CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND DRESSING HEMP AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
SHANKS, junior, Flax Spinner, in Arbroath, in the County of Forfar, in North
Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of January, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Shanks, junior, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Alexander Shanks, junior, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Shanks, junior; my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and I
His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND DRESSING HEMP AND OTHER
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Alexander Shanks, junior, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the sai
Alexander Shanks, junior, do hereby declare that the nature of my sai
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say):-
or
My improvements in machinery for preparing and dressing hemp and other
fibrous substances consist, first, in an improved arrangement and construc
tion of machinery or apparatus for separating releasing the fibrous parts of
hemp, flax, and other textile plants from the boom, bark, and other woody
matters, in order that the textile fibres of such plants may be softened and
prepared for the subsequent process of heckling. Secondly, in the adaptation
of a set of rubbing surfaces to a bobbin and fly flame or other spinning
machinery, in order that the fibres of hemp, flax, or other materials may
undergo a second process of rubbing or preparing, by which the fibres may be
softened, seperated, or refined previous to their being conducted to the spindle
and flyer.
Sheet 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings contain representations of
the mechanism which constitutes the first of my improvements. Figure 1
is an elevation of one side of the machine; Figure 2 is a horizontal view,
exhibiting the top of the machine; Figure 3 is a front elevation; and
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section, one of the side frames being removed to
shew the working parts. a, a, a, is the framework or standards of the
machine; is the main shaft or axle, turning in proper bearings on the lower
part of the framework, and receiving its rotary motion by a band-passed from
a steam engine or other first mover to the fast-and loose pulley mounted on its
end; c, c, are two auxilliary shafts or axles, placed parallel to the main shaft,
also turning, in bearing in the framework; these receive rotary motion from
the toothed wheel d, mounted on the main axle, which gears with two other
similar wheels e, e, mounted on the ends of the auxilliary shafts c, c, whereby
they all have a continuous and equal rotary motion. Upon each of these three
shafts there are formed two cranks g, g, of small radii, connected in the usual
way to vertical rods h, h, h, which are attached to the plates or rubbing pieces
i, i, i, i, above. These plates are placed in pairs across the machine; one plate
of each pair bears against the stops or guides k, k, fixed to the side frame,
which are furnished with small antifriction rollers (see Figure 4); the other
plates are pressed towards and kept in contact with their fellow plates by springs
1,1,1, affixed to the side frame, which springs act against antifriction rollers at the
back of the other plates Through the central part of each plate a long slot or

page_text: opening m is formed (see Figure 3, and the detached face view of one of the
plates at Figure 5); this slot is for the purpose of allowing the hemp, flax, or other
fibrous materials to be introduced between the rubbing surfaces, and also to
allow it to pass through the machine. Four or more pairs of fluted or grooved
rollers n, m, n, are mounted in the end frames turning in bearings. The upper
rollers of each pair bear upon the lower ones, and are kept down in contact
with them by means of the horns o, o, which rest upon the ends of the axles of
the rollers, and are pressed by levers p, p, having their fulcrums in slings or
bridle pieces attached to the side frame. These levers are furnished with
adjustable screws to regulate the pressure, and from the ends of these levers
the rods 2, 9, are suspended, being connected at the lower ends to the weighted
levers 7, 7, by these means any required pressure can be given to the upper
fluted rollers. The lower fluted rollers receive their motion in the following
manner-Upon the end of the main shaft bis mounted the pinion s,
taking into the spur wheel t, which turns upon a pin or short axle pro-
jecting from the side frame. Upon the boss of this wheel t is formed a
pinion u, which takes into gear with another wheel v, also mounted upon
a projecting pin or axle, and carrying another pinion w, gearing with the
toothed wheels a, a, mounted on the end of the axles of the two middle lower
fluted rollers (see Figure 1); by these means both the wheels a, a, and
the two inner rollers receive rotary motion in the same direction. The
wheels a, a, also take into gear with the other intermediate spur wheels y, y,
mounted upon studs or axles, which spur wheels take into gear with two
other wheels z, z, mounted upon the ends of the axles of the two outer rollers;
by these means all the rollers have a continuous rotary motion in the same
direction, and cause them to draw or conduct through the machine the
stalks of flax or other fibrous or textile substances placed between them, the
indentations on the periphery of the rollers crushing or breaking and loosening
the boom and bark. The inner surfaces of the rubbing plates are grooved or
roughed, as shewn in Figure 5, for the purpose of producing a greater effect
upon the hemp, flax, or other fibrous materials. It will be seen, by the con-
nection of the plates with the crank shafts or axles b and c, that as they
revolve, the cranks give to the plates i, i, reciprocating up and down move-
ments, and as the stalks of the plants in passing through the machine,
conducted by the fluted rollers n, n, n, n, are gathered in between the plates,
their reciprocating action produces that degree of rubbing which separates
the boom and bark, and at the same time softens and loosens the fibres.
The person attending the machine places upon the feeding table or enlless
cloth a proper quantity of the hemp, flax, or other fibrous material to be

