IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE HECKLING OF FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander David Robertson; of Montrose, North Britain,
Mill Manager, for the Invention of." IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED
IN THE HECKLING OF FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 18th January 1878, and dated the 13th August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander David Robertson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th August 1877;
ALEXANDER DAVID ROBERTSON, of Montrose, North Britain, Mill Manager:
IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE HECKLING OF FLAX AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
$4
The object of this Invention is to provide mechanical means for heckling both
ends of stricks of flax and hemp at one continuous or uninterrupted operation, and
thereby to avoid the necessity for opening the clamps or holders and turning the
stricks therein end for end by hand:
A
In carrying out this object; I propose to employ two heckling machines of any
approved construction, arranging them in line with each other and at such distance
apart as will allow of the setting up between the two machines an apparatus for
transferring the flax holders from one machine to the other, whereby the stricks as
they leave the first machine are turned over with their holders, are then shifted
lengthwise in their holders, the same being slackened for the purpose, and then
firmly secured in their new position preparatory to their being delivered to the
action of the second heckling machine.
A guide or trough placed at the delivery end of the first machine receives the
holders as they pass from under the action of the heckles, and by means of a
reciprocating propeller connected to a vertical rock lever which receives motion
from a rotary cam, the holders are pressed forward into a swivelling box pivotted to
or mounted in the trough.
By means of a rack and pinion, this box each time it receives a flax holder is
caused to make a half turn, and thereby to invert the position of the holder, which
then, with the undressed end of the strick downwards, passes to a gripping apparatus.

page_text: The box then returns to its normal position to receive another holder, the motion of
the rack being reversed by means of a rotary cam suitably shaped to time the
movements of the box.
The gripping apparatus consists of a pair of jaws which are capable, not only of
advancing towards each other, to grip the flax, but also of rising and falling to lay
hold of the flax and draw it down in the holder. To permit of this, the clamping
nuts of the holder have to be slackened, and to this end the holder is brought
opposite a pair of keys, which take hold of the nuts and turn them on their
clamping screws; the keys receive rotary motion from pinions, which are mounted
on their stems in such manner as to allow of the keys receiving an end-way motion.
This motion is imparted to them so as to cause, them to advance and take hold of
the clamping nuts by means of an inclined stationary guide, into which stud pins
from the key stems work. These keys are mounted in the framing which carries
the trough, and as they rise' and fall with it, the deprèssion of the trough will
advance the keys into contact with the holder and its rise will cause them to
recede.
The pinions of the key stems are driven by suitable friction gearing from the
main shaft, which is fitted with a cam for lifting the frame that carries the nipping
jaws, and also with a cam for rocking the levers that advance and draw back the
gripping jaws.
When the inverted flax holder is brought opposite the keys, its nuts are then
slackened, and so soon as this is done the grippers rise to near the bite of the holder,
seize the strick, and draw it down through the holder a distance sufficient to expose
that part of the strick which was inclosed in the holder. The action of the keys
is then reversed in order to tighten up the holder. The holder is then advanced
to the next machine and the operation of heckling is continued. By this means
the necessity for an attendant to receive the holders as they leave the first machine;
open them, and reverse the position of the stricks therein, and then to submit the
stricks again to the operation of heckling is avoided, and material economy is
thereby effected.

page_text: "
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander David Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th February 1878.
ALEXANDER DAVID ROBERTSON, of Montrose, North Britain, Mill Manager.
IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE HECKLING OF FLAX AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
The object of this Invention is to provide mechanical means for heckling both
ends of stricks of flax and hemp at one continuous or uninterrupted operation, and
thereby to avoid the necessity for opening the clamps or holders and turning the
stricks therein end for end by hand.
In carrying out this object, I propose to employ two heckling machines of any
approved construction, arranging them in line with each other and at such distance
apart as will allow of the setting up between the two machines of an apparatus for
transferring the flax holders from one machine to the other, whereby the stricks as
they leave the first machine are turned over with their holders, are then shifted
lengthwise in their holders, the same being slackened for the purpose, and, when
shifted, firmly secured in their new position preparatory to their being delivered to
the action of the second heckling machine.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. is a side elevation of the transferring
apparatus; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a cross section at the line
1, 2, of Figures 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is a cross section at the line 3, 4, of the same
Figure.
This apparatus is placed between a pair of heckling machines and connected to
the troughs thereof, the near ends of which are represented at A, A'. The apparatus
being thus placed, receives the bolders containing the partially dressed flax at the
delivery end of the first machine of the pair, with the dressed or heckled part
hanging downwards from the holder, and when the holders are turned over and the
flax shifted therein as above explained, they are pushed forward into the feeding
end of the second machine of the pair to have that portion of the material dressed
which had not been operated upon by the first machine.
B, B, are the end standards of the pair of heckling machines, connected together
by rails B¹,.B'; C, C, are two rails bolted to and connecting the troughs A, A',
together, and thus forming a continuous channel for the flax holders. By the con-
nection of the rails C with the troughs, a rising and falling motion will be imparted
to the holders as they pass through the transferring machine for the purpose to be
presently explained.
Attached to the rails C, C, is a strap C¹, which forms the bearings for a transverse
shaft D, carrying at one end a bevil pinion d which is keyed thereto, and at its
opposite end a spur wheel d' which is loose thereon and is driven by a friction
disc de fitted to the shaft D.
Between the rails C is mounted a turn-over box E which is open at one end to
receive the flax holders in succession, and constitutes a stopped continuation of the
channel formed by the rails C; this box is mounted upon piviots e, e, which have
their bearings in the rails C. Keyed to one of these pivots is a pinion e!, which
gears with the vertical rack e², attached by a pivot pin to the top of a connecting
rode, and sliding over the face of a fixed bracket slotted to receive the head of the
pivot pin. The lower end of this connecting rod is jointed to a rock lever e,
having a bowle, which bears upon a cam e5 on the driving shaft F; the rotation,
therefore, of this cam e³ causes the rise and fall of the rack e², which by gearing
into the pinion e¹ throws over the box E alternately from left to right and
vice versa.
}
To ensure the movement of the box being arrested at the proper moment, that
is, when it is in line with the channel and troughs, suitable stops are provided.
Thus when the open end of the box is presented to the trough A it will be ready
to receive a flax holder as at G, Fig. 4, which holder is then, through the rotation of

