IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAx, Jute, and OTHER FIBROUS Substances.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Stuart Kennedy, of Leeds, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PREPARING FLAx, Jute, and OTHER FIBROUS Substances.'
"
Sealed the 12th January 1875, and dated the 23rd November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Stuart
Kennedy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 23rd November 1874.
I, THOMAS STUART KENNEDY, of Leeds, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, JUTE, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:
-
This Invention relates to that class of preparing machines in which
endless chains are used for carrying the gill bars or combs, and it consists
mainly in a novel construction of the chain, the object being to bring
the gill bars closer together, or to obtain a finer pitch of gills than
heretofore, and to ensure the steadiness of their pins while in action.

page_text: To attain these objects it is now proposed so to form the links of the
chain that each link will carry its own gill bar intermediate of the
joints, the pivot hole for the gill bar being raised a little above the lino
of the joints so as to allow of the joint centres being brought closer
together.
The links will be right and left handed as respects their coupling lugs,
and they are coupled together by pins, which serve also to gear with the
teeth of the chain wheels which carry and drive the chains. The links are
moreover so constructed as to form butt joints with each other, while
tke gill bars are passing along the horizontal guides, and it is by this
means that the steadiness of the gill pins while in action is ensured.
The same result may be obtained by making the tail ends of the gill
bars butt against each other.
The gill bars proper are made fast by coupling screws to trunnions
which pass through the links of the endless carrying chains, and keyed
to the outer ends of these trunnions are cranks which terminate in pins
that enter the guides which direct the course of the gill bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Stuart Kennedy in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
Stuart KenneDY, of Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Stuart Kennedy,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Stuart Kennedy, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Stuart Kennedy, 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
.

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
FLAX, JUTE, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Stuart. Kennedy, 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 Thomas Stuart Kennedy, 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 following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
This Invention relates to that class of preparing machines in which
endless chains are used for carrying the gill bars or combs, and it
consists mainly in a novel construction of the chain, the object being
to bring the gill bars closer together, or to obtain a finer pitch of
gills than heretofore, and to ensure the steadiness of their pins while
in action.
To attain these objects I so form the links of the chain that each
link will carry its own gill bar intermediate of the joints, raising the
pivot hole for the gill bar a little above the line of the joints, so as to
allow of the joint centres being brought closer together.
The links will be right and left handed as respects their coupling lugs,
and I couple them together by pins which serve also to gear with the
teeth of the chain wheels which carry and drive the chains. The links
moreover I so construct that they shall form butt joints with each other,
while the gill bars are passing along the horizontal guides, and it is by
this means that I ensure steadiness to the gill pins while in action.
The same result may be obtained by making the tail ends of the gill
bars butt against each other.
The gill bars proper I make fast by coupling screws to trunnions,
which pass through the links of endless carrying chains, and to the

page_text: outer ends of these trunnions I key cranks which terminate in pins that
enter the guides which direct the course of the gill bars.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews in longi-
tudinal sectional elevation, part of a drawing frame with my improved
chain for carrying the gill bars applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a partial
transverse section of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion
of the chain and gill bars; Figures 4, 5, and 6, shew detached portions
of the chain in side, edge, and plan views.
Referring to Fig. 1, A and B are the stands or supports for carrying
the rollers and other working parts; C, C, are the retaining rollers; and
D, D, the drawing and pressing rollers. These and also the stripping
and delivery rollers are in all respects the same as in ordinary drawing
frames; E, E¹, are the shafts on which are keyed the wheels F, F¹, for
driving the chains. These chains are composed of links a, a¹, (see
Figures 4, 5, and 6) which are connected together by joint pins b, b, b,
passed through the coupling lugs of the links. With these pins b
the chain wheels F gear as shewn at Figures 1 and 2, and thus motion
is communicated to the chains carrying the gill bars; d, d, d, are the
bars to which the gills c, c, c, are attached, and these bars d are fitted at
their opposite ends to trunnions e, e¹, which trunnions turn freely in
holes in the links a, a¹, the holes being placed intermediate between the
joint pins 6 but raised above the line of the joints so as to enable them
to be placed closer together than heretofore. On the end of one of the
trunnions e of each bar.is secured a crank f, the pin of which crank
enters into a fixed excentric guide G. These cranks fare alternately
placed on the right and left land trunnions of the following gill bars as
shewn in the plan view, Fig. 3, to give them room for action. The fixed
guides G are so shaped as to cause the gill bars to rise near the retaining
rollers D, and to descend near the drawing roller C in such a manner
that the pins of the gills retain a vertical or nearly vertical position
whilst acting on the material. The links are so formed at their upper
part, that whilst passing from the driving wheel F to the driving wheel F¹,
they will butt against and each support the other as shewn at Fig. 4, so
that the pins on the gills are held firmly in a vertical position.
A modification of the Invention is shewn in Sheet II. of the Drawings,
where Fig. 7 is a plan view of a portion of a chain of gill bars, the links
of which are so shaped as to allow of the chain wheels gearing with the
joint pins at the middle of their length, and thereby preventing an

page_text: irregular lateral strain thereon; Fig. 8 is a partial end elevation; and
Fig. 9 a partial longitudinal section of the same.
In this example the links a, a', are made broader than at Sheet I., and
they are each cast with a pair of lugs for receiving the coupling pins 6.
The abutting heads of the links are also raised somewhat higher above
the sockets for the gill bars than at Fig. 4, and in addition to the
abutting of the links, the ends of the trunnions e, e¹, are made to butt
against each other for the same purpose. This is clearly shewn in the
plan view, Fig. 7, and longitudinal section, Fig. 9. .The trunnions e, e,
only in this as in the former instance are fitted with guiding cranks ƒ.
The links a, a¹, will as in the former example be counterparts of each
other.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements
in Machinery for Preparing Flax, Jute, 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. Constructing travelling chains as and for the purpose above
described with reference to the Drawings.
Secondly. The arrangement above described with reference to Sheet II.
of the Drawings for driving, sustaining, and guiding chains of gill bars
or combs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Stuart Kennedy, have
hereunto set my. hand and seal, the Twentieth day of May, in
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
DAVID BEEVERS,
Clerk,
Leeds.
THOMAS STUART KENNEDY. (L.S.)