invention these two processes are combined in
peration thereby effecting a large saving in labour, a great increase in the yield,
nd also rendering intermediary agents unnecessary.
Scutching as heretofore practised has been usually effected in one of the follow-
ng three ways, viz.:-
First Way. Solely by hand with the aid of the two tools hereinafter described.
1/. A board is placed in a vertical position and is firmly fixed to any suitable
On a level with the arms of the operator there is formed a notch
support.
intended to receive the strick of flax.
2/. A wooden beater of special shape composed of two parts, a handle extending
forwards in the form of a kind of wing-piece constituting a counterweight for
the purpose of imparting more power to the blow; another part forming a knife
and being fixed firmly to the first mentioned part; this second part being made
usually of walnut-wood, because this wood is very hard and does not injure the
flax.
The operator holds one of the ends of the strick of flax in his left hand.
He inserts the other end in the notch in the vertical board, and he strikes the
flax with the beater which he holds in his right hand. That part of the board
which is not notched serves to guide the beater which thus slides along the whole
length of the flax without catching in the notch.
The operator has frequently to turn and shake the strick of flax. From time
to time he has to stop, to lay down his beater and to open out the flax with the
fingers of his right hand for the purpose of bringing to the surface the stems
which have not been treated by the beater, and of subjecting them in their turn to
the beating operation. The oftener the flax is opened out in this manner the
better it is cleaned; but it will be readily upderstood that work done in this
manner is not uniform.
First, it causes the operator to lose a great deal of time and he, for this reason
alone is tempted to open out the flax as seldom as possible.
Neglectfulness or dilatoriness must also be taken into consideration.
Second Way. By hand by means of revolving beaters driven by any suitable
motor, the workman holding the strick of flax in his left hand, and opening it
4 out and dividing it with his right hand.
Third Way. By hand, by means of revolving beaters which are driven by the

page_text: workman by means of treadle mechanism whilst he works the strick of flax as in
the above described second way.
In each of these three ways, when the end which was first subjected to the
beating operation has reached a certain degree of cleanness, the operator takes hold
of the other end of the strick of flax and subjects to the beating operation the end
which he held previously in his hand.
This first or preliminary cleaning operation having considerably diminished the
volume of the flax, the operator, in continuing the scutching process, unites the
partially treated stricks in twos and threes &c. together, and continues his work
until the cleaning or scutching is completed.
The stricks of flax are then bound in bundles and packed in bales. It is in this
state that scutched flax is supplied to the market or to the spinner.
All the herein before described scutching processes necessitate a preparatory
breaking of the flax in a breaking apparatus having one or more pairs of fluted
cylinders for the purpose of flattening and breaking the woody portion of the plant
in order that it may be more readily separated from the fibrous portion.
None of the preceding processes yields a uniform treated article. Certain paris
of the flax are beaten too much; other parts are not beaten enough. The degree
of skill and the conscientiousness of the operator have a vital influence upon the
quality of the work and upon the final result. Furthermore, beating either by
means of the hand beater or by means of revolving beaters unavoidably cuts or
weakens a certain number of fibres and causes them to go to waste.
Finally, the bunching together and packing of the flax thus scutched, the
unpacking and unbunching on its arrival at the spinner's, the fresh division into
stricks which is necessary for placing the flax in the holders or clips for hackling
are so many expensive operations which destroy in part the parallelism of the
fibres, and when the hackles enter the irregular parts, the flax fibres are torn
and broken thus producing as many knots or kinks in the fibre which greatly
reduce the yield of hackled material, and correspondingly increase the waste.
Now my automatic scutching and hackling machinery obviates these various
drawbacks, it consists, -(1) of a scutching machine, and (2) of a hackling
machine arranged in the prolongation of the scutching machine and serving to
complete the latter.
The scutching machine comprises a framing having two side pieces similar to
the framing of an ordinary hackling machine. Each framing is formed at its
upper part with a vertical guide way for guiding a movable part or carriage having
a vertical up and down motion. Holders for receiving the stricks of flax are
inserted into the carriage from the side of the framing. A bar-like device which
I term a holder pusher or pawl bar and which is fitted with pawls, causes the
holders on the carriage to move forward in proportion as the work progresses,
and moves each holder to the place occupied by the holder immediately preceding.
The carriage should always have its full complement of holders. If, for instance
in a machine working 4 to 6 holders per minute the operator were to neglect to
place any holders into the carriage even only during three quarters of a minute,
then three holders will be missing in the carriage in the next process hereinafter
described.
