IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND HEMP, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING FLAX YARNS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
COMBE, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Engineer and Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of November, in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Combe, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said James Combe, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said James Combe, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX
AND HEMP, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING FLAX YARNS; " in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said James Combe, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her 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 said
James Combe, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which 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 letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The principal head of this Invention, which relates to improvements in
machinery for hackling flax and hemp, consists, firstly, in so constructing
and arranging the hackling machinery, that the direction of rotation of the
system or systems of hackles which act on the stricks of flax or hemp may be
readily reversed, for the purpose of enabling the hackles to operate equally on
both sides of the stricks without the necessity of turning round or reversing
the holders containing the same; and, secondly, in constructing the drum or
other contrivance which carries the hackles of two or more parts, and giving
each part an independent motion, so that the hackles may be driven at
varying speeds, and allow of the flax or hemp being brought under their
operation more gradually than heretofore, for the purpose of increasing the
yield of dressed "line" from a given quantity of raw material.
In the machine herein-after described, and shewn in the accompanying
Drawings, forming part of this my Specification, the hackles are fixed and
carried round in a circle (the diameter of which is made larger or smaller,
according to the length of fibre of flax or other material for which the machine
is intended); and for the purpose of reversing the direction of their motion as
easily as possible, both the hackles and other moving parts which require to
have their motion reversed should be made as light as possible. I prefer to
have the machines made double, for the purpose of economy, both in cost and
space; but they may be made single also, as for some purposes this might be
more convenient.
It will also be evident that the same principles may be applied to any
combination of hackles forming a moving surface, as, for instance, whether
they be placed on leather sheets or bands or chains, and passed over pulleys
or rollers.
Having pointed out the distinguishing features of the first part of my Inven-
tion, I will now proceed to describe the mode of carrying the same into effect.
In the Drawings, Fig. 1 represents, in end elevation, a double circular
hackling machine constructed according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is an
elevation of the other end of the machine; Fig. 3 is a vertical section,
taken through the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the
machine complete. In all these Figures the same letters and numbers denote

page_text: similar parts. a, a, is the main framing of the machine, at the top part of
which a driving shaft a¹ is mounted in suitable bearings; this shaft carries a
fast and loose pulley a², by which motion is communicated through a strap
from any first mover to the machine. On the shaft a' is a pinion 1, in gear
with the wheel 2, which revolves on a stud secured to the end framing; this
wheel carries on its boss a wheel 3, which gears into the wheel 4, having for
its axle an adjustable stud, which is secured to a slotted bracket of the
framing; the wheel 4 carries the change wheel 5, which gears into the wheel
6 on the tappet shaft a³, extending the whole length of the machine, and
revolving in bearings in the frame a; on the shaft a³ is fixed the lifting tappet
wheel a', formed to act on the runner a5, fixed on the side of a lever a, which
is one of a pair of levers a, a, fixed on the rocking shaft a". The rod a¹²,
with a joint and pin at each end, connects the lever as on the shaft all with
the lever a10, which is one of a pair of levers a; a10, fixed to a corresponding
rocking shaft a13 at the other side of the machine; these pairs of levers a", a",
and a, ale, are so formed at their outer ends as to embrace and carry
respectively the slides a¹ and a15 (at opposite sides of the machine), which
slides support the holders /, containing the material to be hackled), as theyare
passed through the machine for the purpose of bringing the material under the
operation of the hackles. Each of the levers a, a, and aº, a¹0, is weighed so as
nearly to counterbalance the weight of the slides, holders, &c. As the shaft a³
revolves, these slides on either side of the machine, by the action of the
tappet wheel a4, will be caused to approach to and recede from the hackles
h. It may here be remarked, that the change pinion 5 gives the means of
causing the tappet wheel at to revolve faster or slower, and thereby regulate
the amount of hackling which the flax is to receive in passing through the
machine, as will more fully appear hereafter. a16 is a screw which acts on the
runner a, and gives the means of screwing it out or in, and thereby making
the slides rise more or less from the hackles. There is a stop a fixed to the
framing a, to prevent the slides or holders descending too far when the runner
a is screwed back, so as not always to be in contact with the tappet wheel.
