IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Brisco, of Low Mill House, in the Parish of
Saint Bees, in the County of Cumberland, Esquire, and Peter Swires
Horsman, of the Parish of Saint John's Beckermet, in the same County,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PREPARING
FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING."
Sealed the 7th November 1854, and dated the 21st August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Brisco and Peter
Swires Horsman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st August 1854.
We, ROBERT BRISCO, of Low Mill House, in the Parish of Saint Bees, in
the County of Cumberland, Esquire, & PETER SWIRES HORSMAN, of the
Parish of Saint John's Beckermet, in the same County, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR PRE-
PARING FIL HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to certain improved constructions or arrangements of
parts of the machine, known as the spreading or first drawing frame; the
object of the Invention being, firstly, to produce a more regular, even, and
uniform sliver than is obtained with the machines now in use; and, secondly,

page_text: to prevent the tumbling and crossing of the fibres, which are the necessary
results of spreading by hand labor.
We attain these objects by adapting to the spreading frame a self-feeding
motion, which being attached to and connected with the other working
parts of the machine, will cause the stricks of flax or other material to be
placed upon the spreading table at stated and regular intervals. By thus
feeding the fibre by mechanical means, au even, uniform, and continuous sliver
is produced; whereas in the ordinary spreading frauie the stricks of flax or
other material are laid upon the spreading table by hand labor, and therefore
not so regularly as when mechanical means are employed.
Secondly, instead of the stricks of flax or other material being placed upon
an endless sheet of leather or other material, as in the ordinary machines, we
cause them to be placed upon a series of heckle points attached to the fallers,
which are made to progress in the usual way; by this means the flax or other
fibres are kept perfectly straight, and are conducted in this state to the
drawing rollers with more uniformity than by the ordinary endless band.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Brisco and Peter Swires Horsman in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT:
BRISCO, of Low Mill House, in the Parish of Saint Bees, in the County of
Cumberland, Esquire, and PETER SWIRES HORSMAN, of the Parish of Saint
John's Beckermet, in the same County, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord;
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Robert Brisco and Peter Swires Horsman, Her special license that we,
the said Robert Brisco and Peter Swires Horsman, our executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as. we, the said Robert Brisco and Peter
Swires Horsinan, our 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 PRE-
PARING FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert Brisco and
Peter Swires Horsman, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Robert Brisco and Peter Swires
Horsman, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained 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)-
Our Invention of "Improved Machinery for Preparing Flax, Hemp, Tow,
and other Fibrous Substances for Spinning," relates to certain improved con-
structions or arrangements of parts of the machine, known as the spreading or
first drawing frame; the object of the Invention being, firstly, to produce a
more regular, even, and uniform sliver than is obtained with the machines now
in use; and, secondly, to prevent the tumbling and crossing of the fibres,
which are the necessary results of spreading by hand labor.
We attain these objects by adapting to the spreading frame a self-feeding
motion, which being attached to and connected with the other working parts
of the machine, will cause the stricks of flax or other material to be placed
upon the spreading table at stated and regular intervals. By thus depositing
the fibre on the gills by mechanical means, an even, uniform, and continuous
sliver is produced; whereas in the ordinary spreading frame the stricks of flax
or other material are laid upon the spreading table by hand labor, and there-
fore not with the same regularity as when mechanical means are employed.
Secondly, instead of the stricks of flax or other material being placed upon
an endless sheet of leather or other material, as in the ordinary machines, we
cause them to be placed upon a series of heckle points attached to the fallers,
which are made to progress in the usual way; by this means the flax or other
fibres are kept perfectly straight, and are not liable to become entangled, and
are conducted in this state to the drawing rollers with more uniformity than by
the ordinary endless band.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a spreading
machine, with our improvements adapted thereto; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the same, taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a
transverse section taken in the line 8, 4, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is another but

page_text: partial section taken in the line 5, 6, of the same Figure. In Fig. 4, in order
to avoid an unnecessary complexity of parts, we have shewn only one feeder,
with the mechanism required for actuating the same.
The main framing of the machine is shewn at a, a, and the drawing rollers
at b, b. The gills d, d, are actuated in the ordinary manner by longitudinal
screws c and c*, which are also employed for actuating some of the other parts.
The feeders by which the flax is fed on to the gills are shewn at e, e; they
consist simply of angular troughs, in which the strick of flax is placed by hand
or otherwise, and they are mounted on shafts ff, supported at each end by
adjustable brackets g, g, attached to the cross pieces a* of the framing of the
machine. At one end of the shafts fif, of the feeders, e is mounted a sector
rack h, h, into which gears a similar toothed sector i, i, at the end of the
lever (see Fig. 4). This lever rests upon and is actuated by a cam k
on the
shaft of one of the screws c which drives the gills, so that at every rotation of
these shafts c, the feeder is brought into action and made to oscillate, and
thereby caused to deposit the strick of flax on the teeth of the gills. It will be
seen on referring to Figures 3 and 4, that the feeders e are placed longitudi-
nally between the pairs of travelling gills, and that the feeder is made to
oscillate first to one side and then to the other, so that it may deposit a strick
of flax alternately on the gills on either side thereof.
The stricks of flax having been placed on the feeder by hand or otherwise,
will, as the feeder oscillates in either direction, be deposited with regularity
upon the gill teeth, being merely allowed to slide from the trough of the feeder
on to the teeth, as shewn at Fig. 4. As the gills travel forward towards the
drawing rollers b, the flax is brought under a presser m, which gradually
presses it into the teeth of the gills. This presser may either consist of a
cylinder composed of wires or bars (as shewn in Fig. 2), which bars as the gills
move forward and the cylinder rotates, enter between the teeth of the gills,
and press down the fibres of the flax between the same; or, a rectangular
presser with an up and down movement may be employed.
The teeth of the gills would be almost sufficient to actuate the cylindrical
presser shewn in Fig. 2, but in order to ensure accuracy and uniformity of
motion, the shaft of the presser is furnished at one end with a toothed wheel n,
which gears into another toothed wheel o. This latter gears into and is driven
by the screw c that gives motion to the gills, so that the gills and the presser
m will move at the same speed.
Instead of the presser being made cylindrical and caused to rotate as the
gills move onward, it may be made to consist of a series, say, six or eight bars,
ranged in a frame like the bars of a gridiron, and this frame being made to

page_text: rise and fall at the proper time, the bars will press down the strick of flax
between the teeth of the gills. This up and down motion of the flat presser
may be effected by means of an excentric on the screw or cam shaft, as will be
understood by any intelligent mechanic.
The cam k on the screw shaft c, that actuates the feeder e, is made of such
à shape as to allow the feeder to remain stationary while the strick of flax is
being deposited thereon by the attendant, or by mechanical means, care being
taken in so doing not to disarrange the fibres.
Having now described our Invention of "Improved Machinery for Pre-
paring Flax, Hemp, Tow, and other Fibrous Substances for Spinning," and
the means for carrying the same into effect, we claim,―
First, the use and application to spreading machines of a self-acting feeder
for depositing the stricks of flax on the travelling gills.
Second, the use and application for the purpose herein set forth of a presser
for pressing down the stricks of flax on to the teeth of the gills.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Brisco and Peter Swires
Horsman, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventeenth
day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-five.
Witness,
ROBERT BRISCO.
PETER SWIRES HORSMAN.
JOHN WOOD,
of the Parish of Saint Bees,
Cumberland.
(L.B.)
(L.S.)