IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY. FOR HACKLING, COMBING, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN, FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William King Westly, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY. FOR
HACKLING, COMBING, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN, FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed. the 6th December 1864, and dated the 14th July 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William King Westly
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1864.
I, WILLIAM KING WESTLY, 'of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HACKLING, COMBING, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN, FLAX, HEMP,
AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to machines for combing and hackling fibrous sub-
stances, and is applicable to such machinery whether working horizontally or
vertically, both as cylinders or sheets, and singly, or in pairs and opposite
each other in the usual way to act upon the fibres on both sides.
The first part of the Invention relates to a method of attaching the hackles
or the bars that carry them to the pullies, sheets, or cylinders that actuate both.
In carrying out this part of my Invention a cylinder or pulley is fixed upon
the-driving shaft with which it turns. To this cylinder or pulley (or to the

page_text: travelling sheets they may be made to drive) the comb bars are fixed at both
their ends by means of plates called comb plates which are attached to or form
a portion of the bars. Strap pieces are also attached to both the plates
and pullies or to the travelling sheets. The straps are each equal in
length to the space allotted to a pair of plates and are fastened by their
centres to the sheet or pulley side by side, but capable of lapping on
its surface half their lengths beyond each other to the right and left,
their loose ends though parallel are disposed in opposite ways. Each plate
is thus connected with the sheet or pulley by the two extremities of two
separate straps alongside of each other, yet each draws at the plate in contrary
directions, and besides the end of one strap piece is fastened to the upper,
while the end of the other strap piece is fastened to the lower portion
of the pin plate, which is therefore always kept in contact with the sheet
or pulley at that point upon its face where both straps meet and pass
each other as they lap and unlap ; but that point is moveable from one edge of
the plate unto the other, as the pin plate is free to swing or roll upon the
pulley, or the pulley upon it, and therefore it becomes as capable of moving
in a straight line as in a curve. The plate or bar when moved only by the
rotation of the pulley moves in a straight line, but when compelled to roll upon
the pulley every part of its interior surface moves in a cycloid. This latter
movement slightly modified by the concomitant rotation of the pulley is com-
municated to the pin points at that moment of their revolution when they are
required to. pierce and split the fibrous substance in the holder. This is
effected by a stud projecting from the pin, plate, and which is made to move
over or slide on a stationary guide plate which is nothing but a simple plate
attached to the main framing, and is provided with an opening through it to
admit the studs of the pin plate, which as they project from the pin plates
and stop at the guide plates will prevent the plates and bars from being
thrown too far, and afterwards will direct them in a straight line course while
passing through the flax. As a modification the studs on the pin plate may
be dispensed with by adapting a plate in front of the fixed studs, or they may
serve instead of the fixed studs by causing them to slide on a similar but
smaller plate than the fixed guide plate. The pin plates and bars possess
such great mobility by this mode of attachment to the sheets and pullies that
their necessary movement may be caused by many different means. The pin
plates are made in single pieces, but, they may consist of two or more con-
nected together like hinges, and when straight are inflexible upon their outer
sides, but on their inner are free to bend and lap around the pulley. When

page_text: sheets instead of pullies are employed, the guide plates are lengthened in
proportion so as to support and guide the comb bars from one bearing pulley
to the other..
The second part of the Invention relates to a method of retaining the
material in the holders by means of a pressure laid upon them only while
they are being hackled, and are in the machine itself, instead of screwing the
parts of the holders together by hand before they are put in. The requisite
pressure to hold the clamps may be obtained by means of springs or weights,
the pressure being transmitted to the holders by the means of friction pullies
properly secured..
The third improvement relates to a method of transferring the material
from one holder to another after one end of it has been dressed,. so as
to dress the other end.. To this end. tongs or forceps are made to expand
and close by turns so as to open and shut the two cheeks of the holder.
In those machines where this contrivance is applied there are two sets
of hackling apparatus and the cage is placed between the two..
The holders consist of two plates of iron hinged together, and pass
along the usual trough or rails and are propelled by any of the usual con-
trivances or any other suitable arrangement. of mechanism, and on issuing.
from the set of heckles where one end of the material has been hackled the
holders enter into the transferring cage, the moving rails of which are level?
with the troughs of both the sets of combs.. The holder hinges pass into a
tube cut open at the bottom to receive them, and while in the cage the
brackets or supporting pieces of the holder overlap and hook upon the moving
rails that bear them, so that when the rails expand or close the tongs or
forceps do the same and open or shut the cheeks of the holders. The cage
consists of two rings or hoops of cast iron bolted together by four bolts-passing
through them and the pillars. The cage rests upon three friction. pullies, two.
of which are placed beneath one hoop and one beneath the other, leaving it
at liberty to turn: There is an annular spur wheel by which a semi-revolution
is effected at the intervals at which a transfer of the fibrous substances is
required. The tube is fastened to a bridge which is itself supported by the
bolts and pillars, and turns together with the cage. The bridge has a slot or
mortice through it to receive and guide the cross beam which is provided with
a projection for the purpose. The cross beam is therefore capable of sliding
to and fro within the mortice, and its movement is communicated to the tongs
or forceps by links at each end: The forceps open when the cross beam is
forced outwards from the centre of the cage, and when it is forced inwards

