CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING MANILLA AND OTHER HEMPS AND FLAX.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ronald, of N° 18, James Street, Liverpool,.
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING MANILLA AND OTHER HEMPS AND FLAX.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ronald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
June 1855.
I, JAMES RONALD, of No. 18, James' Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for." CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING MANILLA AND OTHER HEMPS AND FLAX"
to be as follows:
The machine consists of two principal parts. The first part contains a
holder (for retaining the hemp or flax), consisting of an upper and lower part;
the upper part being moveable, and capable of being pressed down by a
screw. This holder is moveable in slides, and is actuated by means of
bands passing around a roller, which is driven by means of a worm and
worm wheel, and connected by bevil gearing to the main driving shaft.
The worm wheel may be thrown out of gear when required by means of
a catch box.
The second part of the machine consists of a series of "hackles," for
dressing the hemp or flax. These "hackles "are moved forwards by means

page_text: of worms or screws until they arrive at the delivering end of the machine,
where they fall down to a lower level, and are returned again by means of
other screws (running in the opposite direction) to the starting point, where
they are again raised, and proceed as before. The upper and lower screws
are both driven by means of spur and bevil gearing from the main driving
shaft. At the delivering end of the machine are a pair of rollers revolving
so as to take the tow or dressed hemp or flax from off the hackles, and
place it on to an endless travelling canvass, by means of which it is removed
from the machine as it is dressed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ronald in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RONALD, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Ronald, Her special licence that I, the said James Ronald, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Ronald, 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 IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING MANILLA AND OTHER HEMPS AND FLAX," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Ronald, 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 James Ronald, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-

page_text: The machine consists of two principal parts. The first part contains a
holder (for retaining the hemp or flax), consisting of an upper and lower part,
the upper part being moveable, and capable of being pressed down by a screw.
This holder is moveable in slides, and is actuated by means of bands passing
around a roller, which is driven by means of a worm and worm wheel, and
connected by bevil gearing to the main driving shaft. The worm wheel may
be thrown out of gear when required by means of a catch box:
The second part of the machine consists of a series of "hackles" for
dressing the hemp or flax. These hackles are moved forwards by means of
worms or screws until they arrive at the delivering end of the machine, where
they fall down to a lower level, and are returned again by means of other
screws (running in the opposite direction) to the starting point, where they
are again raised, and proceed as before. The upper and lower screws are both
driven by means of spur and bevil gearing from the main driving shaft:
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the saine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a machine combined according to my
Invention; Figure 2 shows a right-hand end view; Figure 3 is a left-hand
end view; Figure 4 shows a longitudinal elevation, with one side of the
framing removed; Figure 5 shows a plan of the machine. In each of these
Figures the same letters indicate similar parts. A is the framing; B, B, are
screws by which the gill combs are moved, as is well understood in gill comb
machines; C is a tappet or excentric cog on each of the two lower screws,
by which the gill combs are in succession raised; D is a short cog or tappet
on each of the upper screws B, by which the gill combs are successively
forced downwards when they come to the end of their movement; F, F, are
the upper hackle plates, on which the hackle points are set, and which
constitute the gill combs or hackles; E, E, are the fixed plates on which the
gill hackles or combs slide; G, G, are the guides by which the hackle plates
are guided in their descent from the upper to the lower screws B. The guide
rods move on axes, and they are pressed on by their cranks and balls H and I.
The hackles or plates F in descending come down on the receivers L, which
are constantly pressed upwards by their weights K. The tow is removed by
the hackle roller M. The machine receives its motion by straps or belts O
acting on the drums N, as will readily be understood by reference to the
Drawing. P is a table; Q is a travelling press or nipper, in which the Manilla
hemp or flax is placed and held near one end, the other end being on

page_text: the first rows of hackle teeth on the plates F, and this nipping apparatus
is allowed progressively to approach the system of screw gill hackles by the
gearing shown by the Drawings. The screws, B are coupled and worked by
the wheels R, 1, 2, 3, and 4, as shown. S, 1, 2; 3; '4, and. 5,, shows the
shafting by which parts of the motions, are communicated, as is clearly shown
in the Drawing; T, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are the gear wheels, by which the
motions are given; U is a lever for acting on the catch or clutch box X when
it is desired to put the machine out of motion; W is a connecting rod, by
which the driving strap is moved from the fixed to, the loose pulley or drum ;
V, pinion and wheel.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention; and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately; but what I claim is, the combination of
machinery herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ronald, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
"W. NICHOL,
7, Castle St., Liverpool."
JAMES RONALD. (L.S.)