CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING, DRESSING, COMBING, AND CLEANING FLAX, WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and THOMAS ROBINSON,
of the same place, Flax Dresser, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixteenth day of April, in the seventh year of Her reign, and in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John
Lawson and Thomas Robinson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said John Lawson and Thomas Robinson, our
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as we, the said John Lawson and
Thomas Robinson, our exors, admors, 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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING, DRESSING, COMBING,
AND CLEANING FLAX, WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said John Lawson and
Thomas Robinson, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled 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,

page_text: 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 Thomas Robinson, do hereby declare the nature of our
Invention of Certain Improvements in Machinery for Heckling. Dressing,
Combing, and Cleaning Flax, Wool, Silk, and other Fibrous Substances, to
consist in the construction and arrangement of certain new movements or
combinations of machinery, by which the heckling, dressing, combing, and
cleaning flax, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances, is performed. And the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect will be
seen by reference to the annexed Drawings and the following description
thereof. The scale to which the Drawings are made is marked thereon, and
the same letter or figure of reference indicates the same or similar part of the
machinery wherever such letter or figure of reference is used in the Drawings,
while small arrows are occasionally used to indicate the direction of motion of
various parts:-
In the annexed Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a plan, and Fig. 2 a side
elevation, of one description of heckling or combining machine, to which our
improvements are applied. In this machine the tools or heckles are of the
ordinary construction, and the arrangement for freeing such heckles of tow,
when flax is used, together with other parts which are in common use, and no
part of our Invention. But to make the nature and application of our Inven-
tion better understood, we shall first describe the construction and operation
of the whole machine, and then define and point out such parts, or combi-
nation of parts, as we claim as our Invention.
The object and operation of the machine represented in the Drawing, as
applied to flax, of which we are about to speak, is to heckle or comb while in
the form of what is technically called a strickl, which is a portion of flax
placed in a holder or clamp, as in ordinary machines. For this purpose, to
perform this operation effectually, and free the heckles from the accumulation
of tow, four movements are required in this machine. First, the heckling or
combing movement of the heckles or tools; second, the gradual approach of
the strike or portion of flax as the operation proceeds; third, the traverse or
periodical movement of the strike of flax from one set or series of tools
or heckles to a finer series; and fourth, the freeing the heckles or tools of
the tow or short flax as it accumulates in the heckles by the heckling. The
machine represented in the Drawing is put in motion by means of a strap
driven from any adequate power), passing over the driving pulley A placed on
the shaft 'A, from the other extremity of which motion is conveyed by a
series of spur wheels 'A to the shaft B, see Fig. 1. On the shaft B are placed

page_text: toothed drums B and B², which carry respectively endless belts of leather
B³ and B', on which the heckles are placed, each heckle or tool being attached
to a metallic bar on the opposite side of the leather, which bars fall succes-
sively into the spaces between the teeth on the drums B' and B2, and thus
ensure the regular traverse of the belts, at the same time that the belts and
their appendages are supported by the guides O, on which these bars rest in
their horizontal traverse, see Fig. 1 and 2, the movement of which is indi-
cated by small arrows. From the shaft B motion is conveyed by the series of
spur wheels B³ to the shaft C, on which are placed similar drums C¹ and C³,
carrying respectively endless belts of leather C and C+, provided with tools or
heckles, which move in the opposite direction to the belts B³ and B*,
as also
indicated by the small arrow, see Fig. 1. The whole of these four belts of
leather B³, B, and C, C, with their series of heckles or tools, are supported
in an horizontal direction by the guides O, and pass over drums running freely
on their axis, as best seen at C (Fig. 2; and this continuous horizontal move-
ment of heckles constitutes the first movement of this machine. The second
movement, or gradual approach of the stricke of flax towards the heckles, is
performed by the gradual lowering action of the four troughs marked D,
which are guided parallel to each other by the framing of the machine.
These troughs D are placed across the various series of heckles, as best seen
at Fig. 1, and are formed with a continuous slit or opening from one end to
the other, trough which the stricke of flax hangs down, as seen in the elevated
position at Fig. 2, where the two elevated troughs are suspended by small
chains passing over guide pullies and attached to the rod D', and the two
depressed or lowered throughs D are suspended by chains, in a similar
manner attached to the rod D. These rods, b and Ď,
are provided with
counterweights to balance the troughs D and their appendages, and con-
nected with the levers D³ respectively at their lower extremities. The
levers D, vibrate respectively on their fulcrum at d, and are elevated or
allowed to fall by the elevation of the cams or eccentric D, on which they rest
by means of studs and small antifriction pulleys d. The rotation of these
shafts D, which carry the cams Ď, is taken from the shaft B through a series
of spur wheels å, as seen at Fig. 1 and 2; and the gradual lowering and
sudden elevation of the troughs D is necessarily caused by the form of such

