IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND DRESSING HEMP, FLAX, SILK. AND OTHER FIBBOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
LAWSON and MARK WALKER, of Leeds, in the County of York. Machine
Makers and Flax Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth.
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninthday of October, Onethousand eighthundred and twenty-
eight, in the ninth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Samuel Lawson and Mark Walker, His especial
licence, that we, the said Samuel Lawson and Mark Walker, our exors,
adñiors, or assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Lawson and Mark
Walker, our exors, adñiors, 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, our Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PREPARING AND DRESSING HEMP, FLAX, SILK.
AND OTHER FIBBOUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging us, the said Samuel Lawson and Mark Walker, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Inven-
ion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months nextand immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: 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, we, the said
Samuel Lawson and Mark Walker, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by, the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and the following description thereof (that is to say):--
Our Improvements in Machinery for Preparing and Dressing Hemp, Flax,
Silk, andother Fibrous Substances, apply to that description ofimachinery which
is employed for heckling or combing and separating the fibres of hemp, flax,
and other fibrous materials after the boom or wooddy part has been broken
off by the ordinary processes employed for that purpose.
The first object of these improvements is to cause the points of the heckles
to strike directly into the fibres of the material, and to pass along them in
straight lines, instead of moving in a circular course, as is the case in most
heck machines heretofore employed, and which consequentlymerelyscratch
the under side of the strick of flax or hemp without effectually combing it.
Whereas by this our improvement the heckles introduce themselves between
the fibres, and comb the fax more perfectly.
Secondly, in a contrivance by which the loose tow collected in the heckles
is drawn off their points, and carried through a series of carding cylinders, and
ultimately delivered between a pair of doffer rollers in the former of a sheet
or ribbons of sliver. ready for the further carding process.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is an external view of the side of the
machine; Fig. 2 is a view of the opposite side; Fig. 3 is a horizontal repre-
sentation of the top of the machine; and Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken
through the middle, similar letters referring to corresponding parts of the
machine in all the Figures. ,, is the frame or standards upon which the
machinery is mounted, made of cast iron or other fit material; b, b, are two
circular-sided plates, having a D-formed groove c. c, c, affixed to each, one of
which is seen in the section Fig. 4; d,d,,d, are two wheels, one on each side.
with perforations or slots e, e, e, e, made through them, as shewn in Fig. 4; is
the main axle of the machine to which the wheels dare affixed; 9,99, are a
series (twenty or any other number) of bars, called fallers, carrying the heckle
points. One of these bars, with its heckles. is shewn detached from the
machine at Fig. 5. The heckle bars swing upon pivots or pins z, s, extending
from arms at their ends, and when they are mounted in the machine, these
pins pass through the slots e,e,e, in the
groove on each side of the machine.
wheels d,d, and are supported in the
Rotatory motion being given to the