If there were no special arrangement for the purpose, the operator in order
to conceal his neglect, would throw quickly some holders into the
carriage for the next process, viz., the first holder into the place of the
missing No. in the said next process, the second holder into the place of the
missing holder No. 2, and so on. Consequently the holder occupying the place of
the missing No. 3 holder will not have undergone the first two scutching pro-
cesses and the flax, having been insufficiently crushed and beaten will reach the
hackles in a coarser and more tangled state, and consequently will be in an
inferior condition, and will cause difficulties in spinning.
Besides, if there is no special arrangement for the purpose, the operator could
even start the holders when the carriage is at the bottom of its travel; the flux is

page_text: en seized at its middle part, and when the carriage rises agam,
rn away entirely or partially.
This accident often occurs with the ordinary hackling apparatus working at a
oderate speed. Consequently there is so much the greater liability of this
appening in machines working at a considerably greater speed.
It is also indispensable to provide the carriage with mechanism which will pre-
ent the operator from inserting holders into the carriage at improper times,
hich holders would not be subjected to the first operations of the scutching
rocess.
This is the object of my holder-arresting mechanism which, contrary to the
rrangements in existing hackling machines, affords completo security against all
he drawbacks herein before referred to.
This holder-arresting mechanism is arranged at the entrance of the machine and
operates at each movement of the holders. It consists of two bolts arranged one
in front of the other on the carriage and at such a distance that there will never
be a free passage.
When the holder-pusher or pawl-bar causes the holders to move forward, a
suitable part or catch acting upon one bolt causes it to enter its socket so as to
allow of the passage of the heels of the holders. During that time the other bolt
is still in its stopping position and the catch does not cause this bolt to move in
again, until after having released the first mentioned bolt which returns of itself
into its stopping position. As soon as the catch acts no longer upon either of the
bolts, a spring returns them directly and automatically into the stopping position.
In the return movement of the pawl bar, the part carrying the catch turns on its
upper pivot, thereby allowing the catch to pass above the bolts without acting
upon them.
A small guide-way in the catch allows of this rotary movement.
Immediately below the lower position of the carriage there are situated two
groups of fixed horizontal bars arranged on each side of the axis of the carriage.
Each of these groups consists of two fixed bars arranged horizontally one below
the other and at a small distance apart. A movable bar is arranged to enter with
a rapid alternating movement between the fixed bars of one or the other group
in such a manner as to bend the flax between the said fixed bars. In descending.
as well as in ascending, and at each station, the flax is subjected to the action of
5 these bars which flatten the stalks, crush the woody portion, and render the fibres
supple, whilst also cleaning them. The distance apart of the fixed bars diminishes
gradually from the inlet to the exit of the holders in such a manner that the flax
which diminishes in volume at each station in proportion as it is being cleaned,
will always be held tight and acted upon frictionally by the bars.
40
45
Below the above mentioned bars and along the entire length of the machine
there are arranged two rotary beaters having horizontal axles and each provided
with blades with scalloped edges. These blades are suitably inclined relatively
to the axis of rotation, and are mounted on arms which leave sufficient space fo
the passage of the blades and of the flax.
These rotary heaters revolve in opposite directions to each other, at the sam
speed, and both of them in such a manner as to rake and beat the flax in a down
ward direction. They are so arranged that the scalloped blades acting as shakin
heaters. alternate with and cross one another in such a manner as to beat and shak
the flax with the object of freeing it completely from the woody portions whic
50 were previously crushed and flattened by the action of the bars hereinbefo
referred to, that work directly above the rotary beaters.
At each end of the rotary beaters the blades are slightly bent towards the a
of rotation in the form of a cut lapper or facet and they are fixed upon a f
plate which prevents draught and consequently the rolling of the fibres around t
55 shaft. In the outer face of this plate there is formed a recess into which the
fits a part fixed upon the journal and which part acts as a shield to prevent
choking of the apparatus and the accumulation of the fibres experienced at

page_text: ends of the rotary beaters in all scutching apparatus operating by means of rotary
beaters, and which drawbacks have hitherto prevented the general use of those
machines on account of the frequent stoppages necessitated for clearing the
machines.
Below the rotary beaters there are arranged devices for screening and collecting
the waste. In the prolongation of the scutching machine above described there
is arranged a hackling machine having a framing of analogous shape to that of
the scutching machine, and whose carriage and holder-pusher are the actual pro-
longations of the carriage and holder-pushers of the scutching machine. The
holders leaving the scutching machine are pushed by a special pawl having an
increased travel which causes them to pass over the interval separating the
hackling machine from the scutching machine.
The flax undergoes in the hackling machine a progressive hackling. The frames
and the general arrangement of the hackling machine are analogous to those of
an ordinary hackling machine. But the first series of hackles are of a special
nature.