page_text: are coarse, as well as those on the
cams or tappets D', as seen at Fig. 2. Supposing, therefore, a strike of flax
in an ordinary holder, to be placed in one of the troughs D, at the side of the
machine at which the driving pulley is placed, as seen at d, see Fig. 2, while
the trough is at its lowest position, the trough is then immediately elevated
by counter the weight and the holder, and stricke of flax forced forward in
the slit or opening of the trough, by the third movement of the machine, or
that which traverses the strike of flax across the series of heckles or tools
And here we would remark,
placed on the leather belts as already described.
that the heckles or tools on the belt Ĉ
adjoining half of the belt B. The remaining half of the belt B³ is provided
with finer tools, and the same as those on the adjoining half of the belt C.
The remaining half of the belt Ċ is provided with finer tools, and the same as
those on the adjoining belt B, so that the whole surface of heckles or tools
consists of three series of fineness, the half of each series being on different
belts, and moving in a different direction. So that in the periodical traverse
of each strickl of flax (placed in the troughs D) across the machine, it is both
subjected to a progressive fineness of heckle or tool, at the same time that
each fineness acts in both directions, and consequently on both sides of the
strickle, which we consider a very important advantage in this process of
manufacture. Referring to Fig. 1, E represents four parallel rods passing
across the machine, which move freely endwise in supports, but have a con-
stant tendency to move in the direction of the arrow, see Fig. 1, the amount
of traverse being determined by the stop or set e), and caused by the weights G
suspended to chains, the arrangement of which are best seen separate of
Fig. 3, where the weight G will be seen suspended to a chain or chord passing
over a guide pulley, and attached to the sliding rod E. The opposite ends of
the rods E to those at which the weights G are attached, are cranked or bent
so as to support the small levers F immediately opposite to the end of the
clamp or flax holder, when the trough D is at its highest elevation, as seen in
the two elevated throughs at Fig. 2, so that when the rod F is free, the
weight G traverses it in the direction of the arrow, and the clamp and stricke
of flax is forced forward immediately over the first set of heckles or tools on
the endless belt Ć. As soon as the trough D has made its downward traverse
and arrived at its nearest point to the heckles, a fresh holder and stricke of flax
is placed in this slot of the trough D by the operative, and being in its turn
forced forward in the same direction, another is supplied, until the whole series
of clamps are moved on across the width of the machine, the first one being

page_text: forced out and received by an operative as the succeeding or fresh holders are
entered or placed in the trough D. Referring to Fig. 1, H represents a
revolving shaft moving at the same speed as the tappet shaft D³, from which
it is driven by bevil geering, as seen in the Drawing. This shaft H is
provided with four arms h, each carrying antifriction pullies at their extre-
mities. These pullies come in contact with the parts e¹ attached to the rods E,
which are forced back to the point at which the weight G is lifted to its
greatest elevation, and in the opposite direction to that indicated by the small
arrow. In this position the rods E are held by the catch g, seen at Fig. 3,
where they remain stationary until the elevation of the trough D, at which
period the small projection I (see Fig. 3) strikes off the catch g, and the
weight G coming into action, the forcing lever F traverses the fresh strike and
holder d in the direction of the arrow, and the descending action of the
trough D recommences, while the continuous rotation of the shaft H proceeds
to replace the rods E under the catches g preparatory to the next rising of the
trough D, to which they belong. Thus the three essential movements of this
machine are performed in this one modification or form of machinery, which
we have thought sufficient to explain the nature of our Invention. The
fourth movement, or that by which the tow is taken from the heckles or tools,
is similar to that in ordinary use, K representing the revolving brush by which
the tow is removed from the heckles; L, the doffer cylinder, on which it is
received from the brush; and M, the comb motion, by which it is struck off
and finally disposed of. And as regards the application of our improvements
to machinery for heckling, dressing, combing, and cleaning wool or silk, we
consider they will be readily applied to such substances, from the foregoing
description, when our claim to Invention is further defined.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed and carried into effect, as well as some of the well
known parts and arrangements of machinery in ordinary use, for the purpose
of making the applications of our improvements better understood, we neither
claim any such well known parts or arrangements of machinery as of our
Invention, nor we do we confine our claim of Invention to the particular
arrangement of machinery herein-before set forth and described. But we do
claim the Invention of our Certain Improvements in Machinery for Heckling,
Dressing, Combing, and Cleaning Flax, Wool, Silk, and other Fibrous Sub-
stances, which consists,-
Firstly, in the moving of a series of endless belts in a continuous horizontal
plane, each alternate surface moving in an opposite direction, so that a portion
or strike of flax, or similar fibrous substance, shall be acted on, combed, or

page_text: heckled on both sides, in its traverse across such series of belts, in conjunction
with the arrangement of two or more troughs, as already described, for
supporting or carrying the material to be operated on.
Secondly, a similar arrangement of cylinders on the same shaft or journal,
each alternate cylinder moving in an opposite direction for producing a similar
effect. And such improvements, as applied to machinery for heckling, dressing,
combing, and cleaning flax, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances, being, to
the best of our knowledge and belief, new, and never before practised in that
part of Her Majesty's Dominions called England, we deliver this as our
true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Lawson and Thomas Robinson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named John Lawson and
Thomas Robinson, in the presence
of,
JOHN
THOMAS (L.S.) ROBINSON.
L.S.) LAWSON.