CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lowry, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, for the Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 4th August 1857, and dated the 2nd April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lowry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd April 1857.
I, GEORGE LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention is applicable to sheet and other heckling machines, and
consists, first, in imparting a to-and-fro or up-and-down motion to the upper
rollers or guides over which the sheet, belts, or chains of heckles are con-
veyed. The rails or trough for the stick holders is made to approach to and
recede from the heckles in the ordinary manner but to a less extent than
usual, as the to-and-fro or up-and-down motion imparted to the rollers or
guides above referred to reduces the motion required to be given to the rails
or trough.

page_text: Secondly, in fixing the heckles and heckle bars on sheet machines so as to
cause the points of the heckles to strike or rise up at or nearly at right angles
into the strick of flax or other fibrous material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Lowry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Lowry, Her special licence that I, the said George Lowry, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Lowry, 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 "CERTAIN IMPRO MENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lowry, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, 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 George Lowry, 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 state-
ment (that is to say):-
This Invention is applicable to sheet and other heckling machines, and
consists, first, in imparting a to-and-fro or up-and-down motion to the upper
rollers and guides over which the sheets, belts, or chains of heckles are con-
veyed. The double rail or trough for the strick holders is made to approach
to and recede from the heckles in the ordinary manner but to a less extent
than usual, as the to-and-fro or up-and-down motion imparted to the rollers

page_text: and guides above referred to reduces the motion required to be given to the
double rail or trough.
My Invention consists, secondly, in an improved mode of fixing the heckles
and heckle bars on sheet machines so as to cause the points of the heckles to
strike or rise up at or nearly at right angles with the strick of flax or other
fibrous material.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings,
reference being had to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an end elevation of a sheet heckling machine, to which parts of
my improvements are applied; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same;
Figure 3 is a detached view of the heckles and guides. a, a, are the belts,
sheets, or chains to which the heckle bars are attached, in the manner
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Seventh
of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, or in any other
convenient manner. The belts, sheets, or chains a pass around the small
rollers or drums c, c', and larger drums d, d, which are turned round by the
gearing indicated by the dotted lines in the Drawing, or by any other suitable
arrangement of gearing. f,, are guide plates for guiding the ends of the
heckle bars b; g are the holders, supported in the trough or double rail;
the holders are traversed along the trough i by means of the link i', jointed
at one end to the trough and at the other end to the pendulum lever, the
extremity of which is connected to the link 3 jointed to the bar it,from which
depend catches 5. By this arrangement, as the trough rises the holders
acted upon by the catches are traversed along the trough i in the direction
of the arrow in Figure 2. jj, are the revolving brushes, which deposit the
material removed from the heckles on to the card drums k, k'. These drums
are cleansed or doffed by the combs 1, 1, or in any other convenient manner.
The double rail or trough i is raised and lowered by the excentrics m and
side bars n, as in heckling machines of the usual construction, but the lift
does not require to be to the same extent as heretofore, owing to the lateral
or to-and-fro motion which is imparted to one or both of the drums c, c¹.
This lateral or to-and-fro motion is in this instance only given to the drum e¹,
with its axle and guide connected to it; but I wish it to be understood
that a similar motion may be given to either or both of the said drums. The
axle of the drum c¹ revolves at each end in an excentric bush, see Figure 4,
to each of which is cast or fixed the projection c2; the connecting links o are
jointed below to the projections c2 and above to the levers o¹, which are fixed
on the cross shaft p. To one of the levers o' is suspended the hook o², which