The end of each tooth is made into a point and sharpened in the form of a ridge
in a vertical sense, for the purpose of penetrating readily into the material to be
hackled The vertically thinned portion of the end of each tooth becomes con-
yerted gradually at a very small distance from the said end into a horizontally
thinned portion which forms in some degree a moderately sharp edge which rakes
or scrapes the flax not only on or from the front by means of the bottom of the
notches, but also by means of the sides of the notch situated near the end of the
tooth.
In this manner the fibres are raked or scraped on or from the sides as well as
on or from the front.
The successive hackles of one and the same series are preferably arranged in the
form of a quincunx or lozenge, relatively to one another so that the points of each
of said hackles will not enter the material to be hackled at the same places as
did the preceding hackles. It is important that this shall be the case in order
that the fibres shall all be raked uniformly on the sides as well as on the front.
Immediately behind these first series of hackles of special nature there are arranged
series of ordinary hackles graduated in a rational or systematic manner.
the hackling machine, as also below the scutching machine, there are arranged
Below
devices designed to collect and separate the waste matters.
On leaving the above described automatic scutching and hackling machine, the
flax is scutched and hackled at one end. A small curved railway receives each
holder on leaving this first machine and conveys it to the inlet end of a second or
twin machine situated in a parallel but reverse manner at the side of the said
first machine. The operator takes the holder and places it upon a special table
upon which there is situated an empty holder. He places the treated end of the
flax into the last mentioned holder; he removes the other holder, and he inserts
the filled holder into the second machine, the treated portion of the flax being
upper most whilst the portion which is to be treated is placed at the bottom.
The upper end of the railway is movably jointed to the exit end of the carriage
of the hackling machine by means of two journals or pivots arranged on either
side of the longitudinal axis of the carriage. By reason of this movable joint, the
railway shares in the vertical rising and falling motion of the carriage. The lower
end of the railway terminates near the table and within reach of the hand of the
operator. The railway is balanced by a counterweight attached to a cord which 5
passes over a guide pulley and is fastened to an arched piece fixed to the two rails
of the railway. The pivotal joint is situated approximately on a level with the
end of the carriage in such a manner that the railway and the carriage will corre-
spond for the passage of the holders.
The arrangement is such as to obviate completely the jamming which occurs 5
frequently in the apparatus at present employed and which often cause breakages
of the parts.

page_text: rawing
Above the machine there may be arranged a device for
to prevent the flax from being soiled and the operator from being inconvenienced
ereby.
The automatic scutching and hackling machine above described operates in the
me manner as the ordinary hackling machines.
Instead of placing scutched flax into the holders, there is placed therein retted
x in the stalk, crushed or uncrushed. The holders are then placed in the
achine.
There are six stations in the above described scutching machine. Although this
umber of stations appears to satisfy best all requirements, it may however be
hade greater or smaller. The machine is also constructed in such a manner that
he adjustment or regulation of all the working parts can be modified in a few
minutes to enable the machine to work strong or weak flax, or large or fine flax.
reserve the right of arranging the driving mechanisms in such a manner as may
be necessary to realise the conditions of motion and adjustment or regulation here-
nbefore referred to.
On leaving the first scutching and hackling machine, the flax is scutched and
hackled at one end only. The small curved railway above described receives the
holders issuing from the first machine and conveys them to the second machine.
The operator, receiving them without leaving the place where he stands, changes
the flax in the holders as above described and replaces the filled holders in the
second machine whose function is to treat the other end of the flax.
The first scutching and hackling machine treating the foot portion of the flax,
and the second machine treating the point portion thereof, the tow or fibres will
by that very means be separated; this being of great importance by reason of the
different value.
to,
1s
feast equal
is at
which
The herein before described automatic scutching and hackling machine allows
flax
hackled
of flax which
of obtaining a yield of
in respect
that obtained
and is often greater than
simply scutched by the processes heretofore in use, and referred to at the com-
mencement of this specification. This great superiority of yield is due to the
following causes:---
1/. Treatment by hand cannot be mathematically uniform. There are unavoid-
ably parts which are beaten too much, and parts which are not beaten enough.
Whereas the treatment in my machine is perfectly uniform, and it cannot be
otherwise, because all the fibres are therein equally and uniformly subjected to
the action of the operative parts and receive exactly the same number of blows.
2/. All the stalks or stems are perfectly parallel when the flax is placed in the
holders. This parallelism is neither destroyed nor altered in the course of working.
