An Improved Combined Flax Breaking and Double Acting Scutching Machine.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1887
Specification Accepted, 25th Oct., 1887
An Improved Combined Flax Breaking and Double Acting Scutching
Machine.
I, FRANZ KASPAREK, of Prague Bohemia in the Empire of Austria Manager of the
Carolinenthaler machine works of F. C. Bernard do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of the invention hereinafter described is a combined flax braking and
double acting scutching machine in which the well known mode of preparation of flax
by hand is imitated and which is designed to break the rotted stalks in order to strip
the fibrous portion, that is to say, to free them from the woody matter by scutching
(shaking) and to smooth the pure flax.
"
The Machine hereinafter described surpasses all other machines hitherto constructed
for the same purpose both with regard to the quality and the quantity of the product. It
is distinguishable by its mode of operation as well as by its construction from the well
known Raulich-Nesétril" flax braking machine which does not work so satisfactorily
as my improved machine. In the said "Raulich" machine two discs are set in
operation, one disc rotating upon a horizontal shaft, beats the flax passed through an
opening and presses it upon a post and in consequence of the rotation and of the
continual motion of the beaters the flax is scutched or stripped being simultaneously
drawn in a circular direction. This is effected by the different circumferential velocities
of the somewhat long beaters. The other disc has a shaft placed in a vertical position
and has for its object to raise the flax stalks which are hanging down and to hold them
in a horizontal position so that the said flax stalks may be shaken as they fall from the
props by reason of the downward motion of the first disc. This second disc has the
defect that the flux stalks are drawn in a circular direction. The whole machine has in
consequence of the above this defect, that owing to this double reciprocally reversed
treatment of the flax stalks the latter are very much damaged that is to say that a large
portion of the flax is torn and falls away in the shape of tow. This defect is entirely
obviated by the double acting scutching machine constructed according to my
invention. My machine is a combination of a flax breaking and of a double acting
scutching machine.

page_text: And in order that my invention may be easily understood and readily carried into
practice I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying sheet
of drawings.
The flax brakers consist of three fluted pairs of rollers a a², Bẞ¹YY' which are
placed in pairs behind one another the flutes being gradually finer. They have for
their object to break the wooden part of the rotted flax stalks and to prepare them for
further treatment in the scutching machine. This part of the machine is actuated by
the shaft W of the scutching machine shewn in Figure 1. By means of a pair of
bovel wheels mn motion is transmitted to the shaft n. The shaft w is carried alongside
of the the flax brakers by bearings kk¹ (Figure 3) which are cast in one piece with
the supports LL' of the flax brakers, or may be screwed thereon. Upon this shaft are
mounted three bevel wheels 2, 4, 6. gearing with the wheels 1, 3, 5, mounted upon the
shaft of the lower breaking rollers and hence imparting thereto a speed equal to their
own. The upper roller a By are in consequence of their flutes or ribs and in con-
sequence of the gearing of each tooth carried round or revolved in pairs. By reason
of a uniform circumferential speed and also on acconnt of the upper rollers being
supported in a flexible manner between spiral springs arranged in slots formed in the
frame of the flax breakers, injury to the fibres of the plant is entirely avoided. Set
screws 22 (Figures 3 & 4) serve to limit to a certain extent the play of the upper
rollers.
Devices or appliances for the to and fro motion of the rollers may be arranged
upon the flax brakers.
"
The double acting scutching machine consists of two drums A and B gearing with
one another and mounted upon the shafts W W₁ supported by the bearings SS ss.
The large drum A is formed of two roses,' upon the crowns of which are
arranged twelve flexible wooden scutching bars a a¹ which are mounted so as to have
a certain amount of play. The scutching bars a and a¹ are placed opposite one
another. The small drum B gearing with the large drum A consists of a
" rose "R³ carrying upon its two crowns scutching bars to the amount of twelve
bars per crown.
The drum B has the same angular speed as the drum A and as the diameter of the
former is but half that of the latter so that the scutching bars a have a double
circumferential speed as compared with the scutching bars b. When the drums rotate
the drum B pushes the other a little forward so that when a scutching bar a of the
drum A passes by the opening xxx the bar b of the drum B has already issued
sideways from the openings yyyy formed in the post or upright F. These openings
or notches are formed in order to allow the drum B to rotate through the post or
upright. The scutching machine has a double action that is to say it is arranged for
two operatives in consequence whereof two pairs of scutching bars a & a and b & b¹
and two openings a al are provided.
The motor mechanism for the double acting scutching machine consists of the motor
pulley S mounted upon the main shaft W (or of a crank handle should the machine
be driven by hand) of the toothed wheels Z Z' of the shaft W' and of the chain
wheels K K This motor mechanism operates in the following manner: motion is
transmitted from the shaft W, by means of the toothed wheel Z Z to the chain wheel K
and thence with the intermediary of the driving chain K2 and at a uniform speed to the
chain wheel K¹ which is mounted upon the shaft W' of the drum B.
The above described combination machine operates in the following manner :-
Upon the first pair a a' of the fluted rollers of the flax brakers a a', ßß³, yy, are
laid by hand the rotted flax stalks laying on the table T' whereupon the stalks are
gripped by the first mentioned rollers and subsequently by the 2nd. and 3rd. pair of
rollers and owing to these rollers gearing with one another by means of their flutes
and channels, the stalks are broken gradually as the size of the flutes gradually
diminishes as before stated. The broken flax stalks leaving the rollers, fall upon the
table T from which they are seized by hand and subjected to further treatment by the
double acting scutching machine.
A hand full of this stuff is passed through the openings xxxx or x²x²x²x²