page_text: operated upon, which is conducted between the first pair of fluted rollers n, n,
where it becomes partially crushed, and the boom and bark broken and
loosened. From the first pair of rollers the material is conducted through the
openings or slots m, m, and is gathered between the plates or rubbing
surfaces i, i, from whence it passes between the next pair of rollers, and from
thence to the second pair of rubbing plates, and so on, to the last or delivering
rollers at the reverse end of the machine, when the prepared hemp, flax, or
other textile materials may be taken to a heckling machine, where it may be
heckled and combed in the usual manner for the after processes of roving and
spinning.
The second part of my improvements, in which the fibres of the hemp,
flax, or other textile plants, formed into rovings, undergo a further process of
rubbing or refining previously to their being spun into yarns, is shewn in
Sheet 3 of the accompanying Drawings; in which Figure 6 represents a front
elevation of a spinning machine of the usual construction, with the rubbing
surfaces attached to it; Figure 7 is an end elevation of the same; and Figure
8, a partial plan view, shewing the arrangements for putting the rubbing
surfaces into motion.
The construction of the spinning frame being well understood, and forming
no part of my Invention, it will not be necessary for me to describe it,
but only to shew the mode of applying the rubbing surfaces thereto, and
actuating the same. The rovings of hemp, flax, or other fibrous materials
are wound upon bobbins or spools a, a, and placed in the spinning frame as
usual, from whence the rovings are conducted to an additional set of retaining
rollers b, b, placed above the ordinary retaining rollers c, c, and are actuated
by a pinion e, on the end of one of the axles of the lower rollers c. Between
'these two sets of retaining rollers the rubbing plates, bars, or surfaces f and g
are placed, extending across the machine, their ends sliding in bearings or
guides h, h, in the end frames. The ends of each of the rubbing plates or
bars are joined to the two connecting rods i, k, which are attached in the
usual manner to the cranks l, m, formed on the end of the horizontal shaft h,
turning in bearings formed on brackets projecting from the end framework of
the machine. The shaft n is actuated by a band o, passed from the pulley p
on the end of the axis of the ordinary driving drum q, the band o passing
over a pulley, mounted on the lateral shaft n, and giving it the required
motion. The rubbing bars or plates may be roughed or grooved at those
parts where the rovings pass between them, if it should be thought desirable,
or they may be furnished with leather, or any other substance to suit the
different textures of various materials. The rubbing surfaces are kept in
-

page_text: contact by the pressure of the springs s, placed on a cross bart of the frame,
and adjustable by a set screw u.
Having now described the nature of my improvements in machinery for
preparing hemp and other fibrous substances, I wish it to be understood that
I do not mean or intend to claim as my Invention all the parts which I have
found it necessary to describe; for instance, I do not claim the application of
rubbing surfaces, either roughed or plain, for the purpose of preparing hemp,
flax, and other textile plants, as they have been applied to this purpose for
many years; neither do I claim the application of the fluted rollers for
breaking or crushing the boom and bark in preparing rough hemp and flax;
but I claim as my improvements, the arrangement and construction of the
machine above described under the first head of this my Specification, such
machine having several pairs of fluted rollers connected with several pairs of
rubbing surfaces, both of such rubbing surfaces being moved reciprocally to
and fro in opposite directions, whereby the fibres of the hemp, flax, or other
materials are not so liable to be broken as when one plate or rubbing surface
is stationary and the other moving; and, secondly, I claim as my improvement
the application of the extra set of retaining rollers and the rubbing surfaces
to ordinary spinning frames or machines, for the purpose above stated, namely,
that of submitting the fibrous materials to a second rubbing after it has been
formed into roving, and before it descends to the bobbin and flyer to be
twisted or spun into a yarn or thread, such second rubbing softening and
refining the textile fibres, and allowing them to be spun into a finer yarn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Shanks, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty five

page_text: Robert Lyon, of Arbroath, in the County of Forfar, Writer, maketh oath
and saith, that he was present, and did see Alexander Shanks, junior, (party.
hereto,) take and acknowledge this Specification, and sign, seal, and deliver
the same, and that the name "W" Andson" is the signature of the said
William Andson, and that he is Chief Magistrate of Arbroath, and one of
the Justices of the Peace for the County of Forfar.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-five.