page_text: wheels d in the direction of the arrows, the heckle bars are carried forward
along the grooves c, by means of the side of each slot bearing against the pins
or pivots as the wheels revolve. The heckle bars swinging upon their pivots
preserve their perpendicular positions in every part of their course, and by the
peculiar form of the groove e are made to rise perpendicularly, and strike their
points directly into the fibres of the flax or hemp, and then traversing along
the flat upper part of the groove in a straight line, comb or heckle the fibres,
and carry away the loose tow, which is taken from the points of the heckles as
they descend by the carling cylinder . This traversing of the heckles will
be clearly understood by reference to Fig. 4, remembering that the D-formed
grooves c are stationary, and the perforated wheels constantly revolving. In
Figs. 1 and 3 are represented i, and a fast pulley, and, a loose one, mounted
upon a short axle k, to which rotary motion is given by a band from an engine
or any other first mover. On the short axle there is a pinion taking into
the toothed wheel 7, on the main axle (see Figs. 1 and 3), by means of which
connection the main axle, with the wheels d and the heckles y,, are driven.
As it will be desirable that the operation of heckling the strick of flax should
commence near the end of the fibres, the holder m, in which one end of the
strick is confined, is placed in a lever n, mounted upon a shaft or axle o, (see
Figs. 3 and 4), and this lever is made progressively to rise and fall by means
of other levers, or an arm and rod and a rotatory cam, seen best in Figure 2.
In commencing the operation of heckling, the strick of flax is raised up, as
shewn in the Figure, so that the fibres are only at first acted upon by the
heckles near the extremity of the strick, but the lever which holds the strick
being gradually lowered, ultimately allows the whole length of the strick to
be submitted to the operation of the heckle points, which then combs the fibres
completely through from the holder of the extremity of the strick, after which
the strick is removed, and replaced by another to be operated upon in the
same way. Fig. 2 shews the mode by which the holder and its lever is made
to vibrate. Upon the outer extremity of the inain axle, on that side shewn in
Fig. 2, there is affixed a pinion p.taking into a toothed wheel 7, which revolves
upon a short axle set in the side of the frame, and to this last-mentioned wheel
there is attached a cam or eccentric. To the end of the shaft o, on which
the holder lever is mounted, an arms is attached, and the reverse end of this
arm is connected by a joint to the adjustable rod t, t, in which there is a slot
sliding upon the axle of this cam, and at the extremity of the rod there is a
It will now be seen
small roller u working against the periphery of the cam.
that when the roller is acted upon by the larger diameter of the cam, the rod /
and arms will be drawn forward, so as to elevate the holder lever; but when the

page_text: smaller diameter of the cam is acting against the roller u, then the rod t and
arms will be allowed to recede, as shewn by dots, and the holder lever, with
the strick of flax, will be lowered, so that the points of the heckles may be
introduced into and pass between its fibres from the holder to the end. In
this machine there is a provision for heckling four stricks of flax or hemp at
one time, see Fig. 5, and the heckles einployed are to be of different degrees
of fineness to suit different qualities of material, and when the strick has been
acted upon by the courser heckles, it is intended that it should be removed to
the next holder lever, to be acted upon by finer heckles, and so on as may be
found desirable.
At
It has been shewn in what manner the tow is collected upon the carding
cylinder . It remains now to describe the operation of carding it, and
delivering the tow after it has been so carded in the form of a sliver. The
cylinder is made to revolve by means of an endless band from the large
rigger w, which is carried round the small rigger e, fixed on the axle of the
cylinder; and also from this rigger another endless band passes round the
small riggers x, x, upon the axles of two of the lesser carding cylinders.
the reverse end of the axle of the principal carding cylinder 4, there is a
pinion y, taking into a toothed wheel A, see Fig. 2, upon the axle of the last
carding cylinder B, called the doffer cylinder. Hence, by the rotation of the
cylinder, as above described, the doffer cylinder is driven round, and a band
from a rigger, affixed to the axle of the last-mentioned cylinder, drives the
upper carding cylinder. The tow thus collected from the heckles, and pre-
pared in the carding engine, is taken from the doffer cylinder in a sliver or
ribbon between the two doffer rollers A, C, at the back of the engine, which
rollers are made to revolve by means of a toothed wheel D attached to the
axle of the doffer cylinder, and two wipers E, E, are placed in contact with
the dofler rollers to prevent the sliver adhering to their peripheries. It will
be scan, by reference to Fig. 3, that the cards are placed upon the cylinders
in four rings, answering to the four holders; consequently there will be four
ribbons of slivér discharged, which may be collected in cans, and conveyed
away to the carding machine.
Having described the various parts of our improved machine for heckling
flax, heinp, and other fibrous materials, we think it necessary to observe, that
we claim, in the first instance, the general construction of such machine, and
its application to such purposes.
And, secondly, the mode of mounting the traversing heckles on bars, with
pivots at their ends, which we denominate fallers, and the adaptation of the
perforated wheels and the D-formed grooves, for the pivot of the bars to

page_text: traverse along, by which contrivance the heckles are kept always in per-
pendicular positions, and as they rise strike into the flax direct, and close to
the holder.
And, lastly, the adaptation of such fallers carrying heckles, moved in the
way described, to other machines employed in the preparation of flax, hemp,
and other fibrous substances.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Lawson and Mark Walker, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixth day of April, in the
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
year