10 and it is maintained in the machine from entry to exit. There cannot therefore
be any tearing or rupture
The above described automatic scutching and hackling machine realises further
more an important saving in hand labour as compared with the processes hitherto
employed. If the increased yield and the saving in labour be taken into con
45 sideration, there is obtained with the same weight of retted flax in the stalk, a
final money value which is very much greater than with the ordinary processes
This additional value may vary according to the quality or the value of the fla
used, but it remains practically constant as regards the increase in the yield an
the saving in hand labour.
1000
Dated this
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS.
55 and 56. Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Scutching and Hackling Flax
and other Vegetable Fibres.
I, FANS VALLET-ROGEZ, of 223, Boulevard de la Liberté, Lille, France,
Inventor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:--
This invention relates to machinery for scutching and hackling flax and other
vegetable fibres hereinafter included under the term flax.
The two processes of scutching and hackling flax have hitherto been usually
effected separately; the scutching process being effected in the country at the
retter's, and the hackling process being effected in a factory by the spinner. Now
according to the present invention these two processes are combined in a single
operation thereby effecting a large saving in labour, a great increase in the yield,
and also rendering intermediary agents unnecessary.
Scutching as heretofore practised has been usually effected in one of the follow-
ing three ways, viz.:-
First Way. Solely by hand with the aid of the two tools hereinafter described.
1/. A board is placed in a vertical position and is firmly fixed to any suitable
support. On a level with the arms of the operator there is formed a notch
intended to receive the strick of flax.
2/. A wooden beater of special shape composed of two parts, a handle extending
forwards in the form of a kind of wing-piece constituting a counterweight for
the purpose of imparting more power to the blow; another part forming a knife
and being fixed firmly to the first mentioned part; this second part being made
usually of walnut-wood, because this wood is very hard and does not injure the
flax.
The operator holds one of the ends of the strick of flax in his left hand.
He inserts the other end in the notch in the vertical board, and he strikes the
flax with the beater which he holds in his right hand. That part of the board
which is not notched serves to guide the beater which thus slides along the whole
length of the flax without catching in the notch.
The operator has frequently to turn and shake the strick of flax. From time
to time he has to stop, to lay down his beater and to open out the flax with the
fingers of his right hand for the purpose of bringing to the surface the stems
which have not been treated by the beater, and of subjecting them in their turn to
the heating operation. The oftener the flax is opened out in this manner the
better it is cleaned; but it will be readily understood that work done in this
manner is not uniform.
First, it causes the operator to lose a great deal of time and he, for this reason
alone is tempted to open out the flax as seldom as possible.
Neglectfulness or dilatoriness of the operator must also be taken into considera-
tion.
Second Way. By hand by means of revolving beaters driven by any suitable
motor, the workman holding the strick of flax in his left hand, and opening it
out and dividing it with his right hand.
Third Way. By hand, by means of revolving beaters which are driven by the
workman by means of treadle mechanism whilst he works the strick of flax as in
the above described second way.
In each of these three ways, when the end which was first subjected to the
beating operation has reached a certain.degree of cleanness, the operator takes hold

page_text: 15
he other end of the strick of flax and subjects
ch he held previously in his hand.
his first or preliminary cleaning operation having considerably diminished the
me of the Hax, the operator, in continuing the scutching process, unites the
tially treated stricks in twos and threes &c. together, and continues his work
il the cleaning or scutching is completed.
The stricks of flax are then bound in bundles and packed in bales. It is in this
te that scutched flax is supplied to the market or to the spinner.
All the herein before described scutching processes necessitate a preparatory
breaking apparatus having one or more pairs of fluted
aking of the flax in a
inders for the purpose of flattening and breaking the woody portion of the plant
order that it may be more readily separated from the fibrous portion.
None of the preceding processes yields a uniform treated article. Certain parts
the flax are beaten too much; other parts are not beaten enough. The degree
skill and the conscientiousness of the operator have a vital influence upon the
uality of the work and upon the final result. Furthermore, beating either by
eans of the hand beater or by means of revolving beaters unavoidably cuts or
eakens a certain number of fibres. and causes them to go to waste.
Finally, the bunching together and packing of the flax thus scutched, the
npacking and unbunching on its arrival at the spinner's, the fresh division inio
tricks which is necessary for placing the flax in the holders or clips for hackling
re so many expensive operations which destroy in part the parallelism of the
ibres; and when the hackles enter the irregular parts, the flax fibres are torn
and broken thus producing as many knots or kinks in the fibre which greatly
reduce the yield of hackled material, and correspondingly increase the waste.
Now my automatic scutching and hackling machinery obviates these various
drawbacks. It consists,(1) of a scutching machine, and (2) of a hackling
machine arranged in the prolongation of the scutching machine and serving to
complete the latter.
