"A MACHINE OR ENGINE, WHICH WAS SO COMPOSED AND CONTRIVED SO AS TO BE WORKED WITH WATER, WIND, OR HORSES, AND WAS TO BE SOLELY APPLYED AND USED FOR THE DRESSING, WINNOWING, AND CLEANSING OP FLAX, AND RENDERING THE SAME PIT FOR THE MANUFACTURER'S USE; THAT THE S S, FOR THE OF HIS SAID MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS IN GENERAL, AND HIGHLY CONDUCIVE TO THE SUPPORT & ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE LINNEN TRADE
Year: 1755

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DANIELL the younger, of Yeovill, in the County of Somerset, Glover, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said William Daniell, did, by my Petition, humbly
represent unto His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, that I
had, with great travell, labour, application, and at a very considerable charge
and expence, discovered and brought to perfection "A MACHINE OR ENGINE,
WHICH WAS SO COMPOSED AND CONTRIVED SO AS TO BE WORKED WITH WATER, WIND, OR
HORSES, AND WAS TO BE SOLELY APPLYED AND USED FOR THE DRESSING, WINNOWING,
AND CLEANSING OP FLAX, AND RENDERING THE SAME PIT FOR THE MANUFACTURER'S
USE; THAT THE SAME WAS OF SUCH A NATURE, & SO ADAPTED, AS TO BE OF GREAT USE
AND ADVANTAGE TO THE COMMERCIAL INTEREST OF THIS KINGDOM, AS BY THIS METHOD
THE FLAX IN QUANTITY WOULD BE GREATLY PRESERVED, THE QUALITY THEREOP MUCH
IMPROVED, AND THE SAME RENDERED STRONGER AND BETTER FOR THE MANUFACTURER'S
USE, FOR THE GREAT SERVICE OF HIS SAID MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS IN GENERAL, AND
HIGHLY CONDUCIVE TO THE SUPPORT & ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE LINNEN TRADE;" I
therefore most humbly prayed His said Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His Letters Patent for the term of fourteen years,
for the sole use and exercise of the said machine or engine; His said
Majesty, being therefore willing to give encouragement to all arts and
inventions which may be for the publick good, did, by His Letters Patent

page_text: under His Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-third day of January, in the twenty-eighth year of His reign, give &
grant unto me, the said William Daniell the younger, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power and authority, that
I, the said William Daniell the younger, my executors, adiñors, and assigns,
should and might lawfully make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention
within that part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should seem meet, for and during and unto the
full end and term of fourteen years from the date of the said recited Letters
Patent; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said William Daniell the younger, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next
and iñiediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, other-
wise the said Letters Patent, and all powers and priviledges thereby granted,
should cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same Letters
Patent (referrence being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Daniell the younger,
in pursuance of the said proviso, do hereby describe my said Invention in
manner following (that is to say) :-
The said machine consists of two waller heads or lanthorn wheels, one hori-
zontal and the other perpendicular, each about seventeen inches in diameter,
and twenty-two inches in length, made of oak or any other wood. Through
the center of the horizontal wheel passes an iron crank or axis, which may be
made of any length, from eight to ten feet, and to the handles whereof are fixed
four horizontal regulators or break staves, placed in opposite directions to each
other, and having their heads let into a perpendicular moveable frame of
timber, wherein hang, on iron centers or pins, four rolers of solid timber, each
of which should be two feet four inches long and eight inches diameter.
These regulators are peices of oak or other timber, about ten feet in length
and five inches square. Each roler is armed with iron blades projecting or
rising one inch from its surface, and placed throughout the whole length thereof
at one inch distance from each other. The rollers, by the turning the crank or
axis above described, together with their frame, traverse a horizontal bed or
plane of timber three feet and a half long and two feet four inches wide, armed
likewise with iron blades, placed at the same distances from each other as
those are upon the rollers, and in such manner, that while the machine is at

page_text: work, the blades of the rolers may pass through or fall into the voids or spaces
between the blades of the bed. Upon this bed the raw flax is to be placed,
and by the traversing of the rolers is crushed and braked. The perpendicular
waller head or lanthorn wheel is fixed to a shaft or spindle of wood, the
lower end whereof turns upon its gudgeon in a brass step fixed for that pur-
pose, and its top in a beam. Near the upper end of the spindle are placed
four horizontal wooden arms or flyers, and towards the extremities of the arms
are fastened thin boards or vanes, which may be made of any length, from
twelve to twenty-four inches, and in breadth from six inches to twelve. When
the flax hath been crushed and braked in the manner afore-mentioned, it is
removed to the shaft or spindle, and placed before the vanes or boards thereof,
which, by beating against it in their horizontal rotations, cleanse and winnow
it from the stalk or spile. The two waller heads are put in motion by a per-
pendicular cog wheel fixed on a horizontal axis, whereon another wheel is
placed, and which is turned by the force of water. N.B.-The above machine
may also be worked by wind, horses, or other cattle.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Daniell the younger, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of March, in the said
twenty-eighth year of the reign of His said Majesty King George
the Second, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and fifty-five.