The radius of two of the tappets of this wheela', namely, those which act upon
the runner a when the motion of the hackles is being reversed, is made
greater than the other two, for the purpose of lifting the flax quite clear of the
hackles at that time. 1, 1, are two grooved cams, keyed to the shaft as, their
office being to cause the traverse of the holders through the machine. As the
action of the two cams and the parts respectively in connexion therewith is
precisely similar, it will suffice to describe the mode of feeding in the holders
to one side of the machine. The cam (1 is suitably grooved on its periphery to

page_text: receive a runner r, imounted on a stud attached to a lever l, which lever is
hung and works on another stud s, fixed to the framing; to the lower end of
the lever a rod r¹ is jointed, and to the other end of the rod r¹ a reci-
procating sliding bar i is attached, the object of which bar is to draw the
holders into the machine, and cause them to traverse along the slidesand pass
out at the other end of the machine, as was explained in a former Patent,
granted to me on the Second day of March, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-eight. The cam t¹ is so formed as at every revolution of its shaft a³ to
act upon the runner in a manner that will vibrate the lever 1, and through
the connecting rod ¹ give the requisite forward motion to the sliding bar i,
for advancing the holders one step or gradation, and take it back to its original
position ready for advancing them another step. c, c, are catches, placed at
proper intervals along the slides a14, and jointed thereto, so as to rise and allow
the holders to pass bye them, but when they have escaped past, to effectually
prevent the holders from being pushed back. On the upper edge of the bar i,
(which is shewn detached at Fig. 5, Sheet 3,) nclined projections i are formed,
which, on the bar completing its forward motion, come in contact with corre-
sponding inclines attached to the levers supporting the slides a, and the bar i
is thus locked down on the flax holders at the instant of completing their
forward motion; the inclined notches 2 (of the bar) which take hold of the
projecting ends of the holders (shewn detached at Fig. 6, Sheet 3,) are thus
prevented from carrying the holders beyond a given distance, whatever may
be the speed at which the machine is working, whilst the inclined parts i,
being steeper than the inclined notches 2, the bar i is free to be pushed back
by the reverse action of the parts before described, the bar i being allowed
to rise up a little distance in its guides ³ for that purpose. In order to
prevent the bar i from falling out of the machine when no holders are on
the slides, two pins i, i, are made to project from the bar and rest upon the
slides when no holders are in the machine. All the parts are similar for the
other side of the machine. The shaft a³ carries at its extreme end a cam 12,
which is so grooved on its periphery and placed, that, at the two intermediate
lifts of the tappet wheel a4, when the cams t and t¹ are not acting, it will
cause the belt lever (which locks on a stud projecting from a bracket on the
framing, and has on its top end a runner working in the grooved cam t³)
tochange the direction of the motion of the central driving shaft s, by altering
theposition of the belts b' and 6, mounted on the shaft a¹; at the top of the
machine is a fast pulley b, placed opposite to and as broad as the three pulleys
3,64, and 65, on the shaft s. The pulleys 63 and 65 are loose, and bis fast on the
shafts. The belt b' being.crossed and 2 being open, it follows, that when the

page_text: one is put off the fast pulley and the other put on, the motion of the shaft s
will be reversed.
On the shaft s, near the pulley 65, is fixed a pinion 28, which gears into and
drives two wheels 33 and 29. The former of these wheels carries on its stud
the wheel 36, which gears into and drives the wheel 30, keyed to a loose tube
te, which surrounds one end of the hackle cylinder shaft s', and turns in a
suitable bearing in the framing a. On this tube are fixed the rings t', t, which
carry the first gradation of hackles at the side of the machine which we
are now describing. In the machine here represented there are four grada-
tions, or finenesses of hackles, (there may be more or fewer, according to the
work for which the machines are intended,) and the first of these, by the wheels
just mentioned, is driven at a considerably slower rate than the other three
gradations, which are fixed respectively to the rings ts, to, to, and t", mounted
on the shaft s', and receive a quicker rotary motion through the, following.