Referring to the accompanying illustrative drawings:-
-
Figure 1 is a front side elevation of the scutching machine;
Figure 2 is an elevation of the entry end, and
Figure 3 is an elevation of the exit end of the machine.
Figure 4 is a detail view of the scutching mechanism.
Figure 4 is a detail view showing how the pawl bar is actuated.
Figures 4" 4 and 4" are detail views of the flax breaking mechanism.
Figures 5, 6 and 7 are respectively a front side elevation, vertical cross-section,
and a plan of the holder-arresting mechanism hereinafter referred to.
Figures 8 and 9 are detail views in front side elevation.
Figures 10 and 11 are respectively a vertical cross-section, and a part side
elevation of the revolving beaters of the scutching mechanism.
Figure 12 is a front side elevation of the hackling machine,
Figure 13 is an elevation of the entry end, and
Figure 14 is an elevation of the exit end of the machine.
Figure 15 is a perspective view of a hackle.
Figures 16 and 17 are respectively an end elevation and a part side elevation
of the railway at the exit end of the hackling machine.
Figure 18 is a diagrammatic plan indicating the combination of two combined
scutching and hackling machines and the railway for conducting the holders from
50 the exit end of the first of said combined machines to near the entry end of th
second.
55
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 14 are drawn to the same scale.
Figures 8 and 9 are drawn to a smaller scale, and Figures 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 1
16, 17 are drawn to a larger scale than the first mentioned figures.
The scutching machine (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4) comprises a framing having tw
end pieces A and B similar to the framing of an ordinary hackling machin
Each end piece is formed at its upper part with a vertical guide way Cf

page_text: guiding a movable part or carriage D having a vertical up and down motion.
Holders E (Figure 1) for receiving the stricks of flax are inserted into the car-
riage D from the end A of the framing. A bar-like device F which I term a
holder-pusher or pawl-bar, and which is fitted with pawls G (Figure 1) that push
the holders E by acting on their forward flanges E (Figures 5 and 6) and cause
the holders to move forward in proportion as the work progresses, and moves each
holder to the place occupied by the holder immediately preceding.
The holder-pusher or pawl-bar F is actuated by the following means shown more
clearly in Figure 4. A wheel a, which revolves in the direction indicated by the
arrow, is provided with a pin or roller b which is arranged to bear at a determined
moment upon a lever c. This lever, which pivots on the fixed axle d, descends
and carries with it in its downward movement, through the medium of the con-
necting rod e, a three armed lever f gh. The counter weight i (mounted on the
arm rises, and the arm which is connected by means of a connecting rod j to
the pawl-lever F, causes the latter with the pawls G to move back through a
distance equal to the length of one holder. At a predetermined moment the
roller becomes disengaged from the lever c, and the counterweight in falling
causes the three armed lever f g h to rock back and by means of the arm h to
move the pawl-bar I with the pawls G forward through one division, that is to say
through a distance equal to the length of one holder, and consequently also move
the holders E forward through a distance equal to the length of one holder.
This
This mechanism in certain machines may be combined with the mechanism for
producing the rise and fall of the carriage, but the machine forming the subject
of the present invention constitutes a separate actuating mechanism.
arrangement allows of regulating the rise and fall of the carriage without inter-
fering with regulation of the mechanism for driving the pawl bar.
The carriage should always have its full complement of holders as shown in
Figure 8. If, for instance in a machine working 4 to 6 holders per minute the
operator were to neglect to place any holders into the carriage even only during
three quarters of a minute, then three holders would be missing in the carriage in
the next process hereinafter described, as indicated in Figure 9.
If there were no special arrangement for the purpose, the operator in order to
conceal his neglect, might throw quickly some holders into the carriage for the
next process, v. the first of these additional holders into the place of the
missing No. 3 in the said next process as indicated in Figure 9, the second addi-
tional holder into the place of the missing holder No. 2, and so on. Consequently
the holder occupying the place of the missing No. 3 holder will not have under-
gone the first two scutching processes, and the flax, having been insufficiently
crushed and beaten will reach the hackles in a coarser and more tangled state, and
consequently will be in an inferior condition, and will cause difficulties in
spinning.
Besides, if there were no special arrangement for the purpose, the operator could
even start the holders when the carriage was at the bottom of its travel; the
flax would then be seized at its middle part, and when the carriage rose again the
flax would often be torn away entirely or partially.
This accident often occurs with the ordinary hackling apparatus working at a
niederate speed. Consequently there is so much the greater liability of this
happening in machines working at a considerably greater speed.
