IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX & OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Cotton, of the Brookfield Foundry,
Crumlen Road, Belfast, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX & OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 11th January 1870, and dated the 23rd July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Cotton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd July 1869.
I, STEPHEN COTTON, of the Brookfield Foundry, Crumlen. Road,
Belfast, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX & OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
hackling flax and other fibrous substances, and the improvements relate
to what is known as the intersecting hackling machine. In these
machines the hackle stock is usually fastened on the front face of the
backle bar which is attached to endless bands that pass around rollers.
According to my Invention I fix the hackle stock to. the inside face of
the hackle bar, that is, to the face nearest the rollers, and I form the

page_text: stock broad enough to project beyond the top edge of the bar, so that
the hackle teeth which are carried by the top portion of the stock shall
be clear of the bar. Or the hackle bar may have arms or pieces attached
to it to project above the top of the bar, and so that the front face of
such arms shall be level or nearly level with the back of the bar, by this
means when the hackle stocks are fastened on the face of the aforesaid
projecting arms to the back of the stock, and consequently the root of
the hackle pin will rest or fall on the endless leather or other sheets to
which the hackle bars are attached. Intersecting hackling machines
have been made where the back of the hackle stock rests on the endless
sheets aforesaid, but this has been where no hackle bar has been employed.
The object of the above improvements is to bring the hackle closer to
the centre of the top sheet roller, and therefore nearer to the nip or bite
of holder during the operation of hackling.
Also according to my Invention I employ feed rollers in addition to
the usual flax holders for feeding the flax to and withdrawing it from the
hackles during the process of hackling. These rollers are placed
parallel to and betwixt the ordinary flax holders and top sheet rollers,
and are made to revolve back and forward and to open or close according
as the flax is being fed to or withdrawn from the hackles. By this
arrangement the flax will be held more firmly and therefore produce less
waste of tow.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Stephen Cotton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
COTTON, of the Brookfield Foundry, Crumlen Road, Belfast, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Stephen Cotton, Her special licence
that I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree, with, and no

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, 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 Stephen Cotton; do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the.
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for
hackling flax and other fibrous substances, and the improvements relate
to what is known as the intersecting hackling machine. In these
machines the hackle stock is usually fastened on the front face of the
hackle bar which is attached to endless bands that pass around rollers.
According to my Invention I fix the hackle stock to the inside face
of the hackle bar, that is, to the face nearest the rollers, and I form the
stock broad enough to project beyond the top edge of the bar so that
the hackle teeth which are carried by the top portion of the stock shall'
be clear of the bar. Or the hackle bar may have arms or pieces attached
to it to project above the top of the bar, and the stocks may be attached
to such projecting arms.
At Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown an end,
view of a hackling machine such as is now commonly constructed.
A is the driving shaft of the machine which communicates motion
direct to the shafts of the bottom rollers B, B, which drive the endless
leather or other sheets D, D, which carry the hackle bars and hackles
that hackle or dress the flax. The sheets also pass over the upper
rollers C in the ordinary way. The hackle bars are by preference
secured to the endless sheets by means of hollow rivets, and these
hollow rivets again fall into pins or teeth E, E, which project from the

page_text: surface of the bottom rollers B at proper distances, and which keep the
said endless sheets from slipping during the operation of hackling. As
before stated, the hackles have been usually placed or fastened on the
front face of the hackle bar, but according to the first part of my
Invention I fasten the hackle stock to the inside of the hackle bar, as
shown on a larger scale at F, Figure 2, the hackle stock being broad
enough for the hackle pins to clear the top edge of the bar. The hackle
stock is by preference cranked forward, so that the front face of the same
may be level or about level with the front face of hackle bar, as shown
in the Drawing. In this arrangement the hackle stock is of metal, and
the pins or teeth are fixed in holes drilled therein as is well understood.
At G, Figure 3, the hackle bars are shown to have arms or pieces
projecting from them for the purpose of carrying the hackle stock. The
arms or pieces project above the top edge of the bar, and I prefer the
front faces of the pieces to be level or about level with the back of the
hackle bar, as shown, so that when the hackle stocks are screwed or
rivetted on to the aforesaid pieces the back of the hackle stock, and hence
the root of the hackle pin, will fall or rest on the endless sheets D, D.
I would state that I am aware that hackling machines have been
made where the hackle stock rests upon the endless sheet, but this has
'been where no hackle bar has been employed.
..Another way in which arms projecting above the top edge of the
hackle bar may be employed to carry the hackle stocks is shown at H,
Figure 2. In this case the back face of the arms or projections is level
with the front face of hackle bar, so that the front face of hackle stock
is level or about level with the front face of the hackle bar. The object
sought to be attained by attaching the hackle stock to the hackle bar in
the ways above described is to enable the hackle pins to enter the
flax as near right angles as possible, and consequently nearer the bite or
grip of the flax holder.
Also according to my Invention I employ feed rollers in addition to
the usual flax holders for feeding the flax to and withdrawing it from
the hackles during the process of hackling. These rollers are placed
parallel to and betwixt the ordinary flax holders and top sheet rollers, and
are made to revolve back and forward, and to open or close according as
the flax is being fed to or withdrawn from the hackles. By this
arrangement the flax will be held more firmly and therefore produce

page_text: less waste or tow. Such an arrangement is shown at Figure 3 of the
Drawings annexed. In this Figure the pair of feed or holding rollers
which are to assist the ordinary flax holder K in keeping a firm hold of
These
the flax during the operation of hackling are marked I, I.
rollers are mounted at the extremity of two radial arms which radiate
round the top sheet shafts N, N, and are driven back and forward by a
pinion on the extremity of each working into another pinion L', L', and
which are again worked back and forward by a toothed rack O, O,
attached to the rising and falling holder channel M; by this means the
rollers are driven at a surface speed equal to the speed at which the
holder K rises and falls. This rising and falling motion is given to the
holder K in the ordinary manner. As the holder approaches its lowest
position the rollers I move apart to allow it to pass. The opening and
closing of the rollers I, I, is effected by means of wedges K', K¹, fixed
to the channel M, which act upon the axles of the rollers I, I, at every
downward movement of the channel M. When the channel rises up
the rollers fall back into their original position either by their own
gravity or by weights attached to them.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is,-
First. Attaching the hackle stocks of intersecting hackling machines
to the inside of the hackle bar, and forming the hackle stocks to project
above the top edge of hackle bar, substantially as herein described.
Second. Attaching the hackle stocks to arms or pieces projecting
above the top edge of the hackle bars of intersecting hackling machines,
substantially as herein described.
Third. The employment of feed rollers in combination with the
ordinary flax holders for holding the flax during the operation of
hackling, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Cotton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
STEPHEN COTTON. (L.S.)