page_text: they collapse together with the rails on which the holders slide, and are
hooked on. The foreceps are supported on the tube on which they there-
fore work concentrically to the holder hinge within the tube. Their move-
ment is effected by a stud upon the cross beam placed opposite to its pro-
jection sliding in the mortice of the bridge, but upon its other side; and when
the cage is caused to turn half round, the stud will move inside a stationary
curved plate and outside of another segment plate attached by brackets to
the former. The upper half of the first plate inside is made concentric to the
cage and presses in the stud, as far as it extends, and therefore keeps the
forceps and the holder closed. The lower half of this curved plate and
outside of the segment plate are both alike excentric to the cage, and when
the stud in its descent arrives at the segment plate the cross beam is drawn
outwards, and the forceps with its holder opens while the other in ascending
shuts. This transposition of the holders and transference of the fibrous
matter, with the necessary change of its exposed extremities, is simultaneously
effected by a semi-revolution of the cage produced at intervals by any adequate
contrivance causing intermittent motion, and communicated to it by the
annular toothed wheel precisely at the moment when a loaded holder has
arrived inside. The closing holder gripes the hackled portion of the fibrous
substance at a little distance from its centre to ensure its thorough dressing by
the second set of combs, and leaves the undressed part protruding ready to be
hackled, while the opening holder emptied of material takes up the position
quitted by the former at the bottom of the cage, and waits in readiness to be
transposed in turn, and after emptying the holder next arriving to resume
its station on the upper rails, and move on to the second set of combs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William King Westly in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KING WESTLY, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth.
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William King Westly, Her special license that I,

page_text: the said William King Westly, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William King Westly, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING, COMBING
AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN, FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William King Westly,
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 William King Westly, 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):-
My Invention relates to machines for combing and hackling fibrous sub-
stances, and is applicable to such machinery, whether working horizontally
or vertically, both as cylinders or sheets, and singly, or in pairs, and
opposite each other in the usual way to act upon the fibres on both sides.
The first part of the Invention relates to a novel method of attaching the
hackles or the bars that carry them to the pulleys, sheets, or cylinders that
actuate both.
This improvement is shewn in the accompanying Drawings at Figures 1, 2,
and 3; Figure 1 being an end view, Fig. 2 a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a
bird's-eye or plau view of the new arrangement.
A is a cylinder or pulley fixed upon the driving shaft B, with which it turns
in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1. There is one of these pullies A at
each end of the shaft B, and to these cylinders or pulleys (or to the travelling
sheets they may be made to drive) the comb bars C are fixed at both their
ends by means of plates D called comb-plates, which are attached to or form
a portion of the bars. Strap piecés E are also attached to both the plates
and pulleys or to the travelling sheets. The straps are each equal in length
to the space allotted to a pair of plates, and are fastened by their centres to
the sheet or pulley side by side, but capable of lapping on its surface half their

page_text: lengths beyond each other to the right and left, their loose ends (marked 1
and 2) in Figures 2 and 3, though parallel are disposed in opposite ways.
Each plate is thus connected with the sheet or pulley by the two extremities
of two separate straps alongside of each other, yet each draws at the plate in
contrary directions, and besides the end of the strap piece E' is fastened to the
upper, while the end of the strap piece E' is fastened to the lower portion of
the pin plate D, which is therefore always kept in contact with the sheet or
pulley at that point upon its face where both straps meet and pass each other
as they lap and unlap, but that point is moveable from one edge of the plate
to the other, as the pin plate is free to swing or roll upon the pulley or the
pulley upon it, and therefore it becomes as capable of moving in a straight line
as in a curve. The plate or bar when moved only by the rotation of the
pulley moves in a straight line, but when compelled to roll upon the pulley
every part of its interior surface moves in a cycloid. This latter movement
slightly modified by the concomitant rotation of the pulley is communicated to
the pin points at that moment of their revolution when they are required to
pierce and split the fibrous substance in the holder. This is effected by a
stud F.projecting from the pin plate D, and which is made to move over or
slide on the stationary guide plate G, which is merely a simple plate attached
to the main framing, and is provided with an opening through it to admit the
studs of the pin plates D, which as they project from the pin plates stop at
the guide plates G, and will prevent the plates and bars from being thrown
too far, and afterwards will direct them in a straight line course while passing
through the flax. The plates and bars may also be prevented from being
thrown too forward from the guide plates G by forming both or either of the
straps E' or E² as endless or continuous belts, but slack and long enough
between each pair of plates to leave them free to work, thus connecting every
plate and bar to that behind it. This connection may be also made by metal
links or chains as well as straps. In sheet machines the plates or bars may be
connected together for the same purpose and by the same expedients to the
cogs.that carry round the belts. In cylinder machines the same effect may be
produced by fastening the metallic links to studs projecting from the pulleys'
sides, or even to the driving shafts on which they turn. As a modification of
this arrangement the studs H may be dispensed with by adapting a plate in
front of the fixed studs F, or they may serve instead of the fixed studs F by
causing them to slide on a similar but smaller plate than the fixed plate G.
The pin plates and bars possess such great mobility by this mode of attach-
ment to the sheets and pullies that their necessary movement may be caused