It is also indispensable to provide the carriage with mechanism which will pre-
vent the operator from inserting holders into the carriage at improper times,
which holders would not be subjected to the first operations of the scutching
process.
This is the object of my holder-arresting mechanism which, contrary to the
arrangements in existing hackling machines, affords complete security against all
the drawbacks hereinbefore referred to.
This holder-arresting mechanism which is shown separately in Figures 5, 6
and 7, is arranged at the entrance of the machine and operates at each movement

page_text: 50
5
the holders. It consists of two bolts V and V₁ arrangeu
er on the carriage 1) and at such a distance that there will never be a free
sage, because there will always be at least one of these bolts in an arresting
sition which will prevent any untimely insertion of the holders into the carriage
blocking the path of the rear flanges E2 of the holders (Figs. 5 and 6), E¹ being
front flanges.
When the holder-pusher or pawl-bar F with its pawls G causes the holders E
move forward, a suitable part or catch W acting upon the bolt V causes it to
ove back into its holder so as to allow of the passage of the heels of the
lders E. During that time the other bolt V is situated in its forward or arrest-
g position and the catch W does not cause this bolt to move back again, until
ter having released the first mentioned bolt V which returns of itself into its
rward or arresting position. As soon as the catch W acts no longer upon either
the bolts, a spring returns them directly and automatically into the arresting
osition. In the return movement of the pawl bar F, the part carrying the
atch W turns on its upper pivot, thereby allowing the catch W to pass above the
olts VV, without acting upon them.
A small slot or guide-way in the catch W allows of this rotary movement.
Immediately below the lower position of the carriage there are situated two
groups of fixed horizontal bars H arranged on either side of the axis of the carriage
[Figures 2, 3, 4, 4", 4, and 4º). Each of these groups consists of two fixed bars H
arranged horizontally one below the other and at a small distance apart.
Between the two fixed bars H there moves, with a rapid alternating to and fro
motion from one group to the other, a movable bar 1 which is formed in its
middle with a longitudinal recess of a width corresponding to the distance separat-
ing the fixed bars of the right-hand group and the fixed bars of the left hand
group, and allowing of the passage of the material to be treated.
The movable bar I is shown in Figure 4" in its central position. It is shown
in Figures 4 and 4" at the end of its right hand and left hand strokes respec-
tively. In its alternate to and fro motion the movable bar I moves the fibres
alternately towards the right and left, bends them between the fixed bars, thereby
exerting a crushing action upon the woody portion and a rubbing action upon the
may be produced as
fibrous portion. By this means the fibres are cleaned and rendered supple.
The alternating to and fro motion of the movable bar
shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3 by means of a crank disc y, a connecting rod r, a
lever s, two small levers and two connecting rods situated respectively at the
two ends of the scutching machine, and driving the slide blocks which carry the
mevable bars I. The speed of the alternate to and fro motion and the penetration
of the movable bar I between the two groups of fixed bars I may be regulated
at will to suit the nature of the material being treated and the degree to which
it has been retted.
This last regulation may be effected by shifting the pin of the crank disc in a
slot or slide way V which allows of moving the pin away from or towards the
centre according as it is desired to increase or diminish the stroke and consequently
increase or diminish the penetration of the movable bar between the fixed bars.
In descending, as well as in ascending, and at each station, the flax is subjected
to the action of these bars which flatten the stalks, crush the woody portion, and
render the fibres supple, whilst also cleaning them. The distance apart of the
fixed bars H diminishes gradually from the entry to the exit of the holders in
such a manner that the flax which diminishes in volume at each station by losing
its woody portions in proportion as it is being cleaned, will always be held tight
and acted upon frictionally by the bars.
Below the above mentioned bars and alone the entire length of the machine
there are arranged two rotary beaters J having horizontal axles and each pro
vided with blades K with scalloped edges (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 11). Thes
blades K are suitably inclined relatively to the axis of rotation, and are mounte

page_text: on arms j which leave sufficient space for the passage of the blades and of the
flax (Figures 10 and 11).
These rotary beaters J revolve in opposite directions to each other (as indicated
by the arrows in Figure 10) and at the same speed; and both of them operate in
such a manner as to rake and beat the flax in a downward direction. They are
so arranged that the scalloped blades K acting as shaking beaters, alternate with
and cross one another in such a manner as to beat and shake the flax with the
object of freeing it completely from the woody portions which were previously
crushed and flattened by the action of the bars H, I, herein before referred to, that
work directly above the rotary beaters J.
The speed of rotation of the rotary beaters J may be regulated as desired by
means of two cones or stepped pulleys, or by means of any other suitable device.
