IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBRES
Year: 1878

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to William Henderson, of West End Mills, Bruton, in the
County of Somerset, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBRES."
Sealed the 1st April 1879, and dated the 2nd October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henderson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd October 1878.
WILLIAM HENDERSON, of West End Mills, Bruton, in the County of Somerset.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBRES."
This Invention has for its object to improve scutching machinery such as is
described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and another
dated 13th May 1870, No. 1370.
The flax or other fibre to be operated on is clamped in holders which are placed
on to horizontal supporting bars to which a rising-and-falling motion is given in
order that the fibres hanging down from the clamps may as the bars rise be drawn
between a pair of rubbers, and when the bars have risen to their highest position
one of the rubbers is moved away from the other, so that the fibre may pass down
between them without being rubbed when the bars descend, but in place of causing
the bars to rise and fall in a vertical plane as described in the above-mentioned
Specification, I cause them to work in a plane somewhat inclined to the vertical, in
order that in their upward motion the fibre hanging down from the clamps instead
of remaining in contact with one of the sets of rubbers used for acting on the fibre
may move away from it and always hang down centrally between them, thus when
the bars carrying the clamps again descend the fibre being out of contact with both
rubbers descends freely between them.
The slides which carry the horizontal bars are connected by links to levers
which have an oscillating motion given to them by connecting rods hanging down
from them and acted on by cams on the main driving shaft. Provision is made for
partially disconnecting the connecting rods from the levers, so that whenever
Devine 71

page_text: required the rods may be allowed to move up and down without giving motion to
the bars which carry the clamps.
Two parallel sets of rising and falling bars and rubbers are used, one along the
front and the other along the back of the machine, and the outer rubber of each
set is the one that moves towards and from the others as described in the Specifi-
cation before mentioned. In order to move them to and fro alternately I connect
'the arms which carry them by links to a slide which can move to and fro trans-
versely of the machine; there may be two such slides one at each end of the
machine. On each side is a roller acted on by a cam on the main driving shaft of
the machine. As the slides move to and fro the movable rubber of one set moves
towards the other rubbers with which it works, whilst the rubber of the other set
moves away from them:
The single rubber of each set which is thus caused to move towards and away
from the others has no endway motion given to it, the two others which come
above and below the single rubber have a short end way to-and-fro motion given to
them by a crank on a tranverse axis which is driven by a chain and chain wheels
from the longitudinal driving axis.
In order that the action of the rubbers upon the fibre may be regulated the two
rubbers are carried on hinge joints so that they may be moved towards or away
from one another, and they can be retained at any required distance apart by arms
projecting back from them and held by lock screws to the to-and-fro reciprocating
bar which carries them.
The portions of the rubbers which are used to first act upon the fibres I form of
small rollers, having around them a number of small transverse corrugations to
ensure regularity in the action of the rubbers; I also provide the bar which
carries the outer rubber with projections near each of its ends to enter sockets
in the frame during the time that the rubbers are acting upon the fibre..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
April 1879.
WILLIAM HENDERSON, of West End Mills, Bruton, in the County of Somerset.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER FIBRES."
This Invention has for its object to improve scutching machinery, such as is
described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and another dated
13th May 1870, No. 1370.
.
The flax or other fibre to be operated on is clamped in holders which are placed
on to horizontal supporting bars, to which a rising-and-falling motion is given in
order that the fibres hanging down from the clamps may as the bars rise be drawn
between a pair of rubbers, and when the bars have risen to their highest position
one of the rubbers is moved away from the other so that the fibre may pass down
between them without being rubbed when the bars descend, but in place of causing
the bars to rise and fall in a vertical plane as described in the above-mentioned
Specification, I cause them to work in a plane somewhat inclined to the vertical,
in order that in their upward motion the fibre hanging down from the clamps
instead of remaining in contact with one of the sets of rubbers used for acting on
the fibre may move away from it and always hang down centrally between them,
thus when the bars carrying the clamps again descend, the fibre being out of con-
tact with both rubbers descends freely between them.