means: On the opposite end of the shaft's to that which carries the pullies,
a pinion 7 is mounted, and made to gear into and drive an intermediate wheel
S, mounted on a stud projecting from the framing, which wheel 8 communi-
cates rotary motion to the wheel 11, fixed on the shaft s', and thereby effects.
the rotation of the three gradations of hackles which the rings to, to, to, and
carry. The speed of cylindrical brush which takes the tow off the hackles is
also regulated in a similar manner, and for this purpose a part of it, correspond-
ing in length with the first gradation of hackles, is made loose on its shaft s²,
and the wheel 33, which through the wheel on its boss drives the wheel 30
also, drives the intermediate wheel 35, mounted on a stud projecting from a
bracket on the framing, and through that wheel motion is given to the wheel
32 on the end of the loose socket to, which carries the part c³ of the brush.
The sizes of these wheels are regulated so as cause the circumference of the
brush to move as much faster than the circumference of the hackles as will
cnable the brush to take away the tow. At the other end of the machine the
intermediate wheel 8, which drives the wheel 11 on the hackle shaft,also gears
into and drives the wlieel 9, mounted on a stud in the framing; and this wheel,
gearing into the wheel 10, on the end of the shaft s², which carries the part
c² of the brush intended to take the tow off the three last gradations of hackles,
will give a suitable rotary motion to that portion of the brush, the wheels.
being properly proportioned for that purpose. The gearing on the opposite
side of the machine is arranged in a similar manner, it being driven from the
same shaft s, as will be seen on inspecting the Drawings; and the slow or first
hackles are placed at opposite ends of the machine, for the purpose of allowing
the flax which has passed under the action of the hackles at one side of the

page_text: machine to be turned in the holders, and at once passed under the action of the
hackles at the other side of the machine, without the necessity of carrying the
holders round to the other side of the machine.
From the foregoing description it will be understood how the motion of the
shaft sis changed from one direction to another, and communicates the changes
in the direction of its rotation to the hackles and brushes, so that after one side
of the flax has been hackled and the holders have been raised, the reversed
motion of the hackles will at the next descent of the holders hackle the other
side of the strick of flax. It now only remains to be shown how the tow is
taken from the brushes. The two brush cylinders have each a doffer or card
cylinder d placed on either side thereof, and having the hook or bend of the
teeth pointing upwards next the brush, so that when the brush revolves to the
right hand the doffer on that side will take the tow from it, and when it
revolves to the left hand the other doffer will in like manner remove the tow.
These doffers have motion communicated to them in the followingmanner:-
On the shaft a³ (see Fig. 1) a wheel 6 is mounted, which gears into and
drives the wheel 17, mounted on a stud in the framing, and carrying on its
boss a pinion 18, which gears into the intermediate wheel 19, which again,
through the intermediate pinions 20 and 21, communicate motion to the wheels
22 and 23 on the shafts of the two inside doffer cylinders, and these wheels, by
the intermediate pinions 24,24, and 26, 26, respectively communicate motion
to the wheels 25 and 27 on the shafts of the outside doffer cylinders. To each
of these doffer cylindersa doffing comb is attached, which combs strip the tow
from the teeth of the cylinders and deposit it in proper receptacles placed to
receive it.
Having described the construction of the parts of the machine, it now
remains to explain the combined action of the parts, and for this purpose it
will be sufficient to follow the progress of one holder through the machine.
