IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE HACKLING AND PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAZ, JUTE, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Barbour, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR THE HACKLING AND PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAZ, JUTE, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 28th March 1876, and dated the 1st October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Barbour at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st October 1875.
I, JAMES BARBOUR, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, do
¡ hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR THE HACKLING AND PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAX, JUTE, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist (1st) in a novel arrangement of “chain
gill," and (2nd) in the use of intersecting sheets for the purpose of
hackling and drawing the fibre.
The first part of this Invention relates to the construction of the chain
gill, and consists in using moving guides, cams, or tappets instead of

page_text: the ordinary stationary guides or slides to regulate the position of the
pins as they pass round the rollers and enter and leave the material
under treatment. These moving or rotary guides or tappets move
generally in the same direction as the fallers or pin bars, and act upon
projections or attachments on the fallers or pin bars, thereby causing
the pins to enter and leave the fibrous material (which is being operated
upon) at right angles or nearly so. The moveable or rotary tappets
may be actuated either by the chain or by independent gearing, and if
they rotate they move either round the same centre as the rollers, or
round different centres.
The second part of this Invention consists in the employment of two
sets or sheets of chain gills to intersect each other, and act upon both
sides of the material at the same time instead of acting on one side
merely, as heretofore. By this means the fibres are more effectually
split and straightened than when acted on in the ordinary manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Barbour in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BARBOUR, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Barbour, Her special licence
that I, the said James Barbour, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Barbour, 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 THE HACKLING AND PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAX, Jute, and
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Barbour, my executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: ment 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 James Barbour, 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:-
These improvements consist, first, in a novel arrangement of chain gill,
and (secondly) in the use of intersecting sheets for the purpose of
hackling and drawing the fibre.
The nature of these improvements will be understood on reference to
the following description and accompanying Drawings, wherein the same
figures and letters of reference always apply to the same parts, Figure 1
being a sectional elevation shewing the general arrangement of the
machine; Figure 2, a top view of the same; Figures 3, 4, and 5 are
enlarged views of the various parts and motions.
The first part of this Invention relates to the construction of the chain
gill, and consists in using moving guides instead of the ordinary
stationary guides or slides to regulate the position of the pins as they
pass round the rollers, and enter and leave the material under treatment.
a, a, are the bars of the chain gill carrying the pins (a¹), and these bars
are connected together by links (6) forming an endless chain or sheet.
The bars a form the connecting pins of the links 6, and they are free
to turn in their sockets in the links. On the ends of the bars a are
blocks a³, which carry the bars a in the slides or channels c in the
framing of the machine as the endless chain of gill bars moves round its
driving and carrying rollers e. On one or both of the ends of the bars a
are fixed the guides for controlling the position of the gill pins as they
enter and leave the fibrous material. The guides are toothed pinions a³,
which gear into a wheel d revolving on the same centre as the rollers e
that carry the bars a. Alongside and attached to the wheel d is a
toothed wheel d³ gearing into a toothed wheel dª on a short shaft ď that

page_text: passes through the framing ƒ of the machine, and has on it a wheel d*
that gears into a wheel e¹ keyed on the shaft e³ of the rollers e that
carry the bars a as they enter and leave the material. The sizes of these
wheels (e', d', d², d², d, and a³,) are so arranged that the pins a¹ enter
and leave the material being operated upon at right angles or nearly so,
the position of the pins a' as they pass round the rollers e being
thoroughly under control, and when they are passing from one roller e
to the other the blocks a² on the end of the bars a moving in the slides c
on the frame end of hold the pins a' in their vertical position. The
driving rollers e haul the endless chains round by the bosses 6' of the
links b, so that the bars a which form the connecting pins in the endless
chains are not subject to any strain whilst passing round the driving
rollers e, and are thus easily turned in the links b' when the position of
the pins a¹ is being controlled by the guiding gear (e', d', d³, d³, d¹, d,
and a³,) without much wear and tear.
The second part of this Invention consists in the employment of two
sets or endless sheets of chain gills, the pins of which are opposite or
between each other, so as to intersect and act upon both sides of the
material under process at the same time, instead of acting on one side
of the material only, as heretofore, all these sets or endless sheets of
chain gills having the same peculiar method of guiding the pins as they
pass round the rollers and enter and leave the material, as herein-before
described, the machine being formed of either one pair of intersecting
sheets working between a pair of feeding rollers and drawing rollers h,
as an ordinary chain or screw gill, or of two or more sets of inter-
secting sheets running at different velocities, as shewn in the Drawings
annexed.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Machinery for the Hackling and Preparation of Hemp, 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. The use of moving guides as described for guiding the pin bars
as they enter and leave the fibrous material under treatment in place of
fixed guides as heretofore.
And, Secondly. The use of intersecting, or double sets, or endless
sheets of chain gills to act upon both sides of the fibrous material under

page_text: treatment during its passage from the feed to the drawing or delivery
roller, or from one set of gills to the other.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Barbour, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.