CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING FLAX, HEMP. WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PETER
FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, and WILLIAM
SUTTILL, of the Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Flax Spinner, 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 Twenty-sixth day of January, in the fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Peter Fairbairn and William Suttill, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Peter Fairbairn and William
Suttill, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the
said Peter Fairbairn and William Suttill, our executors, administrators, 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, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, our Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING FLAX,
HEMP. WOOL, SILK, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, the said Peter Fairbairn and
William Suttill, by an instrument 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 Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
Price 8d1

page_text: performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Peter Fairbairn and William Suttil, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained inand 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):-
:-
These Improvements in Drawing Flax, Hemp, Wool, Silk, and other
Fibrous Substances, consist in certain novel constructions and arrangements of
the parts of a machine for preparing those fibrous materials, and bringingthem
into the state of sliver ready for the further process of drawing and roving, by
means of which improved machinery the long fibres of the material are broken
into shorter lengths, and the short fibres drawn straight so as to produce
nearly an equality in the staple or lengths of the fibres throughout the sliver,
and at the same time the tow, floss, silk, noils of wool, or other loose short
fibres in the ends of each several strick or handful of the material, is drawn
out of the strick and retained in the pins of lateral bands of heckles.
accompanying Drawings the improved constructions and arrangements of the
parts of the machine are shewn in several views, the respective letters of
reference pointing out the same parts of the machine in all the Figures.
In the
An elevation of one side of the machine is represented in Fig. 1, and
a longitudinal section parallel to the same taken through about the middle of
the machine is shewn in Figure 2. A transverse sectional elevation is repre-
sented in Figure 3, and a horizontal view is given in Figure 4, the super-
incumbent rollers being in this last-mentioned Figure removed to shew the
working parts below. Four barrels or wheels a, a, a, a, with double flanges,
are fixed upon horizontal shafts b, b, which are made to revolve in suitable
bearings in the standard frames. These barrels carry two endless bands of
leather c, c, c, c, which have longitudinal rows of pins inserted in them like
heckle points. Between these two endless bands a series of transverse heckle
bars d, d, d, working upon the principle of what is called the "screw gill,"
travel a certain distance along the middle of the machine conducted in the
ordinary way by rotary screws or worm shafts e, e. A strick of flax or other
fibrous material to be operated upon is placed transverselyacross the machine,
as shewn atf, f, in the horizontal view Figure 4, the portion near its ends
being inserted between the pins of the endless bands c, c. Narrow rollers

page_text: 9, 9, 9, fixed upon a shaft h, which turns loosely in forks standing up from the
side frames, see Figures 1 and 2, bear upon the ends of the fibres of the
strick, and by their weight press them down upon the endless bands c.c, between
the pins, for the purpose of keeping the fibres tightly held and distended by
the pins. The fibres in the middle of the strick are then to be conducted
forward between two conductors i, i, to the rollers j, k, which are feeding
rollers leading the fibres to the heckle points set in the bars d, d, of the gill;
and these heckle bars, moving onward at a speed about equal to the rotary
motion of the feeding rollers j, k, which is nearly ten times faster than
that of the lateral bands and pins c, c, cause the fibres of the material
taken hold of about the middlo of their lengths by the points of the
gill to be drawn out from the pins of the lateral bands, leaving the
tow, floss, silk, noils of wool, or other short fibres, retained between those
pins whilst the clean fibres are carried forward by the gill heckle bars
to the drawing rollers 1, m. These drawing rollers 1, m, revolve about
twenty times faster than the gill heckle bars travel, which necessarily
cause the short fibres of the material to be drawn out from the pins of the
gill, and thereby to become straightened, whilst the longer fibres, being held
between the pins of the gill, and by the draft of the rollers l, m, broken into
lengths nearly equal to the ratch, reach, or distance between the the bite
of the drawing rollers and the retaining points of the gill. The fibres thus
operated upon assume the form or state of sliver on passing the drawing
rollers, which sliver is thence conducted through a trumpet n and between
the delivering rollers o, p, into a can or other receptacle below for the purpose
of being taken to other machinery, where it undergoes the second and third
processes of drawing and refining. The driving power by which this machine
is to be actuated is applied through a pulley or band and rigger to the shaft
of the lower drawing roller / (see Figure 1), which roller should be made to
revolve with a speed of about one hundred and twenty revolutions per minute.
The upper drawing roller m turns upon its axis merely by the friction of
contact between it and the periphery of the lower roller ; and in order to
produce a powerful pressure or. bite between the drawing rollers, the upper
one is held down by weighted levers q, q, which bear upon the ends of its axle.
By these means the drawing rollers and m are actuated and made to bring
the fibrous material through the machine. Upon the front end of the shaft
of the lower drawing roller / there are affixed to pinions and s, taking into
carrier wheels, which communicate the driving power to the other parts of the
machinery. The pinion gears into the first of a train of carrier wheels and
pinions 1, 2, 3, on the front side of the machine (see Fig. 1); and at the
"