When the slide a is near its highest elevation, a holder filled with flax is
placed by an attendant in the slide just within the first hook or notch of the
bar i, and a forward sliding motion being communicated to the bar i by the
tappet t', the holder will be thereby drawn into a proper position to be operated
upon by the first gradation of hackles. When the holder has reached that
position, the second of the set of catches c will drop behind its forward project-
ing part, and keep it there while the bar i makes its backward movement to
bring another holder into the machine, and bring a second notch over the first
holder,so as to be ready to carry it forward a second step at the return motion
of the bar. The slide now descends, the hackles moving all the time, and
when the first side of the strick of flax contained in the holder is sufficiently

page_text: hackled, the next projection on the tappet wheel a4, in coming round, depresses
the runner a³, and thereby causes the slides with the holder to ries. When the
proper elevation is attained for clearing the strick of flax from the hackles,
the cam reverses the motion of the hackles, &c., and the slides again, by the
tappet of the wheel a', having passed the runner a³, will be allowed to descend
and bring the opposite side of the flax to that which was before hackled under
the action of the first gradation of hackles. When the flax is thus hackled on
both sides, the tappet wheel a causes the slide to rise again, and when it has
arrived at about its greatest elevation, the cam t¹ again communicates, through
the levell and connecting rod r', a forward motion to the bar i, which thereby
draws in to the machine the second holder, which it had previously laid hold
of, and carries forward the first holder to the next gradation of hackles. These
actions are successively repeated until the machine is filled with holders, and
when once filled, a fresh holder is taken into the machine simultaneously with
the delivery out of the machine of every holder whose strick of flax has been
submitted on both its sides to each gradation of hackles. As the holders are
successively delivered at the opposite end of the machine to that at which they
were introduced, the stricks of flax are changed to another holder, in the usual.
well-known manner, to get their other ends hackled. This hackling operation
is effected by passing the holders along the slides at the opposite side of the
machine, in the same manner as they were carried along the first, the holders
sliding and the motion of the hackles being reversed at alternate lifts as
before.
The second part of this Invention, which refers to improvements in pro-
ducing flax yarns, consists, firstly, in a self-acting drag adjuster for spinning;
and, secondly, it consists in an improved construction of cans, boxes, or recep..
tacles for receiving the slivers from spreading and drawing frames. The object
of the self-acting drag adjuster is to make less waste in the process of spinning.
In Sheet 5 of the Drawings, Fig. 7 represents in front view two spindles fitted
with the drag adjuster, and Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the same. In both
Figures the same letters indicate the same parts. a, a, are the spindles with
bobbins a¹ ;a is the bobbin lifter, furnished with a notched plate behind, for
receiving a weighted drag band a³, as usual; a' is a screw, mounted in front of
the lifter, with its top surface the proper height for supporting the drag band,
which rests in the groove of the thread of the screw. On the end of the screw
at is a ratchet wheel as, which is brought into contact with a stationary catch
a at every ascent of the bobbin lifter, and is thereby caused to move round on
its axis the distance of one or more teeth. A corresponding movement is at
the same time given to the screw, which pulls the drag band sideways against

page_text: the bobbin, and increases the drag or friction as the bobbin fills. The pitch
of the screw, the size of the weight a³, and the number of teeth in the ratchet
wheel, must be varied to suit the different finenesses of yarn and size of
bobbin.
Fig. 9, Sheet 5, shews in vertical section a sliver can with a loose end, and
provision for putting an end to either extremity; and Fig.10 is an underneath
view of the same. The object of this improvement is to allow of the flax sliver
contained in the can being always drawn in one and the same direction of the
fibres in the spreading, drawing, and roving frames, instead of being drawn
alternately from opposite ends ofthe sliver, as has been the practice heretofore;
the attachment of the end to the body of the can if effected by means of bolts
b, which are put out or in by merely turning the disc 61. This disc is provided
with spiral grooves 62, which receive respectively a pin projecting from the
bolts, and thus, by presenting to the pins their increasing or decreasing radius,
will project or draw backs the bolts as required. In using these cans it is only
necessary, after one has been filled with sliver, to put an end into the top, bolt
it, and then invert the can and take out the end which had previously been the
bottom. There are many varieties of ways in which the ends can be fastened
in, but it is the providing a means of inverting the cans for the purpose of
drawing the fibres always in one direction that is the subject of this part of the
Invention.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the general arrangement of the hackling machine as above described,
and shewn in the Drawings.
Secondly, I claim the effecting the hackling on both sides of the strick of
flax by causing the hackles to move (alternately) in opposite directions.
Thirdly, I claim giving varying speeds to one and the same line or series of
hackles, for the purpose above set forth.
Fourthly, I claim the means above described for adjusting the drag upon
bobbins used in spinning flax.
And, lastly, I claim the application to sliver cans of a removeable end or
bottom, for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Combe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.
!
JAMES (L.S.) COMBE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid James Combe came before our said Lady the
Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and I 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.