IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING OR PREPARING NEW ZEALAND FLAX (PHORMIUM TENAX
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BARCLAY
FARQUHARSON WATSON, of Lincoln's Inn Fields, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight, in the second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Barclay Farquharson Watson, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Barclay
Farquharson Watson, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Barclay Farquharson Watson, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUSHING OR PREPARING NEW ZEALAND FLAX
(PHORMIUM TENAX)," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Barclay Farquharson Watson, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Barclay Farquharson Watson, do hereby declare that the nature of the said

page_text: marked thereon, (that is to say):
The Invention consists of a mode of constructing a Machine for Crushing
or Preparing New Zealand Flax (Phormium Tenax); and in order to give
the best information in my power, I will proceed to describe the Drawing
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a machine, partly in section, constructed according to
the Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of part of the machine. In each of these
Figures the same letters indicate similar parts. It is well known that in order
to manufacture New Zealand flax (Phormium Tenax) into thread or yarn, it
is necessary to prepare the same by crushing, in order to separate the fibres
and to get rid of the refuse matters which, according to the means at present
resorted to, is not accomplished with that advantage and facility as to obtain
such beneficial results as are desired. Now the object of this Invention is to
perform such preparing or crushing process on New Zealand flax (Phormium
Tenax) in a more advantageous manner than it has been heretofore done, and
the Invention principally relates to the mode of forming the bed or surface on
which the operation of crushing is performed. In Figure 1 the bed or surface
on which the crushing takes place is shewn in section, by which the con-
struction of the bed may readily be understood, and it will be seen that it is
made up of a series of upright blocks of wood, each block having the grain
thereof vertical, and the wood which is preferred is oak or elm, but others
may be employed, the Invention not relating to the description of wood used,
but to the mode of applying the same in the constructing a surface on which
the New Zealand flax (Phormium Tenax) is to be crushed. Each of the
blocks a, a, are shewn to be square, which is a convenient figure for going
together to make up a complete surface, but other figures or shapes of blocks
may be employed. b, b, is the outer circumference rising above the upper
surface of the bed, which is hooped strongly together, as is shewn in the
Drawing, by the hoops c, c. It should be understood that the upper surfaces
of the blocks a, a, do not produce a smooth or even plane; but the blocks a, a,
are so arranged as to produce a very irregular surface, and in such manner
that no two contiguous blocks are of equal heights, the differences of height
being from one quarter of an inch to two inches; and further, to obtain other
irregularity of surface to the bed on which the crushing is performed, there are

page_text: a number of grooves, which are indicated by the red lines in Figure 2, and
these are not at equal distances, but vary, as will be seen on examining that
Figure of the Drawing; but these grooves are not absolutely necessary, and I
only use them when the blocks of which the bed is made are of more than
four inches square. By such an arrangement of blocks of wood a bed or
surface will be obtained on which the process of crushing of New Zealand
flax (Phormium Tenax) may be better performed than by any of the means
heretofore practised. d is a heavy grooved roller of granite or other suitable
material, moving on an axis e, such axis e passing through the upright shaft or
axis f, allowing of movement to the axis e, which moves in suitable bearings
at top and bottom, as is well understood by millwrights. 9 is a bevelled
toothed wheel affixed on the shaft or axis f, and h is another bevelled toothed
wheel which takes into and drives the wheel g, the wheel h being affixed on
the shaft i, which turns in suitable bearings at j, j, as is shewn in the Drawing,
and motion is obtained to the shaft i by means of a band k drawn by a steam
engine or other power, all which will readily be understood on examining the
Drawing.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I would have it under-
stood that I lay no claim to the machinery for actuating the crushing roller,
and the same may be varied without departing from the Invention; but what
I claim is, the mode of crushing or preparing New Zealand flax (Phormium
Tenax) by means of a bed or surface and suitable roller, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Barclay. Farquharson Watson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Barclay Farquharson Watson came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.