At each end of the rotary beaters J the blades K are slightly bent towards the
axis of rotation in the form of a cut lappel or facet (Figure 11) and they are fixed
upon a full plate L. which prevents draught and consequently the rolling of the
fibres around the shaft. In the outer face of this plate L there is formed a recess
into which there fits a part M fixed upon the journal and which part acts as a
shield to prevent the choking of the apparatus and the accumulation of the fibres
experienced at the ends of the rotary beaters in all scutching apparatus operating
by means of rotary beaters, and which drawbacks have hitherto prevented the
general use of those machines on account of the frequent stoppages necessitated
for clearing the machines.
Below the rotary beaters there are arranged devices for screening and collecting
the waste.
In the prolongation of the scutching machine above described there is arranged
a hackling machine (Figures 12, 13, and 14) having a framing composed of end
pieces A and B₁ of analogous shape to that of the scutching machine. The
carriage D and holder-pusher F of this hackling machine are the actual pro-
longations of the carriage and holder-pushers of the scutching machine.
holders leaving the scutching machine are pushed by a special pawl GI (Figure 1)
having an increased travel which causes them to pass over the interval separating
the hackling machine from the scutching machine.
The
This result is effected in the following manner: A support is fixed on the
carriage on the side opposite to the bars F carrying the pawls G of the pawl
bars. Another support formed with a slot or slide-way is fixed on the pawl bar F
and consequently shares the to and fro movement.
A lever m pivoted on an axle n is provided at its centre with a trunnion o which
shifts in the slot of the support and its other end p is movably connected with
the special pawl G which acts to drive the holders along by causing the holders to
pass without stopping across the space that separates the scutching machine from
the hackling machine.
When the pawl bar F moves through a distance equal to the length of one
holder, that is to say, when the support fixed on said bar moves from the left
hand position (shown in dotted lines) into the right hand position (shown in full
lines) the trunnion moves from o to o the length of a holder, and the end p
in order to pass from p¹ to 7, moves twice that distance, say through a distance
equal to the length of two holders. If therefore the interval between the scutching
machine and the hackling machine is equal to the length of two holders, the
object in view will be effected. The same will hold good for any other interval
between the scutching machine and the hackling machine. In such a case it would
be sufficient to make the proportions of the arms of the lever of suitable values.
The flax undergoes in this hackling machine a progressive hackling. The frames
and the general arrangement of this hackling machine are analogous to those of
an ordinary hackling machine. But the first series of hackles are of a special
nature; they are illustrated, in perspective view in Figure 15.
The end N of each tooth is thinned towards its point which consists of a sharp
vertical edge for the purpose of penetrating readily into the material to be

page_text: led.
These vertically thinned portions of the
erted gradually at a very small distance from the said ends into horizontally
ned portions which form in some degree moderately sharp edges which rake
crape the flax not only on or from the front by means of the bottoms 0 of the
h notches, but also by means of the sides PP of the notches situated near the
s of the teeth.
n this manner the fibres are raked or scraped on or from the sides as well as
or from the front.
The successive hackles of one and the same series are preferably arranged in
form of a quincunx or lozenge, relatively to one another so that the points of
h of said hackles shall not enter the material to be hackled at the same places
did the preceding hackles. It is important that this shall be the case in order
In the
at the fibres shall all be raked uniformly on the sides as well as on the front.
mediately behind this first series of hackles of special nature there are arranged
ries of ordinary hackles graduated in a suitable systematic manner.
ackling machine herein before described, contrary to the existing practice in
her types of machines, the belts of the hackling machine are tightened up from
elow, in case of slackness because the tightening up of the belts from above would
ecessitate each time a re-adjustment of the height of the holders. Below the
ackling machine, as also below the seutching machine, there are arranged devices
lesigned to collect and separate the waste matters.
A small curved
On leaving the above described combined automatic scutching and hackling
machine, the flax has been scutched and hackled at one end.
railway Q (Figures 16 and 17) receives each holder E on leaving this first com-
bined machine and conveys it to the inlet end of a second combined or twin
machine situated in a parallel but reverse manner at the side of the said first
machine. The operator takes the holder and places it upon a special table R
(Figures 16 and 18) upon which there is situated an empty holder. He places the
treated end of the Hax into the last mentioned holder, he removes the other holder,
and he inserts the filled holder into the second machine, the treated portion of the
flax being uppermost, whilst the portion which is now to be treated is placed at
the bottom.
