IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Guild, of Dundee, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX,
HEMP, AND OTHER FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS."-A communication from abroad
by Gelston Sanford and James Edward Mallory, both of New York
City, United States of America.
Sealed the 24th March 1863, and dated the 8th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Guild at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
January 1868.
I, ALEXANDER GUILD, of Dundee, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING
FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of driving gear for operating
nipping rollers intended to be employed in the breaking and cleaning of flax,
hemp, and other fibre-yielding plants. By this machine the woody portions of
the material under operation are broken by a crushing action, and the broken
fragments are loosened from the fibres by the rubbing action of the fluted
rollers obtained by driving them alternately in opposite directions, but in such
manner as to produce a progressive motion of the fibres.
The machine is fitted, say, with two pairs of fluted rollers, but they may
vary in number as thought desirable. The axles of the lower rollers turn in

page_text: fixed boxes in the frame, and each carries a cogged pinion outside the frame.
These pinions are driven by a spur wheel mounted on a stud axle. Keyed to
this axle is a vibrating arm which is coupled by a connecting rod to a crank pin,
which is carried by the driving shaft of the machine, the arm is therefore
vibrated back and forth by each rotation of the driving shaft. This driving
gear, so far as described, would turn the spur wheel and the two fluted rollers
an equal distance alternately in opposite directions, but the object is to make
their forward axial motion greater than their backward motion. To accom-
plish this result, a spur pinion keyed on to the crank pin is made to drive a
train of wheels turning loosely on stud axles carried by the connecting rod or
bar before mentioned. The last wheel of the train has for its axle the pin that
couples the connecting rod or bar with the vibrating arm. A pinion fixed to
this wheel gears into the spur wheel before mentioned that drives the rollers,
and thus in addition to the alternate backward and forward motion given by the
connecting rod and vibrating arm a continuous forward motion is imparted to
the lower rollers. The upper rollers are driven by friction of contact.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions. of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Guild in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th July 1863.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
GUILD, of Dundee, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Guild, Her special license that I, the said Alexander Guild,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Guild, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBRE-YIELDING PLANTS,"
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Alexander Guild, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: 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 Alexander Guild, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of driving gear for operating
the nipping rollers of machines intended to be employed in the breaking and
cleaning of flax, hemp, and other fibre-yielding plants. In the class of machine
to which the Invention applies, the woody portions of the material under
treatment are broken by passing under the crushing action of fluted rollers,
and the broken fragments are loosened from the fibres by a rubbing action
obtained by driving the rollers alternately in opposite directions, but in such
manner as to produce a progressive motion of the fibres through the machine.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews the improved machine in side
elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal
section taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 2.
a, a, are two pairs of fluted rollers, but these may vary in number as
thought desirable. The axles of the lower rollers a turn in fixed boxes in the
side frames of the machine. To one end of each axle is keyed a cogged
pinion 6. These pinions gear into and are driven by a spur wheel c mounted
on a stud axle carried by one of the side frames. Suspended from the boss of
this wheel is a vibrating arm d, which is coupled by a connecting rod or bar e
to the crank pin f of a disc, which is carried by the driving shaft g of the
machine. As the driving shaft 9 rotates it will impart a backward and
forward motion to the connecting rod or bar e, which if transmitted through
the spur wheel c and pinions b, b, to the rollers a, a, would give them a
reciprocating axial motion alternately, and to an equal amount in opposite
directions. In order, however, to convert this reciprocating motion into a
progressive motion, and thus not merely to crush and clean the fibres submitted
to the rollers, but to deliver them out of the machine, the following means is
employed for making their forward axial motion greater than their backward
motion. h is a spur pinion keyed on to the crank pin f, and gearing into and
driving a train of wheels i, *, which are carried by stud axles projecting from
the side of the connecting rod or bar e before mentioned. The wheel i* has
for its axle the pin that couples the connecting rod or bar e with the vibrating
arm d. A pinion k, keyed to the axle of this wheel, gears into the spur

page_text: wheel c, and thus at every revolution of the crank shaft g not only are the
rollers a, a*, driven alternately backwards and forwards by the throw of the
crank, but an axial motion due to the action of the spur pinion h on the train
of wheels i, i*, is imparted to the wheel c in the direction of the arrow, whereby
a progressive motion through the machine will be ensured to the fibres.
The fibrous material to be treated, whether it be flax, or hemp, or plaintain,
agave, or other foreign plant, is fed to the fluted rollers by hand from a table l,
and the upper rollers being properly weighted their ribs will press the fibres
into the indentations of the lower rollers, and vice versa, thereby breaking up the
loose or woody portion, which by the to-and-fro motion of the rollers is shaken
out or separated from the fibres, thereby leaving them ready for fine scutching.
This machine may also be beneficially employed as a softener for hemp and
jute after those materials have undergone the breaking and cleaning operation.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Breaking and Cleaning Flax, Hemp, and other Fibre-yielding Plants," as
communicated to me from abroad, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the means above described for
operating the crushing rollers of breaking and cleaning machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Guild, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ALEX*. GUILD. (L.S.)