The slides which carry the horizontal bars are connected by links to levers which
have an oscillating motion given to them by connecting rods hanging down from
them and acted on by cams or crank pins on the main driving shaft. Provision is
made for partially disconnecting the connecting rods from the levers used for
causing the clamps which carry the fibre to travel endwise along the bars, so that
whenever required the rods may be allowed to move up and down without giving
endway motion to the clamps.
Two parallel sets of rising and falling bars and rubbers are used, one along the
front and the other along the back of the machine, and the outer rubber of each
set is the one that moves towards and from the others, as described in the Specifi-
cation before mentioned.
In order to move them to and fro alternately I connect the arms which carry
them by links to a slide which can move to and fro transversely of the machine;
there may be two such slides, one at each end of the machine. Or each slide is a
roller acted on by a cam on the main driving shaft of the machine. As the slides
move to and fro the movable rubber of one set moves towards the other rubbers
with which it works, whilst the rubber of the other set moves away from them.
The single rubber of each set which is thus caused to move towards and away
from the others has no endway motion given to it, the two others which come
above and below the single rubber have a short endway to-and-fro motion given to
them by a crank, or two cranks on each side on a transverse axis or axes.
rubber may be divided into two lengths and each length be driven by a different
crank.
The
In order that the action of the rubbers upon the fibre may be regulated the two
rubbers are carried on hinge joints so that they may be moved towards or away
from one another, and they can be retained at any required distance apart by arms
projecting back from them and held by lock screws to the to-and-fro reciprocating
bar which carries them.
: The portions of the rubbers which are used to first act upon the fibres I form of
small rollers, having around them a number of small transverse corrugations to
ensure regularity in the action of the rubbers; I also provide the bar which carries
the outer rubber with projections near each of its ends to enter sockets in the frame
during the time that the rubbers are acting upon the fibre,

page_text: To convey away the woody parts which fall from the rubbers I employ an
endless travelling band as herein-after described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews a part end view of the machine.
Figure 2 shews a plan view of one end of the fine rubbers; Figure 3, a plan
view of one end of the corrugated rubbers; Figure 4 shews the crank shaft for
giving a to-and-fro endway movement to the pairs of rubbers.
A, A, are the horizontal supporting bars along which the clamps or holders
carrying the flax or other fibre can be slidden endwise so as to be passed from one
end of the machine to the other. There is one such bar along each side of the
machine; one of the bars only is shewn in the Drawing. These bars as the
Drawing shews are made to rise and fall in a plane somewhat inclined to the
vertical. The slides which carry the bars are connected by links B to levers C.
The levers have a rocking motion given to them by a connecting rod F passing
down to crank pins D on the main shaft E, or cams on this shaft might be used for
giving motion to the connecting rods. To move the clamps endwise along the bars
A a long rod is used which lies above the top of the clamps, the rod carries a
number of pawls, one for each clamp; when the rod is moved endwise in one
direction the pawls engage with the clamps and shift them a distance along the
bars A, but when the rod moves back in the opposite direction the clamps remain
stationary. The rod receives its endway to-and-fro motion by being coupled by a
long link to a lever arm on a transverse horizontal axis at the upper part of the
machine. On this axis is another lever arm G shewn separately at Figure 5. The
arm G is slotted; a pin H can be moved along the slot and clamped to the arm at
any desired distance from the axis. I is the upper end of a connecting rod which
receives an up-and-down motion from a cam on the main shaft E; this cam is shewn
at Figure 6. In the upper end of the connecting rod I there is a right angled slot.