page_text: by many different mechanical arrangements. The plates D are represented
in the Figures in the forms of single pieces, but they may consist of two or
more connected together like hinges, and when they are in a straight line they
are inflexible upon their outer sides, but on their inner sides they are free to
bend and lap around the pulley. When sheets instead of pulleys are employed
the guide plates G are lengthened in proportion, so as to support and guide
the comb bars from one bearing pulley to the others.
The second part of the Invention relates to a novel method of retaining the
material in the holders. This is effected by means of a pressure laid upon
them only while they are being hackled and are in the machine itself, instead
of the parts of the holders being screwed together by hand before they are
put in. The requisite pressure to hold the clamps may be obtained by means
of springs or weights, the pressure being transmitted to the holders by friction
pullies properly secured.
The third improvement relates to a method of transferring the material
from one holder to another after one end of it has been dressed, so as to dress
the other end. This improvement is shewn at Figures 4 and 5; Fig. 4 being
a front elevation, and Fig. 5 a side view of the drum or cage, by which the
transfer is performed, and Fig. 6 is a detached front view of the tongs or
forceps, which expand and close by turns, so as to open and shut the two
cheeks of the holder. In those machines where this contrivance is applied
there are two sets of hackling apparatus, and the cage is placed between the
two. The holders X consist of two metal plates hinged together; they pass
along the usual trough or rails, and are propelled by any of the usual con-
trivances or any other suitable arrangement of mechanism, and on issuing
from the set of heckles where one end of the material has been hackled the
holders enter into the transferring cage, the moving rails J of which are level
with the troughs of both the sets of combs. The holder hinges pass into the
tube E cut open at the bottom to receive them, and while in the cage the
brackets or supporting pieces of the holder overlap and hook upon the moving
rails that bear them, so that when the rails expand or close the tongs or
forceps do the same, and open or shut the cheeks of the holders. The cage
consists of two rings or hoops A, A, of cast iron bolted together by four bolts
passing through them, and also the pillars B. The cage rests upon three
friction pullies C, C, C, two of which are placed beneath one hoop, and one
beneath the other, leaving it at liberty to turn. There is an annular spur
wheel D, by which a semi-revolution is effected at the intervals at which a
transfer of the fibrous substance from one holder to another is required. The

page_text: tube E is fastened to the bridge F, which is itself supported by the bolts and
pillars B, and turns together with the cage. The bridge F has a slot or
mortice through it to receive and guide the cross beam G, which is provided
with a projection for the purpose; the cross beam G is therefore capable of
sliding to and fro within the mortice, and its movement is communicated to
the tongs or forceps H by the links I at each end. The forceps open when
the cross beam is forced outwards from the centre of the cage, and when it is
forced inwards they collapse together with the rails J, on which the holders
slide and are hooked on. The forceps are supported on the tube E, on which
they therefore work concentrically to the holder hinge within the tube. Their
movement is effected by a stud upon the cross beam G placed opposite to its
projection, and which stud slides in the mortice of the bridge F, but upon its
other side; and when the cage is caused to turn half round the stud will move
inside a stationary plate K, and outside of a seginent plate L attached by
brackets to the former, as seen in Fig. 4. The upper half of the plate K
inside is made concentric to the cage and presses in the stud as far as it
extends, and therefore keeps the forceps and the holder closed. The lower
half of this curved plate K, and outside of the segment plate L, are both
alike excentric to the cage, and when the stud in its descent arrives at the
segment plate L the cross beam is drawn outwards, and the forceps with its
holder opens while the other in ascending shuts. This transposition of the
holders and transference of the fibrous matter with the necessary change of its
exposed extremities is simultaneously effected by a semi-revolution of the cage
produced at intervals by any adequate contrivance causing intermittent motion,
the motion being communicated to it by the annular toothed wheel D
precisely at the moment when a loaded holder has arrived inside. The closing
holder gripes the hackled portion of the fibrous substance at a little distance
from its centre to ensure its thorough dressing by the second set of combs,
and leaves the undressed part protruding ready to be hackled, while the
opening holder when emptied of material takes up the position quitted by the
former at the bottom of the cage, and waits in readiness to be transposed in
turn, and after emptying the holder next arriving to resume its station on the
upper rails and move on to the second set of combs.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Hackling, Combing, and Preparing to be Spun, Flax, Hemp, and other
Fibrous Substances," and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid.-

page_text: First, the mode herein set forth of attaching the hackles or the bars that
carry them to the pulleys, sheets, or cylinders that actuate both.
Second, the mode herein set forth of retaining the material to be hackled
in the holders.
Third, I claim the mode above described of transferring the material from
one holder to another after one end of it has been dressed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William King Westly, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
JANE SOWRAY,
Of Leeds.
W. K. WESTLY.
(L.B.)