The upper end of the railway Q is movably jointed to the exit end of the
carriage D of the hackling machine by means of two journals or pivots S
arranged on either side of the longitudinal axis of the carriage. By reason of
this movable joint, the railway Q shares in the vertical rising and falling motion
of the carriage D'. The lower end of the railway Q terminates near the table R
and within reach of the hand of the operator. The railway is balanced by a
counterweight T attached to a cord which passes over a guide pulley and is
0 fastened to an arched piece U fixed to the two rails of the railway. The pivotal
joint S S is situated approximately on a level with the end of the carriage in such
a manner that the railway and the carriage will correspond for the passage of the
holders.
The arrangement is such as to obviate completely the jamming or sticking which
45 occurs frequently in the apparatus at present employed and which often causes
breakages of the parts.
50
00
Above the machine there may be arranged a fan or other suitable device for
drawing off the dust so as to prevent the flax becoming soiled and the operato
becoming inconvenienced thereby.
In order to prevent the fibres becoming wound around the rotating shafts of th
beaters in the scutching machines or around the upper rotating shafts of th
hackling devices in the hackling machines all these may be fitted at their end
with a suitable guard or shield in the form of a cap or otherwise.
The automatic scutching and hackling machine above described operates sul
55 stantially in the same manner as the ordinary hackling machines, but instead
placing scutched flax into the holders, there is placed therein retted flax in t
stalk, crushed or unerushed. The holders are then placed in the machine.

page_text: There are six stations in the.. scutching machine shown in the drawings.
Although this number of stations appears to satisfy best all requirements, it may
however be made greater or smaller. The machine is also constructed in such a
manner that the adjustment or regulation of all the working parts can be modified
in a few minutes so as to enable the machine to work strong flax or weak flax, or
large flax or fine flax.
"'
On leaving the first combined scutching and hackling machine, the flax is
scutched and hackled at one end only. The small curved railway Q above described
receives the holders issuing from the first combined machine and conveys them to
the second combined machine. The operator, receiving them without leaving the
place where he stands, changes the flax in the holders as above described and
replaces the filled holders in the second machine whose function is to treat the
other end of the flax.
The first scutching and hackling machine treating the foot portion of the flax,
and the second machine treating the point portion thereof, the tow will by that
very means be separated; this being of great importance by reason of its different
value.
The hereinbefore described automatic scutching and hackling machine allows
of obtaining a yield of hackled flax which is at Teast
and is often greater than that obtained in respect of flax which has been scutched
equal te,
by the processes heretofore in use, and referred to at the commencement of this
specification. This great superiority of yield is due to the following causes:―
1/. Treatment by hand cannot be mathematically uniform: there are unavoid-
ably parts which are beaten too much, and parts which are not beaten enough.
The treatment in my machine is on the contrary perfectly uniform, and cannot be
otherwise, because all the fibres are therein equally and uniformly subjected to
the action of the operative parts and receive exactly the same number of blows.
2. All the stalks or stems are perfectly parallel when the flax is placed in the
holders. This parallelism is neither destroyed nor altered in the course of working,
and it is maintained in the machine from entry to exit. There cannot therefore
be any tearing or rupture of the fibres.
The above described automatic scutching and hackling machine realises further-
more an important saving in hand labour as compared with the processes hitherto
employed. If the increased yield and the saving in labour be taken into con-
sideration, there is obtained with the same weight of retted flax in the stalk, a
final money value which is very much greater than with the ordinary processes.
This additional value may vary according to the quality or the value of the flax
used, but it remains practically constant as regards the increase in the yield and
the saving in hand labour.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said 4
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
:
1. A combined automatic scutching and hackling machine comprising a scutch-
ing machine and a hackling machine coupled together and arranged end to end in
continuation one of the other, and having the same carriage and the same holder 4
pushers, all constructed, arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore
described.
2. In a scutching machine, holder-arresting mechanism constructed, arranged and
operating substantially as described and for the purposes specified and as illus-
trated more particularly in Figures 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings.
3. In a scutching machine, flax-breaking mechanism comprising two sets of
fixed bars such as HH with a reciprocating middle bar, such as I, constructed,
arranged and operating substantially as described with reference to Figures 44°
4 and 4" of the accompanying drawings.
5
4. In a scutching machine, rotary beaters having blades with scalloped edges, 5.

page_text: constructed, arranged and operating substantially as described with reference
Figures 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawings.
5. In a hackling machine, serrated or toothed hackles of special form and
arrangement, substantially as described with reference to Figure 15 of the accom-
panying drawings.
6. In a combined automatic scutching and hackling machine of the kind referred
to in Claim 1, a railway for conveying the holders from the exit end of the hackling
machine to near the inlet end of a second combined automatic scutching and
hackling machine, constructed, arranged and operating, substantially as described
with reference to Figures 16 and 17 of the accompanying drawings.
+
Tonuary 1899.
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS.
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.