When the pin H is held in the lower horizontal portion of this slot by the fork J
of the lever catch K, the arm G is rocked by the upward and downward movement
of the rod I, but if the position of the lever catch K is shifted so as to move the pin
Hout of the horizontal portion of the slot and bring it into the vertical portion of
the slot in the rod I, the rod I can move up and down without giving motion to
the arm G, and consequently the clamps which carry the fibre will then not be
caused to move along the bars A. K' is a spring catch for holding the catch lever
K in either of the positions above-mentioned. The shifting of the position of the
lever K can be effected by pulls and connecting rods from any desired part of the
machine. L, L, are the inner pairs of rubbers which have an endway reciprocating
to-and-fro motion given to them, and M, M, are the outer rubbers which can be
moved towards and away from the inner rubbers. The outer rubbers are carried
by arms M¹ which turn on pins at their lower ends, and are connected by links O
to a slide P. One such slide is provided at each end of the machine. Each slide
carries a truck or roller Q, and this is acted on by a cam on the driving shaft as
shewn at Figure 1. As the slide is moved to and fro the movable rubber of one set
is brought towards the pair of rubbers with which it works, whilst the moveable
rubber of the other set moves away from its pair of rubbers.
The rubbers L, L, have an end way to and fro motion given to them by a lever
R oscillated by a crank or cranks on an axis or axes as shewn at Figure 4. This
axis is at right angles to the main shaft E and has motion given to it by prefer-
ence by bevil gear from the driving shaft not shown in the Drawing; this shaft is
at the upper part of the machine, and from it motion is also conveyed to the main
shaft E. In place of the pair of rubbers being on the inside and the single rubber
on the outside the position of the rubbers might be reversed; the lighter single
rubber would then be the one to receive the vibrating endway to-and-fro motion.
Figures 7 and 8 shew how the two rubbers of each pair of rubbers may be set
nearer to or further from one another, and retained in any desired position by

page_text: screw bolts and nuts. The rubbers can turn on hinge joints, and arms projecting
back from them are held by screw bolts and nuts as shewn.
In order to rigidly hold the outer rubber M and prevent it moving endwise to
and fro with the other rubbers L, L, at the time when it is in action, I provide the
outer rubber M at its ends with projections T to enter corresponding sockets S fixed
to the bar which carries the rubbers L, L, as shewn at Figure 3. This Figure also
shows a portion of one of the corrugated rubbers which I use to first act upon the
fibres as they enter the machine.
To convey away the woody parts which are detached from the flax or other fibre
by the rubbers I use below each set of rubbers an endless travelling apron to
convey away the material to one end of the machine. The band is distended
between two horizontal rollers, one at each end of the machine, one of these is
revolved slowly to give a slow travelling motion to the band. Intermediate of
these rollers the upper portion of the band upon which the woody matter falls is
supported at intervals by rods V, to each of which are clamped two slides W, see
Figure 9. One slide carries a right-handed screw X which is free to revolve, the
other carries a left-handed screw also free to revolve. The side edges of the endless
band rest on the top of the screws and are held down on to them by curved covers
Y, see Figure 10, which are fixed over the screws, sufficient space being left
between them for the passage of the edge of the cloth. As the band moves onwards
the screws revolve and keep the band distended.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim as my improvements in
machinery for scutching flax and other fibre,-
First. Moving the supporting bars A up and down in a plane somewhat inclined
to the vertical for the purpose herein-before described.
Second. Coupling the bars which carry the outer rubbers to a slide which
receives motion from a cam on the driving shaft, substantially as described so as
alternately to move them to and from the inner rubbers.
Third. The means substantially as herein-before described and shewn at Figures
7 and 8 for controlling the distance between the top and bottom rubbers of each
pair of rubbers.
Fourth. Locking together the bar which carries the outer rubbers and the bar
which carries the inner rubbers at the time when the rubbers are in action, sub-
stantially as herein-before described and shewn at Figure 3.
Fifth. The means substantially as herein-before described and shewn at Figure 5
for arresting whenever desired the endway movement of the clamps along the
bars A.
Sixth. The employment of an endless travelling band kept taut in the manner
herein-before described for conveying away the woody fibre that falls from the
rubbers.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henderson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
WILLIAM HENDERSON. (LS.)