IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Laleman, of Lille, in the Empire of France,
one of the Members of the Firm Canyn and Company, consisting
of William Lenty, Widow Lenty, Victor Canyn, and Jules Laleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FLAX AND OTHER
SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS."-A communication.
Sealed the 30th December 1856, and dated the 20th August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Laleman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th August 1856.
I, JULES LALEMAN, of Lille, in the Empire of France, one of the Members
of the Firm Canyn and Company, consisting of William Lenty, Widow Lenty,
Victor Canyn, and Jules Laleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR COMBING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR
FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improved machinery for combing flax and other
similar. fibrous materials, relates to a novel method of actuating the flax
holders, and consists in connecting or attaching them to an endless chain or
strap, which is passed in a serpentine direction round a series of pullies or
drums, to which motion is communicated from the driving shaft of the machine
by means of suitable gearing.
The endless chain, with its flax holders suspended therefrom, works hori-
zontally upon the comb drum or working cylinder, and the combs thereon are
made finer at one end than the other. By this arrangement the flax holders
are moved forward in a continuous and regular manner, whereby a good yield
of flax, without injuring the quality, is obtained. The flax holders also may

page_text: be brought so close to the working cylinder as almost to touch, whilst in the
machinery now in use they cannot be brought within a considerable distance,
comparatively, in consequence of the excentrics and other working parts con-
nected with them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jules Laleman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES
LALEMAN, of Lille, in the Empire of France, one of the Members of the Firm
of Canyn and Company, and consisting of William Lenty, Widow Lenty,
Victor Canyn, and Jules Laleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand-eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jules Laleman, Her special license that I, the said Jules Laleman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jules
Laleman, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
COMBING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon tho condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Jules Laleman, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Jules Laleman, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of "Improved Machinery for Combing Flax and other
similar Fibrous Materials" relates to a novel method of actuating the flax
holders which hold the stricks of flax while the latter is being operated upon
by the comb teeth of the working cylinders, and consists in connecting or

page_text: attaching such flax holders to an endless chain, band, or strap, which is passed
in a serpentine direction round a series of pullies or drums, to which motion is
communicated from the driving shaft of the machine by means of suitable
gearing. The endless chain, band, or strap, with its flax holders suspended
therefrom, works horizontally along or above the comb drums or working
cylinders, of which there may be one, two, or more; and the combs thereon
are made finer at one end of the cylinders than the other, and the teeth of the
different cylinders may be of different degrees of fineness. By this arrange-
ment the flax holders may be moved forward in a continuous and regular
manner from end to end of the machine, whereby a good yield of flax, without
injuring the quality of the fibre, is obtained. The flax holders also may be
brought so close to the working cylinder as almost to touch, whilst in the
machinery now in use they cannot be brought within a considerable distance,
comparatively, in consequence of the excentrics and other working parts con-
nected with them.
In order, however, that my Invention may be clearly understood, I have
shewn in the accompanying Drawings two views of part of a flax-combing
machine constructed according to my improvements.
Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of a series of flax
holders mounted and working upon the improved plan. The endless moveable
chain which carries the flax holders is seen at A, A, A, in the Figures.
B, B, B, are the flax holders, which are suspended from or attached to
this endless chain A in any suitable manner. The chain is moved hori-
zontally in a serpentine direction round the pullies or drums 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, as shewn in the plan view, and thereby carries the flax
holders over or along the surface of the several combing cylinders in suc-
cession. The flax holders, when filled with a strick of flax, are suspended
from the chain at a point somewhere near the pulley No. 1, and as the
the gauge of the comb pins of the cylinders increases in fineness successively,
the more remote they are from the pulley No. 1, it follows that, as the holders,
with the flax hanging therefrom, are conducted through the machine in a
serpentine direction, the fibres will be first opened by the coarse teeth of the
first comb cylinder, and then operated upon by finer and finer teeth until the
flax is perfectly combed, by which time it will have arrived at the pulley or
drum No. 9, and will be carried round in front of the machine, when tho
holders may (as they arrive) be taken off the endless chain A, A, for the
purpose of having the flax changed, when they may be placed on the chain
again near the pulley or drum No. 1, and passed a second time through the
machine.

page_text: The combing drums or cylinders may be of any suitable construction and
convenient length, according to the discretion of the machine maker, but as
they form no part of my Invention, I have not considered it necessary to shew
them in the Drawings.
The endless serpentine chain, which forms the main feature of novelty in my
improved combing machinery; presents the advantages of simplicity of con-
struction and operation, inasmuch as instead of the ascending and descending
movements of tlie flax holders of ordinary flax-combing machines, these move-
ments are dispensed with, and the endless chain merely imparts a regular and
continuous travelling motion to the flax holders suspended therefrom. It also
presents the advantage of producing a larger amount_of_combed fibre equal in
quality to that ordinarily produced. Another advantage (which has, however,
been already alluded to) is, that the flax holders are so arranged in the machine
that they may be brought so low as almost to touch the teeth of the comb
cylinders, so that the latter may operate with effect upon all the strick of flax
that projects from the holders, whilst in the machines ordinarily employed the
flax holders can only be brought to within a certain distance on account of the
excentric or rotating movements that must be imparted to them in order to
bring both sides of the strick of flax into contact with the comb teeth.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Machinery for Combing
Flax and other similar Fibrous Materials," and the means of carrying the same
into effect, I claim, in conclusion, the use and application to machinery for
combing flax and other similar fibrous materials of endless chains, bands, or
straps, from which the flax holders may be suspended or to which they may
be attached for the purpose of being conducted to the combing cylinders and
through the machine, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Laleman, have hereunto set my
band and seal, the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
MICHEL,
Valenciennes, Grand Place, N. 3.
J. LALEMAN. (L.S.)