page_text: reverse end of the shaft & of the pinion 3 there is affixed a smaller pinion 4
(see the horizontal view, Figure 4). This pinion 4 drives a wheel 5, upon the
axle of which there is another pinion 6 gearing into a wheel 7 that gives motion
to the wheel 8 fixed on the shaft of the lower feeding roller. Hence, by this
train of wheels and pinions the roller is made to turn with a speed of about one
twentieth that of the drawing rollers 1,m; the axle of the upper feeding roller k
turns loosely in forks at the sides of the standard frame, and is pressed down
upon the lower roller by hanging straps and weighted levers t, 7, the upper
roller turning by the friction of its contact with the lower one. Upon the
shaft of the pinions 3, 4, above described, there are also two bevil pinious
,, affixed, which take into similar bevil pinions on the ends of the lower
screw or worm shafts e,e, by which the heckle bars d,d, d, of the gill are worked.
The operation of the screw gill, as a piece of mechanism, is so well known to
flax spinners, that it is not necessary particularly to describe its actions, and the
Drawings fully exhibit the manner of its adaptation to this improved machine.
It will, therefore, be sufficient here to say, that by the rotation of the worm
shafts e, e, driven by the means described, the bars d, d, d, with the heckle
points, are successively brought up into operation through the fibres of the
material, and conducted along the range of the worms or screw shafts e, e,
carrying the material with them in the way above explained, and that the
middle parts of the fibres are taken from the descending heckle bar by the
drawing rollers which draw them out of the pins, and by equalizing the lengths
of the fibres as described, deliver the material in a state of sliver into a can
below. It remains only to say that the slow progressive movement of the
endless bands and points e, c, by which the tow, floss, or noils at the ends of
the stricks are drawn off and retained, is effected by the connection of a train
of wheels actuated by the wheel S on the end of the shaft of the lower feeding
roller. This wheel 8 takes into a wheel 9, turning upon a stud fixed in the
back frame of the machine, which wheel has a pinion on its boss, taking into
a pinion 10, and another pinion 11, driven by the last, taking into the wheel
12, fixed on the end of the barrel shaft b, gives the very slow motion to the
endless bands of about one tenth that of the feeding roller. The pinion s
on the main shaft takes into a wheel 13 turning upon a stud fixed in the
standard frame, and this wheel 13 drives a pinion 14 on the shaft of the
lower delivery roller o, by means of which the sliver is conducted from the
trumpet and passed down to the can below. As the surface of the upper
drawing roller m requires to be kept clean from tow or any short fibres which
may attach themselves to it, a roller w, covered with cloth or felt, is fixed upon
a short axle which has its bearings in two arms swinging upon a transverse

page_text: shaft mounted at the upper parts of two standards., ., as shewn by dots in
Fig. 2. The weight of this roller w keeps it down in contact with the
periphery of the roller m, and it is made to revolve by a pinion 18 upon its
axle gearing into a similar pinion 17, fixed upon the axle of a wheel 16,
seen in the side view Fig. 1. The pinion s on the main driving shaft takes
into a carrier wheel 15 (see Fig. 1), which is in gear with the wheel 16, and
hence the rotation of the main shaft gives the required rotary motion to the
roller through the train of wheels and pinions s, 15, 16, 17, and 18. As
the fibres of different qualities of flax and other materials vary considerably
in length, it is necessary to provide the means of increasing and diminishing
the ratch, reach, or distance between the bite of the drawing rollers l, m, and
the holding heckles of the gill d, d. For this purpose, therefore, the front
part of the machine is so constructed as to allow of its sliding in and out
horizontally upon the main standard frames; that is, the drawing rollers l, m,
the front barrels a, a, and the delivering rollers o, p, with their appendages, are
mounted in an adjustable frame y,,, y, which is capable of being slidden
forward or backward upon the standards, and when placed at its proper
distance is made fast by screws,,, as seen in Fig. 1. In shifting the
positions of the drawing rollers by sliding the frame y.y, with the front parts
of the machinery forward or backward as described, it will be necessary to
provide means by which the endless bands c, c, may be made to accomodate
themselves to those adjustments. For this purpose, therefore, the ends of the
axle b of the back barrels a, a, are mounted in sliding bearings, which are
adjustable by screws taking into sockets at the back end of the machine, as
shewn in the Figures, and by means of these screws the back barrels a, a,
may be shifted forward or backward as the positions of the front part of the
machine may require.
Having now described the features of our improvements in drawing flax,
hemp, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances, and the machinery by which
we perform the same, we desire it to be understood that we do not intend
to confine ourselves to the precise forms and positions of all the parts of our
improved machinery,as shewn in the Drawings. Butthat which we particularly
claim as the main feature of our Invention is, an arrangement of such known
agents as will afford the means by which the fibres of flax, hemp, wool, silk,
or other fibrous material, placed transversely in the machine, may be drawn
from the middle of the stick instead of endwise as heretofore, for the purpose
of breaking the long fibres to nearly an equality of length with the short
fibres, and thereby drawing them into a sliver of nearly uniform staple.
Also, the adaptation of lateral hackle points by which the ends of the stricks

page_text: may be held, and the tow, floss, silk, noils of wool, or other loose and short
fibres, drawn out of the ends of the stricks by the greater speed of the feeding
rollers and travelling gil heckles.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Fairbairn and William Suttill,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty
one.
PETER (L.s.) FAIRBAIRN.
WM (L.S.) SUTTILL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Peter Fairbairn and William
Suttill came before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year above written.