CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER- WISE PREPARING FLAX, AND OTHER LIKE FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CARDWELL MCBRIDE, of Alistragh, in the County of Armagh, Farmer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of
June, One thousand eighty hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Cardwell M°Bride, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her.
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Cardwell McBride, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Cardwell McBride, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING OR OTHER-
WISE PREPARING FLAX, AND OTHER LIKE FIBROUS MATERIALS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Cardwell
McBride, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: 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, I, the said
William Cardwell M°Bride, hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My Improvements in Machinery for Scutching or otherwise Preparing Flax
and other like Fibrous Materials, are exemplified in Figures 1, 2, and 3, of the
Drawings annexed, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 a plan, and
Figure 3 an end elevation of a double-scutching mill, constructed according to
my Invention. Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, shew different views of the holding wheels.
A, A, is the general framework of the machine, which combines two scutching
mills arranged according to my Invention, and fed or supplied from the same
set of holders, or carriers. These, mills are respectively designated in the
Drawings as No. 1 and No. 2. The same letters refer to similar parts in each
mill. B, B¹, are the scutching blades or handles, which are affixed in any
convenient number (two only are shewn in the Drawings) to the discs. C, C¹,
which are mounted on the shafts D, D', which turn in bearings affixed to the
framework. E is the "stock" for the set of scutchers B, and E that for the
scutchers B', against which the flax is thrown in the operation of scutching..
F is a bevil wheel on the driving shaft G, which gears into another bevil
wheel F on the shaft of the scutchers B¹. The motion of the shaft. is, trans-
mitted to that of the scutchers B by means of the bevil gearing H', H, on the
inclined, shaft H, by which means the sets of scutchers are caused to work so
that a blade of each shall strike the flax or other material passsing through.
the machine on the opposite sides, the direction of action of the blades being
at, or nearly at, right angles to each other, and the plane of motion of one set.
of the blades coinciding, or nearly coinciding, with the axis of the other set of
blades. I, I, are, holding pulleys, by which the material to be scutched
is applied to the mills,, which operate, in succession on opposite ends of the
same, the mill No. 1 scutching one end of the flax, &c. on both of its sides,
and the mill No. 2 scutching both sides of the opposite end.. It will be seen
that in each mill the sets of scutchers B, B', strike the flax or other material.
at,, or nearly at, right angles to each other, and on opposite sides thereof, the
scutchers being geared so that the blades of each set shall come into action
successively on the material as it is passed through the machine by the revolu-
tion of the holders. After the material has been operated on, on both sides of

page_text: one end, by the mill No. 1, it is carried through the holder, and the opposite
end, or that which had not been scutched in the mill No. 1, is presented to
the action of the scutchers in the mill No: 2, where both of its sides are
operated on in the manner before described; after which, if the material has
not been sufficiently cleaned, it is again passed through both of the mills
as before.
The mode of construction and operation of the holding, carrying, and turning
arrangement is as follows:-I, I', are the holding wheels or pulleys of the two
mills, as before mentioned. These holders are connected together by two end-
less ropes a, a, which press into two grooves on their peripheries, and by which
the flax is held during the operation of dressing. The endless ropes are kept
tight by means of two stenting pulleys 1, 2, which are capable of being shifted
in the direction of the arrows, so as to keep the ropes constantly tight. The
direction in which the wheels revolve is shewn by the arrows. On the peri-
pheries of each of the holding wheels is another groove, intermediate of those
for the holding ropes, which serve for the ropes of the carrying and turning
arrangement. There are two endless ropes for each holder running in the
intermediate grooves, and these ropes form the carriers. The under rope b,
from the holder I, passes over the pulleys 3 and 4, and the upper one cover
the pulleys 3, 5, and 6. The pulleys 3, 4, and 5, are raised from eight to ten
inches above the plane of the wheels, and they, as well as the pulley 6, are
placed obliquely to the horizontal,' so that when the ropes b and c leave
the pulleys 3, 4, 5, and 6, they come again to their original level (b passing
beneath a guide pulley 7), and thus they enter the groove of the holder fairly.
The flax is introduced between the ropes where they meet at the point d,
allowing the ropes to catch it about five or six inches above the mid-length,
the pulleys 11 (in Figure 2) serving to keep the ropes pressed into the grooves.
It is thus carried around the holder I of the mill No. 1, and after having been
submitted to the operation of the scutchers in that mill, comes out between the
two ropes at e, is carried between them as far as the point f, where the ropes
separate to pass round their respective pulleys, and is there released, when it is
immediately taken up by the carrying arrangement of the mill No. 2. In
this arrangement there are two endless ropes g, h, similar to those before
described in the carrying arrangement of mill No. 1. The under rope ģ
passes over the pulleys 8, 9, and 10, and the upper one, h, over the pulleys
9 and 10. At the point where these two ropes close on the pulley 10, the
ropes of No. 1 separate on the pulley 3; and as they are placed at a height of
from eight to ten inches above the pulley 10, the flax is caught by the end
already dressed in No. 1 mill, and the undressed end falls down, and the flax

page_text: being held by the dressed end, is thus carried into the mill No. 2 to be dressed
on the other end. Immediately under the double rope, passing from the
pulley 10 to the mill No. 2, is a rod of iron k, and the flax falls over this rod in
such a position that one end of it is on each side of the rod before it passes to
the holding wheel I'. This rod rises at the end next the wheel I', and the
dressed end of the flax, as it passes along it, is thus raised to allow of the upper
holding rope a catching hold of it. It also facilitates the removal of the flax
when dressed, when it is taken by hand from between the carrying ropes at the
point m. The pulleys 6, 4, 9, and 8 are capable of being shifted, and have
weights or springs attached to them so as to keep their respective ropes tightly
distended. The pulley 9 has a broad disc n, of tin plate or some such
light material, on the top of it, which carries the end of the flax over the rope,
passing from the pulley 9 to the pulley 8. As this disc also travels faster than
the flax, it serves to take out of the tail of the material the bend it will have
acquired in passing through the mill No. 1. In order to prevent straining of
the holding pulley I¹, it is made in two parts i, ; the part i is keyed to the
shaft, and has two grooves formed on its periphery, while the part ¹ turns
loosely, and has a single groove. The holder I¹ of the mill No. 2 is driven
from the holder I of the mill No.
gearing from the driving shaft G.
regulating the speed of the holders.
adopted for giving motion to the holders.
1, which is set in motion by suitable
K, K, are differential cone pulleys for
Other gearing than that described may be
A holding, carrying, and turning arrangement, similar to that described for
my scutching mills, may be also usefully applied in heckling and other similar
dressing machines. I do not in either case confine myself to the exact arrange-
ment of holding, carrying, and turning ropes described, as I may find it con-
venient to slightly modify the same to suit particular circumstances. I
would also mention that a similar arrangement may be applied to single mills
constructed with my improvements.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim in respect
thereof is the general arrangement and combination of parts herein-before
described for scutching, holding, carrying, and turning flax and other similar
vegetable fibrous substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cardwell McBride, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Third day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
WILLIAM C. (L.s.) MCBRIDE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of December, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid William Cardwell M°Bride came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
5 form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.