IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR TREATING FLAX OR HEMP
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Théophile Detuncq, of Quesnoy le
Montant, in the Department of the Somme, in the Empire of France,
Farmer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR
TREATING FLAX OR HEMP."
Sealed the 12th December 1862, and dated the 20th June 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Baptiste Théophile
Detuncq at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th June 1862.
I, JEAN BAPTISTE THEOPHILE DETUNCQ, of Quesnoy le Montant, in the
Department of the Somme, in the Empire of France, Farmer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS OR
MACHINERY FOR TREATING FLAX OR HEMP," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a machine serving to heat, break, or scutch, and
strip or peel flax or hemp, also in improvements in a scutching wheel, and its
application to a beating machine. The oven or warmer which concentrates
both heat and smoke is composed of a chamber, say, about two yards square
at the sides, and one yard in height, inside measurement,, beneath this
chamber is a fire-place of equal dimensions at the sides, and about thirty-two.

page_text: inches in height so as to preserve as much as possible the heat. To this heater
or oven is adapted a sliding door, (which descends over the opening of the
fire-place) for the introduction and withdrawal of the flax or hemp, and which
so chokes the fire that incandescence or asphyxia are no longer to be feared.
On the fire-place is an iron or wooden grating of the same dimension as the
heater on which the flax is placed, and if dry the flax is covered with a cloth
in order that it may be smoked at a concentrated heat, which will render
it smoother and glossier, wet or damp flax is heated in the same manner
excepting that no cloth is used so that the heat and smoke may discharge the
humidity. The breaker or scutcher consists of two cylindrical rollers working
the one in the other, if the flax is sufficiently beaten, if not a third roller
is added. The two upper rollers are supported by a moveable bracket fixed
on each side by spiral springs so that when an obstacle is met with the two
upper rollers lift. The flax being stripped or harled the scutcher may act as
pressing rollers, and the material be thus immediately restored to a proper
I have adapted a scutching wheel on each side of the axle of the
beater adding four battes or beaters to the eight usually used, by which
addition, and the arrangement of the arched or bent ends the blows are
quicker, the shocks less, and the flax, consequently less broken. By means
of a weight and fly wheel I work a scutching wheel.fitted to the drum....
My improvements in the counter beater consist in. developing it so that
the grain being lifted to a certain height falls perpendicularly, and passes
quicker through the moveable grating of the beater. The counter beater is
carried on spiral springs, one to the right of the perpendicular of the axle
of the beater, and one on the left on the tangent of the circumference of the
said beater.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letter's Patent, filed
by the said Jean Baptiste Theophile Detuncq in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BAPTISTE THEOPHILE DETUNCQ, of Quesnoy. le Montant, in the. Department,
of the Somme, in the Empire of France, Farmer, send greeting:
N
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our. Lord One.
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,

page_text: did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jean Baptiste Theophile Detuncq, Her special licence that I, the said Jean
Baptiste Theophile Detuncq, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Jean Baptiste Theophile Detuncq, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and 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 APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR TREATING FLAX OR
HEMP," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jean Baptiste
Theophile Detuncq, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Jean Baptiste Theophile Detuncq, 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 Sheet of Drawing hereunto
annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the figures and
numerals placed thereon:-
I will first describe the machinery or apparatus by which I heat the flax, or
hemp. The dimensions of my improved heater or oven must be regulated by
the quantity of material to be treated. It should be made of incombustible
materials, either in brick, having a chimney with trap, or of sheet iron, having
a pipe with key, so as to retain or free the smoke, or put out the fire, if
necessary. The heater or oven should be arched, and the fire-place be
beneath, of equal dimension, excepting that it will not have the same height;
the fire-place is provided with a door. The door (2, Figure 1,) of the heater
is hinged or slides in a groove, as desired, and serves, firstly, to put in the flax,
secondly, to take it out, thirdly, to choke the fire, so that neither conflagration
or asphyxia need any longer be dreaded. On the fire-place is an iron grating
of the same dimension as the heater or oven, and on which the flax is placed
upright on its feet; in the case of dry flax the trap or key is closed, so that it
may be smoked, at a concentrated heat, which makes the flax more glossy or
smooth, but for damp flax the chimney or the pipe should be left free, in order
that the humidity may be thrown off. When my improved heater is used
retting may be dispensed with, and it will heat in a given time ten times more

