NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING PHORNIUM TENAX, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND RENDERING THE SAME FIT FOR HICKLING IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN, AND FOR SPINNING IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES, LINES, AND TWINES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITE,, of Princes Street, in the County of Middlesex, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by petition, represent unto His most Excellent Majesty
King William the Fourth, that I had invented a "NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF
PREPARING PHORNIUM TENAX, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES, AND RENDERING
THE SAME FIT FOR HICKLING IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN, AND FOR SPINNING
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES, LINES, AND TWINES," and His said Majesty
being willing to encourage all useful Inventions, did issue His Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-fourth day of May, in the fifth year of His reign, whereby His said
Majesty did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Andrew Smith, His especial licence, that I, the said Andrew Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Andrew Smith, my executors, administrators, and 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, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
said Invention; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso

page_text: obliging me, the said Andrew Smith, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said 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, I, the said
Andrew Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-
The nature of my Invention consists in a new and improved method of sepa-
rating or removing the outward husk or coating of the fibres of the phornium
tenax, flax, and other fibrous substances, either in their green state or when first
cut or gathered, or in the state in which they are usually imported and sold in
this country. which I call their dry state, by the means of pressure and friction
by fluted rollers and other machinery of my Invention, a Drawing whereof is
hereunto annexed, and which, with the mode of dressing or preparing the
fibrous substances, are hereafter more particularly described. Before proceeding
to describe the various parts of the machine, I will state the process adopted
in preparing the fibrous substances I use. If the fibrous substance be in tho
green or fresh gathered state, I boil it in a solution of soap lees, or other
cheap alkali and water, of a gallon of the alkali to twelve gallons of water, for
about fifteen minutes, or until the pulpy part softens and appears to detach
itself from the fibres, I then submit it to the pressure and friction of rollers
of a pitch of three sixteenths of an inch in my machine hereafter described,
regulating the pressure so as not to injure the fibre. After passing between
the rollers, I rince it in the aforesaid solution of about eighty or ninety degrees
of heat, so as to remove as much as possible of the pulp, and cleanse the fibre,
and when it is dried it will be found generally sufficiently dressed for hickling or
spinning, but if not, it should be again passed through the same rollers. If
the fibrous substances be in the state I call their dry state, I first heat them in
a kiln or by the fire, or other convenient way, and then submit them to the
pressure and. friction of rollers of a pitch of three eights of an inch in my
machine herein-after described, and having passed between the rollers I again
submit it to the pressure or friction of rollers of a "pitch of three sixteenths of
an inch of my machine, and pass them between them as before, after which
they are generally sufficiently dressed for hickling or spinning. I would,
however, remark, that if the fibrous substance be of a particularly coarse or

page_text: harsh nature, as is often the case, and which I attribute to their being cut at
an improper season of the year, I boil them in the before-mentioned solution.
after they have passed through the rollers of the pitch of three eighths of an
inch, for about fifteen minutes, or sufliciently long to soften them, after which I
rince them in the before-mentioned solution of eighty or ninety degrees of
heat, and then dry them and pass them through the rollers of the pitch of
three sixteenths of an inch, as before described. Another mode of heating the
fibres, previous to their undergoing the pressure of the rollers, may be adopted
by making the hopper of sheet iron or other metal, and filling it with steam
or hot water.
I now proceed to describe the machine I have invented:-Figure 1 is the
plan of the machine, shewing five fluted iron rollers (which, however, may bo
varied in numbers and coarseness of the flutes) so gearing into each other
that by their vibratory or alternate and continuous motion, the fibrous sub-
stance in use is drawn in between the upper and lower range of rollers from
the feel board L, and is delivered on the opposite side on the receiving board
K, as shown in Figure 4. B is a strong iron wheel securely keyed to the
gudgeon of the central roller, and is actuated by the rack O and pall or
striking piece S, shewn in Figure 2, which vibrate on the rollers or pullies
R, R, (see Figure 2,) by action of the crank Q and connecting rod P. But in
order to produce the continuous motion, the pall or striking piece S is so
fitted as to propel the wheel B the space of one of its teeth forward at cach
return of the crank to its dead point, and at the instant the rack is clear
or out of gear of the wheel, as shown at Figure 3. F, F. are suspension
pieces bearing on the centres of the upper rollers by means of eyes through
which the gudgeons of the rollers work, and to which the levers G, G, are
attached, for the purpose of communicating the required force to the rollers by
means of the weight I (which should press on each of the upper rollers a force
of seventeen hundred weight) and moveable bar H. The crank shaft is
denoted by the letter D, and two riggers, the one fixed and the other loose on
the shaft, for the purposes of applying and managing the motive power, are
shewn by the letters E, E. I have given a Drawing only of a machine with
rollers of flutings of three eighths of an inch, but the machine with a pitch of
three sixteenths varies only in the fineness of the rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith, have hereunto set my
band and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
ANDREW SMITH. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day of
November, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Andrew Smith camo
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year above
written.