page_text: (Figure 1) of the post or upright F whilst still being held by the hand about the
middle of their length that it to say that more than half the length of the flax stalks
are introduced into the openings xxxx and c²x²x²x². Owing to the arrangement
described the drum B is urged by the drum A onward, the stalks are laid on the
scutching bars 6 of the drum B rotating below the table and are pressed by a bar of
the same drum against the bearing board or surface cc which bearing board cc is
concentric to the drum B, a small space for play being formed between the two.
C
The scutching bar b continuing to move, the woody matter of the hand full of stuff
is stripped on one side and the stalks are firmly smoothed down. Thus is avoided
the injurious and sideways pull of the flax stalks which takes place in "Raulichs"
machine as the said flax stalks resting upon the bearing board cc lay parallely together
and are uniformly acted upon by the scutching bars b. Meanwhile during the rotation
one pair of the scutching bars a a¹ of the drum A (which scutching bars a a¹ have
twice the speed of the seutching bars 661) pass over the openings & ex and x¹¹¹¹
in consequence of which the flax stalks are drawn away from the bearing board cc and
pressed against the curved bearing boards eeee, el e¹ ele¹ being also further stripped
and smoothed thereon. This stripping and smoothing action takes place also on the
other side of the flax stalks as the latter rests on the side already smoothed by the
scutching pieces or bars b against the bearing boards cc. The scutching machine still
continuing to rotate the flax stalks hanging from the bearing boards cc now rest by
reason of the scutching bars bb coming out of the openings yyyy formed in the post
or upright F upon these scutching bars bb and are pressed against the board cccc.
Up to this point the hand full of material is still firmly held in the front of the
openings xxx and ¹¹¹. The course which the flax stalks describe during this
scutching operation is accurately determined and forms in this treatment a noose or
loop through which the flax is raised up and is thoroughly cleaned owing to the
strong shaking to which it is subjected. The flax stalks thereby beat the air whilst
they are driven at a fair speed by the rapidly moving scutching bars a from the narrow
space formed between the scutching bars b and the bearings boards c. The smoothing
of the flax in the above described machine has the great advantage that the said flax
is only worked in the direction of its fibres. After one end of the flax stalks have
been treated in the manner above described the same are drawn out of the
openings xxxxx¹¹¹¹ and reversed and the hitherto upprepared half of the stalks
are now operated upon. The heap of stalks is for that purpose seized above the middle as
the various flax stalks have a different length and each handful is thickest in the middle.
They are gripped as far above the middle as will allow them all to be operated upon.
Owing to the wooden scutching bars ab operating upon the wooden bearing
boards e e e ccc (which are made of well planed wood) the flax receives a certain
amount of gloss which is not obtained in the preparation of flax by other machines
and which increases to a great extent the price and marketable value of the flax
obtained.
The length of the scutching bars is so designed that the largest flax stalks can lay
exactly upon them. In consequence of the shaking caused by the to and fro motion
of the flax stalks the straw adhering thereto is easily shaken off.
The machine is double acting that is to say that it is arranged to be worked by two
operatives and it is suitable for many plants whose stalks can be converted into tissue
for the purposes of textile industry such as hemp china grass nettles and the like.
In order to prevent the flax fibres from being torn when the latter are acted upon
by the scutching bars a a¹ bb' and pressed against the bearing boards cccc and ee eel
the said scutching bars a a¹ and bb'¹ are flexibly arranged that is to say are pushed
outwardly by means of spiral springs.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In double acting machines for the purpose of stripping scutching and smoothing
flax the combination of two parallelly arranged drums A and B rotating together in
gear with one another whose wooden blade like scutching bars a a¹ 66 respectively

page_text: press the material introduced through the openings xxxx and ³ ³ ³ ³ against the
smooth baring boards cccc operating alternately upon them on both sides so that no
injury results to the fibres and that their cleaning may be thoroughly effected
substantially in the manner hereinbefore described and represented in the drawings
hereto annexed.
2. In machines for scutching smoothing and shaking flax such as hereinbefore
described and claimed in the 1st. claim the arrangement of scutching bars a a' bb¹
whose action is rendered elastic by means of springs so that in their horizontal
rotating motion and when smoothing the flax stalks laying upon the bearing
boards cccc and e e e e¹ they may be capable of yielding so as to prevent the flax
stalks from being injured and to avoid bad working substantially as set forth.
3. The flax scutching machine described and claimed under claims 1 and 2 in
combination with a flax braking machine consisting of the rollers a a², BB', YY¹
driven from the main shaft W and having flutes of gradually diminishing sizes and of
which the upper rollers a ẞy rotate together with the lower rollers for breaking
scutching smoothing and shaking of flax or similar vegetable substances.
Datu w day
корсеме
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Patentee.