page_text: is provided with a weight o³, by means whereof the hook is pressed against
the stud of, projecting from the frame side, or the weight o³ may be fixed to
a prolongation of the lever o', and the hook so shaped that it will press
against the stud; this hook is liberated off the stud of by the tumbler catch,
see Figures 5 and 6, which is jointed to a bracket fixed to the double rail or
trough i. On the shaft p is mounted loosely the weighted lever q, to which is
jointed the rod q', the lower end of which is furnished with a head; this
rod q passes through a hole or slot in the bracket q² fixed to the double rail
or trough i, the object of which will be explained hereafter; the lever qis
held in the position shewn in Figure 1 by the elbow catch s, the weighted end
of which is raised by the upright s when the trough rises. The lever q³ is
fixed to the shaft p; this lever comes in contact with a stud projecting from
the lever when the shaft p changes its position, as will be explained here-
after. The mode of operation is as follows:-The Drawing represents the
various parts of the machine in the positions they occupy when the double
rail or trough i is down or very nearly at the lowest position. The drum c¹ is
then in the position nearest to the drum c, and consequently the points of the
heckles are in the strick of flax or other fibrous material to be operated upon.
When the highest points of the excentrics m pass beyond the antifriction
bowls on the side bars n the trough and parts in combination therewith
commence rising (being raised by the weights n' as usual); the tumbler
catch then comes against the end of the hook o² and liberates it from the
stud 04; as soon as this hook is liberated, the weight of the drum c¹ and the
heckle bars acting on the excentric bearings, in which the axle of the said
drum revolves,cause the projectionsc" to assume the position shewn bydotted
lines in Fig. 4,thereby moving the drum c¹ about three-fourths of an inch, or
more or less, from the drum c, and drawing the points of the heckles out of
the fibrous material under operation. The weight o³ also assists in changing
the position of the shaft p, levers o¹, and lever q³, by means whereof the
drum el is moved further from the drum c, as described. When the drum c
has been thus moved, the lever q3 is brought in contact with the under side of
a stud projecting from the lever g; the trough i continues to rise, and when
at the top, the upright s', coming against the elbow catch s, moves the said
catch from under the weighted lever q, the action of which on the lever q³
causes the shaft p to vibrate, thereby depressing the levers o¹, links o², and
projections c, for the purpose of again bringing the drum c¹ towards the
drum c, and causing the heckles passing around the said drum c¹ to strike
into the stricks of fibrous material under operation; the hook o² is then again
hooked on to the stud of, as shewn in Figure 1.

page_text: During the descent of the trough, the bracket q, acting on the head of the
rod q', draws the weighted lever q into its original position, and the end of
the tumbler catch passes over the end of the hook o2 without displacing it;
the various parts are then brought into positions they occupy in the
Drawings, and the motions are repeated as before.
In Figure 3 the dotted lines represent the positions of the drum c¹, and of
the sheet or belt when the drums c and e' are furthest apart. On referring to
this view it will be seen that the points of the heckles intersect or penetrate
most into the fibrous material near the holders, and that as the heckles
descend towards the drumsd, d, the distance between them gradually increases,
thereby gradually reducing the intersection of the heckles, and drawing the
points further out of the fibrous material; the drums c and c¹ remain close
together during the descent of the trough with the stricks of fibrous material,
but as soon as the trough is down, and after the dwell of the circular part of
the excentric, the drum c¹ is moved further from the drum c, or into the
position shewn by the dotted lines, so as to withdraw the teeth of the heckles
from the fibrous material during the ascent of the trough and the traversing
of the holders. The guide bars f¹ are connected to the axle of the drum c',
and are moved to and fro with it.
In Figure 7 I have shewn continuous guides and f¹ with grooves in
which the rollers at the ends of the heckle bars enter.
Figure 8 represents my present improved mode of fixing the heckles and
heckle bars to the sheets, bolts, or chains of sheet heckling machines. The
parts marked a, b, c, c, d, d, f, f, and g are similar to those above described.
The heckle bars bare hinged to plates rivetted or otherwise attached to the
sheets, belts, or chains a, and the heckle bars are provided with rollers taking
into the grooves of the guides f, f1, which are of such a shape that the points
of the heckles strike or rise up at or nearly at right angles with the strick of
flax or other fibrous material and close up to the holder g, thereby acting in
the most advantageous manner on the fibrous material to be heckled.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the details herein set forth, as the same may be considerably
modified without departing from the peculiar character of the Invention; but
what I claim is,―
First, causing the sheets, belts, or chains with the heckles, or one of the
sheets, belts, or chains with the heckles of sheet heckling machines to recede
from each other, thereby assuming a nearly parallel position and free of the
fibrous material during the ascending of the trough and traversing of the

page_text: holders, and to approach each other when the trough is up, thereby bringing
the sheets of heckles in a diagonal position, as shewn in Figure 3, in com-
bination with the improved mode of fixing the heckle bars to the sheets, belts,
or chains, as shewn, or with any other approved mode of fixing the heckle
bars to the sheets, belts, or chains, and with an ascending and descending
trough and holders.
Secondly, the improved guides or slides, shewn in Figure 7, in combination
with the improved mode of fixing the heckle bars to the sheets, belts, or
chains, the ascending and descending trough, and the approaching and
receding motion of the sheets, belts, or chains and heckles.
Thirdly, the improved mode of connecting the heckle bars to the sheets,
belts, or chains, shewn in Figure 8, whereby the heckle bars and heckles are
driven before the joints by which they are connected to the sheets, belts, or
chains
And, lastly, the improved mode of connecting the heckle bars to the sheets,
belts, or chains, shewn in Figure 8, in combination with the ascending and
descending trough, and the approaching and receding motion of the sheets,
belts, or chains and heckles.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lowry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
GEO. LOWRY.
Manchester.
(L.S.)