IM. PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Combe, of Belfast, for the Invention of "IM.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 28th January 1862, and dated the 15th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Combe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
August 1861.
I, JAMES COMBE, of Belfast, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements apply to what is known as sheet hackling machines
and consists, 1st, in a new and improved arrangement for stripping the
tow from the hackles in such machines by means of stripper bars of wood
or of other material attached to sheets separate from the ordinary hackle sheets,
but passing over the same rollers. The hackles and bars being on separate
sheets the bars will be free to advance so as to strip the tow off the hackles.
They are so arranged on their sheets that they fall into the spaces between the
hackles as they revolve together. By this arrangement stripper cocks or slotted
guides for the stripper bars are dispensed with, and a simple and easy action
is obtained, which admits of the hackles being driven at any required speed;
and at the same time reduces the wear and tear of the machine. In some
SP SZ1

page_text: machines the vibrations of the returning sheets will be sufficient to throw
the tow off the hackles, but where this is not sufficient a guide or guides
may be introduced to separate more fully the sheets which carry the bars
from those which carry the hackles, and by this means push the bars farther
out past the points of the hackles. For very fine hackles a line of bristles
may be inserted in the edge of the stripper bars to brush the hackle pins.
This head of the Invention is applicable to inclined flat or vertical shect
hackling machines.
2nd, in an improved arrangement for sheet machines which act only on one
side of the flax at a time. It is usual in such machines to cause the holders
containing the flax to approach and recede from the hackles for the purpose
of commencing to hackle the flax at the extremity. This arrangement
renders necessary the use of complicated machinery for actuating the holders,
and the object of this part of the Invention is to dispense. with this com-
plication to this end the trough or slide through which the holders pass is
made a fixture, and the hackles are caused to approach to and recede from the
holders in order to make the hackling gradual from the extremity of the
flax.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Combe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
COMBE, of Belfast, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Combe, Her special license that I. the said James Combe,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Combe, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUB-
STANCES." upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Combe,

page_text: by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is 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 YF, that I, the said James Combe, 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 fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements apply to what are known as sheet hackling machines.
and consist, firstly in a new and improved method of stripping the tow off
the hackles in such machines; secondly in an improvement applicable to
that class of sheet machines which act only on one side of the flax at a time,
and which are generally known as "inclined sheet machines."
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a vertical
sheet hackling machine, shewing the improved arrangement for stripping the
tow from the hackies; Fig. 2 is a sectional clevation of an inclined sheet
machine in which both the first and second improvements are combined, and
Fig. 3 is a plan of the same machine; Figures 4 and 5 shew different
constructions of stripper bars alluded to under the first head.
kept together in position on
The first part of this Invention which is applicable to sheet hackling
machines generally consists in stripping the tow off the hackles by means
of stripper bars arranged and operated as shewn in Figures 1 and 2. In
Fig. 1, a, a, are the stripper bars attached to sheets a', which are separate
from the hackle sheets b, but pass over the same top and bottom or back
and front rollers c. These rollers are so set that the sheets a and b are
slack upon the back or returning side, but are
the front or working side by the guides d. The slack sides of the stripper
bar sheets a' are kept out by means of guides or pullies a. while the hackles
bfall to the backward position shewn in the Drawing. In doing this they
leave the tow (which they had combed out of the stricks of flax) upon the
stripper bars a, from which it drops or is taken off by the tow catchers e.
carried on the shafts or centres e¹. These tow catches (one on each side
of the machine) are caused to swing out during the passage of the holders
to the position shewn in the dotted lines Fig. 1, and thus throw the tow
off its pins into a proper receptacle. This swinging motion is obtained by
means of a cam or tappet e which acts upon the bowle of a lever e which
is connected by a pair of rods e to the levers of the tow catchers. As

page_text: therefore, the lever e³ is depressed the tow catchers will be caused to move
away from the hackles and throw the collected tow into a proper receptacle.
By this arrangement stripper cocks or slotted guides for the stripper bars
are dispensed with and a simple and easy action is obtained, which admits
of the hackles being driven at any required speed, and at the same time
reduces the wear and tear of the machine. In some machines the vibrations
of the returning sheets will be sufficient to ensure the stripping of the tow
from the hackles, the guides a may, therefore, in such cases be dispensed
with. Or the hackle sheets may be kept tight and the stripper bar
sheets a left slack as shewn in Fig. 2 and the like stripping effect obtained.
For very fine hackles a line of bristles may be inserted in the edge of the
stripper bars a, as shewn in Fig. to brush the low off the hackles. The
stripper bars a may be made of any suitable material, wood or iron, or a
combination thereof, as shewn in Fig. 4, which is a section of a wooden bar
covered with sheet iron which makes a light yet rigid bar.
The second part of this Invention consists in an improved arrangement.
for sheet hackling machines which act only on one side of the flax at a time.
It is usual in such machines to cause the holders containing the flax to
approach and recede from the hackles for the purpose of enabling the hackles
to commence their operation on the flax at the extremity of the strick and
work up to the nip of the holder. This arrangement, however, renders
necessary the use of complicated machinery for actuating the holders. Now
the object of this part of my Invention is to dispense with this complication,
and this I propose to effect by making the trough or slides f. Figures 2 and 3,
through which the holders pass, a fixture, and causing the hackles to approach
and recede from the holders, so that the hackling of the stricks will be gradual
as heretofore, commencing at the extremity of the flax and working upwards
to the nip of the rollers.
In order to give a vertical movement to the hackles I support the top
roller c of each sheet of hackles by means of radius and connecting rods g, g².
The radius rods connect the shafts of the top rollers with the shaft c³ of the
bottom rollers, and the rods g' connect the shafts of the top rollers with a pair
of levers g, which are fixed to the rock shaft h. This shaft receives a rocking
motion from a lever and bowle ', which is actuated by a tappet wheel i
on the tappet shaft. This tappet wheel i is so formed and set that when the
holders containing the flax are sliding or turning, the sheets a and b are
caused to fall away from the flax to about the position shewn in dotted lines
at Fig. 2, and then gradually to approach the flax holders as the hackling
progresses. The sheets a and b and the top rollers c' are counterbalanced

page_text: and the bowle
weighted levers
kept in contact with the tappet wheel i by means of the
attached to the rock shaft h.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of improvements in
machinery for hackling flax and other fibrous substances and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim,-
First, stripping the tow off the hackles of sheet hackling machines by means
of sheets of stripper bars, arranged and operated as above described.
Secondly, causing the hackles to approach and recede from the flax holders
of inclined sheet machines, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Combe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JAMES COMBE. (L.s.)