IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING MACHINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Julius Boult, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson
and Company, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and of
6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent
Agent, for an Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING MACHINES."
A communication from abroad by Samuel Strut Fuller, of the Town of
Stratford, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Julius Boult at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th October 1880.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson and Co., of 323, High
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad. by Samuel Strut Fuller, of the Town
of Stratford, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada.
The object of this Invention is to clear the tow during the operation of scutching,
and it consists essentially in arranging with the revolving beaters and scutching
board of the ordinary machine a grated or perforated trough or equivalent, as
described below.
The ordinary scutching machine consists of suitable standards, carrying between
them a revolving beater, usually a kind of wheel carrying a number of knives; the
flax is fed through a hole in one of the standards (generally boards), and is beaten
up by the knives which separate the shives and tow from the flax. The tow, shives,
and dust then fall together on to the floor, and consequently the tow before it is
marketable must be cleaned either by hand or by machines made for the purpose.
Now to obviate this double handling and consequent expense I apply under the
revolving beater or knives a kind of open trough perforated or grated, or otherwise
constructed with interstices, and in place of the second upright or standard usually
employed, I use a kind of vertical grating (the end of the beater shaft of course
being supported in a bearing conveniently arranged, which besides serving the
purpose of the upright, allows the free escape of the shives and dust, whilst the tow
falls into the trough below, where it remains till so much has collected, that the
beaters in revolving catch it and lift it through a suitable opening in the partition
or wall of the room, or other means by which the machine is shut in, when it may
be packed for shipment without further cleaning.
It is not intended that the machine should have any particular shaped trough, or
that any special materials should be used in its construction, as almost any
convenient shape will do for the trough, and almost any ordinary materials for the
construction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Julius Boult in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
April 1881.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson and Company, of
323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, Engineer and Patent Agent. IMPROVEMENTS IN
SCUTCHING MACHINES." A communication from abroad by Samuel Strut Fuller,
of the Town of Stratford, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada.
The object of the Invention is to clean the tow during the operation of scutching,
and it consists essentially in arranging with the revolving beaters and scutching
board a grated or perforated trough, as hereafter more particularly explained.
The Drawing represents the ordinary scutching machine with the tow cleaning
attachment. The ordinary machine is composed of revolving beaters or knives A
working between two upright boards, of which only one B is shewn in the Drawing,
the other not being required in the combined machine. The flax is fed through
the hand-hole b, and is beaten by the revolving knives A, which action separates the
shives and tow from the flax. In the ordinary scutching machine the tow, shives,
and dust all fall together on the floor, and consequently the tow before it is
marketable must be cleaned either by hand or by machines made for the purpose.
To obviate this double handling and consequent expense I apply a grated or
perforated trough C beneath the beaters A, and preferably supported by the scutching
board B. Instead of the other upright board, which, as before stated, is dispensed
with, a vertical grating D is employed. This grating D, besides serving the purpose
of the upright board dispensed with, permits the free escape of the dust and shives
knocked from the flax by the action of the beaters A, while the tow produced by
the saine action falls into the grated trough C, where it remains till sufficient of it
has accumulated to raise it within reach of the revolving beaters A, which strike
and throw it through an opening E in the partition F behind the machine, when it
may be packed for shipment without 1. ther cleaning. It is not intended that the
machine should have any particular shaped trough, or that any special material
should be employed in its construction.
Having now described this Invention, and the method of performing the same,
I wish it to be understood that what I claim and desire to protect under the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. A grated or perforated trough C arranged in connection with a scutching
machine, substantially as shewn, and for the purpose specified.
Second. A vertical grating D in combination with the revolving beaters or
knives A, and scutching board B, substantially as shewn, and for the purpose
specified.
Third. The grated or perforated trough C and grating D, in combination with
the revolving beaters A and scutching board B, substantially as shewn, and for the
purpose specified.
Fourth. The grated or perforated trough C, in combination with the revolving
knives or beaters A and opening E, substantially as shewn, and for the purpose
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Julius Boult, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty ane
ALFRED J. BOULT. (L.S.)