page_text: flax than by the processes now in use. Where one stripper or scutcher only is
used, a barrel with the heads removed (Figure 2) placed on the fire-place
hollowed in the ground will suffice. The flax is introduced and withdrawn by
the upper opening of the barrel. -
I will now describe my breaking and pressing machinery. Those who
possess a beating machine may not only beat their flax but also crush and
peel, scutch or strip it by adopting my improvements. My breaker or
crusher consists of two cylindrical rollers working and toothing on each other.
The flax is placed between these two rollers, if it is sufficiently retted, but if
not a third roller must be added, as shewn in the Drawing. The two upper
rollers are supported by a moveable bracket fixed on each side by two spiral
springs, so that when an obstacle presents itself the two upper rollers-lift.
Two supplementary rollers may be added and withdrawn at will. With five
rollers one person will suffice, and then the flax is put in and withdrawn on
the same side. The teeth of the crushing cylinders may be more or less
numerous, and should be of the shape shewn in the Drawing. The flax being
'peeled, scutched, or stripped, the crusher may act as presser, so that the flax
(or hemp) may be at once passed to the ropemaker in a suitable state.
I will next describe my improvements in the stripper or scutcher, and its
adaptation to the beating machine. I have fitted a stripping or scutching
wheel on each side of the axle of the beater, and also one on each side of the
axle of the large fan or winnower. I have further added four beaters or arms
to the eight hitherto used, which causes the blows to fall in more rapid
succession, and lessens the force of the shocks; further, by the arching or
bending of the ends of the stripping wheel the flax is less broken, a very' con-
siderable advantage being thereby gained, especially as regards flax of inferior
quality. Guards are placed in front of the stripping wheels for the protection
of the workmen.
This mechanism
having the com-
The next part of my Invention refers to a scutching or stripping apparatus
working by itself. This mechanism, by the power of a weight and aided
by a flyer, sets at work a stripping wheel adapted to the drum (14,)
Figure 9, or sent by transmission to No. 17, (Figure 10).
enables the weakest person, even children, or any person
mand of one hand to strip the flax, and it may be adapted to spinning
wheels, or those of ropemakers replacing their turner, or even five or six, if
the machinery is very powerful. The transmission may take place directly
a beam, shewn in dotted lines, Figures 9 and 10.
by
Lastly, I will describe my improvement in the counter beater. This im-
provement consists in its developement, as at Figure 7, so that the grain being

page_text: raised to a certain height falls perpendicularly, and passes quicker through the
moveable grating of the beater, thus, the grain no longer falling in the front,
the workmen are no longer inconvenienced either by the grain or the straw.
The counter beater is carried by six spiral springs, three on each side, one to
the right of the perpendicular of the axle, of the beater, one to the left; and the
third at the tangent of the circumference of the said beater. These springs
are placed within the framing of the beater, and beneath the counter beater,
so that they in no way interfere with the action of the stripping wheels. The
other counter heaters are only carried by two spiral springs, which are placed
on the exterior. The moveable grating of the beater should have bars, and
be driven by a crank shaft in the centre, so as to cause the bars to rise and
fall. A single horse will work the two stripping wheels on the axle of the
beater, and the two others on that of the large fan or winnower, as well as the
breaker or crusher, which will in six hours feed the stripping wheels for a
days' work, and the four stripping wheels will do more than twelve times the
work of a single workman in the same time. When the workman at the
breaking apparatus has completed that work he may be employed in beating
or pounding without interfering with the strippers or scutchers. With two
horses I can, firstly, beat, but without permitting the straw to pass; secondly,
winnow; thirdly, break or crush; fourthly, strip or scutch; and, fifthly,
pound; performing all these operations at the same time without disorder
among the workmen or mixing the materials. In order that the workman at
the crusher be not inconvenienced by the dust, a cloth or canvass should be
placed in front of the large winnower. If it is desired to beat in the ordinary
manner, the two stripping wheels should be removed from the large winnower,
leaving the two others, which facilitate the working of the beater. The entire
system or method above described is applicable to large, medium, or small
cultivation.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawing, Figure 1 shews the heater;
(1), the oven or heating chamber; (2), door of same; (3), door of fire-place;
(4), grating. Figure 2, the other heater. (1), barrel; (3), fire-place; (4),
grating. Figure 3, elevation of my improved machinery for treating flax or
hemp taken through the line C, D, Figure 6. Figure 4, plan at I, J, Figures 5
and 6. Figure 5, elevation following the line A, B, Figure 6. Figure 6,
side view following E, F, G, H, Figure 5. Figure 7, section of the beater.
Figure 8, section of the crushing cylinders at a, b, Figure 6. And Figures 9
and 10, stripping or scutching machine working alone. (5), support of
crushing cylinders; (6), crushing cylinders; (7), bolts of springs; (8), arms
of stripping wheels; (9), guards; (10), counter beater; (11), spiral springs

page_text: beneath counterbeater; (12), flyer; (13), spiral on rod of same; (14), drum;
(15), pulley; (16), weight; (17), drum in connection with (14).
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Theophile Detuncq, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.