page_text: the cam e (which sets the rack and pinion e² and e¹ in action, and thereby turns
over the box E) inverted and ready to receive a further traverse motion. The
holder is now pushed forward out of the box by a reciprocating finger or other
well-known or approved contrivance for traversing the holders until its clamping
nuts come respectively into line with box keys g formed on the ends of a pair
of spindles which have their bearings in one of the rails C, and are free to slide
end wise therein.
Mounted on these spindles and secured thereto by a feather are pinions g', which
gear into the spur wheel d¹ for the purpose of imparting rotary motion to the
keys g. These spindles are further supported in a bracket framing c, bolted to one
of the rails C. The outer ends of these spindles are secured to a cross piece g² in
such manner as to allow of their moving freely therein. On the ends of the cross
piece are mounted runners g³, which enter inclined forked guides g made fast to
the main framing of the machine. These guides are adjustable vertically, and they
are intended so to act upon the guide rollers when the rails C and the
turn-over box E descend with the flax holder to the position shewn in Fig. 3, as
to force inwards the spindles and cause their key heads to take on to the clamping
nuts of the holder.
.
To provide for the adjustment axially of the keys to the clamping nut the
pressure of the runners is transmitted to the spindles through coiled springs g³,
which springs surround the spindles and lie between the cross piece g² and a
collar on the spindles. When the keys g are thus made to take on to the nuts,
rotary motion is imparted thereto through their pinions g¹ actuated by the gearing
on the transverse shaft D.
I have said that the keys g take on to the nuts when the holder is at its lowest
position to bring it to which requires the descent of the rail C and the mechanism
in connection therewith. By this descent of the rails the bevil pinion d is put into
gear with the bevil pinion h, keyed to the top of an inclined shaft H, which has its
bearings on the main framing. Keyed to the lower end of this shaft is a bevil
pinion h', which gears alternately into one of two segments of bevil wheels h², h³,
keyed on the driving shaft F. These segments are so set on the shaft F that when
one comes into gear with the bevil wheel h', motion is commuicated to the keys g
in the proper direction for slackening the nuts, and when the other gears with the
wheel h¹ the motion is reversed and the nuts are tightened.
The number of teeth on the tightening segment will be greater than on the
slackening segment, and to prevent overtightening, the driving power is trans-
mitted to the pinion g¹ through the intervention of the friction plate d², which
will allow the spur wheel d to slip when the clamping nuts are sufficiently.
tightened.
When the holder is slackened by the turning back of the clamping nuts, the next
operation is to draw down the strick of flax, so that that part which was confined in
the holder may be exposed and brought under the action of the second heckling
machine. This drawing down of the strick is effected by a pair of nipping jaws
or grippers mounted in a vertically sliding frame I, which moves in guides provided
for it in the main framing; i are the nipping jaws made preferably of ribbed wood
and carried by horizontal slides i, that work in V's formed in the framing I.
Projecting from these slides are runners which work in slots formed in a pair of
levers I, which are pivotted to the main framing. These levers carry at their.
lower ends swivel pieces 22, which run in cross-cut grooves of a cam I², shown in
dots at Fig. 3, the rotation of which cam causes, the levers to oscillate on their
pivots, and thereby set their slotted upper ends either at an incline outwards, or
parallel to each other, and thus to control the movements horizontally of the
grippers as the frame I which carries them rises and falls..
.
When the flax holder is slackened, as above explained, the grippers will take the
position shewn in dotted lines at Fig. 3, the grippers being apart as they move
upwards to permit of the strick hanging down between them. When they have
reached this position the cam 12 will come into action, force the tails of the levers

page_text: outwards, and set their slotted ends in such a position that the descent of the frame.
I will, through the action of the levers on the slides, cause the jaws to grip the flax
and draw it down to the position of Fig. 3.
Immediately after the descent of the frame I the cam I will cause the levers to
draw back the slides and release the flax from the grippers, and the reverse axial
motion will be given to the spindles carrying the box keys g, and the nuts
of the flax holder will be tightened up and the strick secured in its new
position.
The rise and fall of the frame I is effected by a cam Is on the driving shaft F,
which operates upon a bowle carried by a weighted lever I', which is coupled by a
connecting rod 15 to the frame I. The timing of the rise and fall of this frame I
must be adjusted, as will be well understood, relatively to the operation of the
box-key spindles.
When the flax holder is tightened up the rail C will rise, together with the
troughs of the heckling machines, to their hightest position. The finger k (see Fig. 1).
for pushing the holder forward out of the turn-over box E then comes into action,
and the holder is then traversed forward to and through the second machine as
heretofore. This movement of the pushing finger k is produced by means of a grooved
cam K on the driving shaft F, which acts upon a bowle carried by a rocking arm
K', to the upper end of which the finger k is connected.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Apparatus
to be Employed in the Heckling of Flax and other Fibrous Substances," and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the means above-described
for automatically transferring stricks of flax and other fibrous substances, sub-
jected to the operation of heckling, from one heckling machine to another, and
shifting the same in their holders during such transference, in the manner and for
the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander David Robertson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twelfth day February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight,
ALEXANDER D. ROBERTSON. (L.S.)