IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING OR SOFTENING AND PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, JUTE, Tow, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lyle Aberdein, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, in Ireland, Flax Mill Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR BREAKING OR SOFTENING AND PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, JUTE,
Tow, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 19th January 1864, and dated the 21st July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lyle Aberdein
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st July 1863.
I, WILLIAM LYLE ABERDEIN, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in
Ireland, Flax Mill Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING OR SOFTENING AND PREPARING FLAX,
HEMP, JUTE, TOW, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain new mechanical arrangements and com-
binations constituting improved machinery for the above-named purposes. And
the principal features of novelty in this Invention consist in combining two or
more fluted pressure rollers with an endless sheet or system of cross bars kept
in continuous forward motion. The fibrous substance to be broken or
softened is placed on a feeding table, and carried forward to said cross bars, by

page_text: which it is conducted under the aforesaid pressure rollers. The axes of said
pressure rollers are connected together at their ends by side bars, by means of
which a backward and forward movement is imparted to them. During the
continuous forward movement of said cross bars said pressure rollers revolve
on their axes, thereby rolling over the fibrous substance, and effecting the
breaking or softening of same by the combined forward movement of the
conducting cross bars, and the backward and forward and rotatory movement
of the aforesaid pressure rollers. These combined movements are effected by
a system of toothed wheels and pinions arranged in the framing on which tho
aforesaid pressure rollers and cross bars are mounted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Lyle Aberdein in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LYLE ABERDIEN, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Flax Mill
Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reiga, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Lyle Aberdien, Her special licence that I, the said William
Lyle Aberdien, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Lyle Aberdien, 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 "IM-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING OR SOFTENING AND PREPARING FLAX, HEMP,
JUTE, TOW, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Lyle Aberdien, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Lyle Aberdien, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain new mechanical arrangements and com-
binations constituting improved machinery for the above-named purposes. And
the principal feature of novelty in this Invention consists in the use of two or
more fluted pressure rollers, kept in continuous backward and forward and
rotatory motion combined with an endless sheet or system of cross bars kept
in continuous forward motion. The fibrous substance to be broken or softened
is placed on a feeding table, and carried forward to said cross bars, by which
it is conveyed under the aforesaid pressure rollers. The said pressure rollers
are connected together at their adjacent ends by side links or blocks, to which
a backward and forward movement is imparted by means of two adjustable
rods. During the continuous forward movement of said cross bars said
pressure rollers revolve on their axes while moving also backwards and
forwards, and thereby rolling over the fibrous substance, the breaking or
softening of samo being effected by this combined forward movement of the
conducting cross bars, and the backward and forward and rotatory movement
of the aforesaid pressure rollers. These combined movements are maintained
by a system of toothed wheels and pinions attached to the framing on which
the aforesaid pressure rollers and cross bars are mounted.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numbered Figures with
the letters of reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a top plan view of my improved machine; Figure 2, a
side elevation of same; Figures 3 and 4 detached parts, herein-after par-
ticularly described and referred to.
Upon each of the foregoing Figures I employ similar letters of reference to
denote corresponding parts of the machinery in so far as such parts appear or
can be seen on each of such Figures respectively.
A, A, mark the framing of the machine; B is the main driving shaft,

page_text: pulley; G, another shaft, carrying upon its opposite extremities the spur
wheels H, H, in one of the arms of cach of which is a slot to be used for
adjusting the traverse of the fluted rollers T, T. The spur wheels gear into
and are driven by two of the pinions C on the shaft B; the third pinion C
(the only pinion visible on the Drawing) gears into a stud wheel I, on which
is a pinion a gearing into a spur wheel K, on a shaft L, on which shaft are
also fixed two pinions b, b, (shown on Figuro 3) gearing into teeth formed on
the fluted bars M, as shown by Figure 4. N is a stud wheel for transmitting
rotatory motion to another spur wheel O, of similar size to the wheel K, and
similarly fixed on a shaft carrying pinions b, b, for working the bars M, as
above described. P, P, are rollers, carrying the endless feeding sheet Q, and
receiving their rotatory movement from a toothed wheel d, which, by means of
an intermediate wheel a, drives a wheel e fixed on the spindle of the roller P.
R, R, are two adjustable rods, each connected at one extremity to the slotted
arm of the wheel II, and at the opposite extremity to the pin 1 on the sliding
link or block S; T, T, are fluted rollers corresponding with the flutings on the
bars M. The pivots of the rollers T revolve loosely in holes in the links or
blocks S; W are loose bars of metal capable of moving freely upon the rods
or studs g fixed to the framing A; W', W', are springs for causing pressuro
upon the studs or axes of the rollers T, T; h, h, are screw nuts for adjusting
the pressure of the springs W'; X, X, are tie rods.
Figure 4 represents the construction of the grooved guide plates (marked f,f.
on Figure 2) employed to retain and direct the bars M in their proper
course.
The operations of this improved machinery are as follows:-The fibrous
substance to be operated upon is first placed upon the feeding sheet Q;
motion is then imparted to the machinery, the effect of which is to advance
the material forward on to the cross bars M, and conduct same under the
pressure rollers, which move backward and forward by means of the rods R,
and this, in combination with the forward movement of the bars M, effects the
breaking or softening of the material.
IIaving now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "Improved Machinery for Breaking or Softening and Preparing
Flax, Ilemp, Jute, Tow, and other Fibrous Substances," as well as the best
means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I
hereby declare my Invention to consist in and I claim, an exclusive right to
use a combination of the action of two or more fluted pressure rollers and of
an endless sheet or system of grooved cross bars, operating in the manner and

page_text: for the purposes above described with reference to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lyle Aberdien, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
W. L. ABERDEIN. (L.B.)