IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BREAKING, SOFTENING, AND PREPARING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Patrick Wright at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th October 1869.-A communication from abroad by Robert
Hanham Collyer, of Courtrai, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Doctor
of Medicine.
I, ALEXANDER PATRICK WRIGHT, of No. 8, Overton Villas, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BREAKING, SOFTENING,
AND PREPARING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," (a communication from
Robert Hanham Collyer, of Courtrai, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Doctor of Medicine, to be as follows:-
This Invention as communicated to me relates to machinery for
breaking and softening fibrous materials, so as to separate the fibre from
the corse or woody matter adhering thereto, and prepare it for the
subsequent process of scutching.
According to this Invention the flax or fibrous material is fed on to the
surface of a revolving drum, the axis of which is mounted in bearings
in a suitable frame, the said drum carries the fibrous material from the
feed end of the machine to the delivery end thereof. In its passage on

page_text: the said drum the fibrous material receives the rubbing action of one or
more smaller rollers set round a part of the periphery of the said drum,
and which are caused to roll to and fro on the surface of the said drum,
the said smaller roller or rollers being carried by a separate frame
mounted on the axis of the revolving drum and capable of oscillating
motion thereupon. The oscillating frame is composed of two metal side
plates firmly stayed together and mounted on the axis of the larger drum,
one on each side of the machine, and the axes of the smaller rollers turn
in bearings capable of motion up and down in slides formed to receive
them in the side plates, and the said smaller rollers are pressed on to the
surface of the large drum by adjustable springs which allow of the
rollers rising to let pass any hard substance fed into the machine with
the fibrous material. The said oscillating frame is provided with arms
connected to an eccentric or crank or other suitable mechanism for
communicating a reciprocal motion thereto. Suitable feed and delivery
boards or endless aprons are used for feeding and delivering the material,
which in some cases is caused to pass between a pair of smooth rollers
at the feed end of the machine to flatten the said material previous to its
being operated upon by the machine. The surface of the larger drum is
fluted longitudinally, or has teeth or corrugations formed upon it, and it
is preferred that the said teeth should be rounded so as to present a
continuous undulating or corrugated surface round the periphery of the
said drum. The surface of the smaller roller or rollers is formed with
flutings or teeth or corrugations similar to and corresponding and gearing
with those of the larger drum. Motion is communicated to the machine
by hand or animal or steam power according to the size of the said
machine. Continuous rotary motion is imparted to the larger revolving
drum and an oscillating motion is imparted to the smaller roller frame,
which for one revolution of the drum oscillates to and fro eight or ten
times, more or less, according to the nature of the fibrous material
operated upon.