IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX. AND HEMP
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir Peter Fairbairn, Knight, and Robert Newton,
Engineer, both of Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention. of.
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX. AND HEMP."
Sealed the 31st January 1861, and dated the 5th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and
Robert Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with.
their Petition, on the 5th November 1860..
We, Sir PETER FAIRBAIRN, Knight, and ROBERT NEWTON, Engineer, both
of Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said?
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND HEMP," .to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of machinery whereby the
process of heckling flax and other fibrous substances may be expedited .without
increasing the risk of breaking the fibre, or increasing the proportion of tow-
produced during the operation. This expedition we obtain by removing the
necessity for raising and lowering the flax holders to and from the heckle pins,.
and otherwise effecting the gradual approach of the heckles to the nip of the
holders. The heckle bars are carried by endless sheets, as usual, of which we
provide a series, setting them the one behind the other in a long frame, and
each on an incline, the hind roller of each sheet being elevated above the

page_text: front roller, to enable the heckles gradually to reach the nip of the holders.
Adjustable bearings are provided for the hind rollers, for the purpose of
keeping the sheets at tension, and also to regulate their distance from the flax
holders. These holders, which extend across the machine, and run in grooves
in the side frames, are carried through the machine by means of endless
chains, into the links of which projections on the holders drop. The heckle
sheets are geared so that the adjacent sheets shall run in opposite directions,
for the purpose of operating alternately upon the opposite sides of the pendent
travelling stricks. The gauge of the heckles is also adjusted so that those of
the coarsest pitch will act on both sides of the flax first, then a finer gauge,
and, finally, the finest gauge, three pair of heckle sheets being the number
which we in general propose to employ.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
NEWTON, Engineer, of Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
Sir Peter Fairbairn, Knight, of Leeds, in the County of York, and me, the
said Robert Newton, Her special license that we, the said Sir Peter Fairbairn
and Robert Newton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Sir Peter Fairbairn and Robert Newton, our 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 HECKLING FLAX
AND HEMP," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Sir Peter
Fairbairn and Robert Newton, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said 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

page_text: the date of the said Letters Patent. And whereas the said Sir Peter
Fairbairn departed this life on the Fourth day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Newton, do hereby declare
the nature of our 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 machinery whereby the
process of heckling flax and other fibrous substances may be expedited without
increasing the risk of breaking the fibres, or increasing the proportion of tow
produced during the heckling operation. The increased speed of working is
obtained by removing the necessity for raising and lowering the flax holders to
and from the heckle pins, and by otherwise effecting the gradual approach of
a series of heckles of a graduated degree of gauge to the nip of the holders.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews the improved beckling machine
in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view; and Fig. 3 is a cross section, taken
in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
a, a, is the main framing, which is fitted at. its opposite ends with a pair of
chain wheels b, 61, for giving rotary motion to a pair of endless chains, by
which the flax holders c, c, c, are traversed through the machine in fixed
guides formed in the side frames (see Fig. 3). The heckle bars are carried
by endless sheets, as usual. In this arrangement, however, a series of sheets
d, d, da, d³, d, and d³, is employed, the sheets being set the one behind the
other in the long framing a, and each at an incline to the horizontal guides in
which the holders c are supported. In the Drawing six sets of heckle sheets
are shewn, that being the number preferred, but more or less sets may be
employed if thought desirable, an even number being retained for the purpose
of ensuring an equal heckling action to both sides of the strick of flax. The
hind rollers of each sheet are elevated above the front rollers, to enable the
heckles gradually to reach the nip of the holders. These rollers are mounted
in adjustable bearings, for the purpose not merely of keeping the heckle sheets
in tension, but of regulating the distance of the heckles from the flax holders
to suit various lengths of staple. The holders instead of entering the machine
endways, as usual, are made to entend across the machine, and they receive a
continuous progressive motion from the endless chains, into the links of which
projections from the holders drop to enable the chains to take hold of them.
While the operation of heckling is proceeding, the holders are fed into the
machine by hand as fast as space is provided for then on the chains, so that

page_text: Farrow.
when the machine is in full action there will be the stricks of several flax
holders under the action of each heckle sheet simultaneously. The heckle
sheets are geared so that the adjacent sheets shall run in opposite directions,>>
for the purpose of subjecting the opposite sides of the pendent travelling
stricks alternately to the heckling operation. The gauge of the heckles is also
adjusted as in ordinary heckling machines, so that those of a coarse pitch will
act on both sides of the strick of flax first, then a finer gauge, and, finally, the
finest gauge.
As the fibres become disentangled and the tow is removed, the
flax will not only bear the action of a finer gauge of heckle pins, but it will
also bear a quicker action of the heckles. A varying graduated speed is,
therefore, imparted to the heckle sheets, that which is nearest the feeding end
of the machine having the lowest speed, and each following sheet having a
superior speed to that preceding it. Rotary motion is imparted to the machine
by a strap from any first mover passing round the fixed pulley e¹ on the driving
-shaft. e. A pinion on this shaft gears into a spur wheel mounted on the axle
of the hind roller of the heckle sheet d; and drives it in the direction of the
From a fast pulley è on the shaft é a crossed strap passes to a fast
pulley on a stud axle f, which carries a pinion in gear with a spur wheel on
the axle of the hind roller of the heckle sheet d', and thus rotary motion is
given to that sheet in an opposite direction to the sheet d. By a similar
arrangement motion is communicated to the several heckle sheets of the
series, so that they may rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows. The
chain wheels b derive their motion by a train of gearing (see Fig. 1) from the
axle of the front roller of the heckle sheet d. When, therefore, the machine
is set in action, the first set of heckle pins will commence at the point of the
strick and work up gradually to the nip of the holder (by reason of the pro-
gressive motion of the holder over the inclined sheet), and thus one side of the
strick will be heckled with the coarsest gradation of heckle pins. Following
the course of one holder, the pendent strick will next come under the action
of the second heckle sheet, which, rotating in an opposite direction to that of
the first set, will act upon the opposite side of the strick. The holder will
then pass forward to the third heckle sheet provided with finer heckle pins,
and the strick coming under the action of this sheet it will be heckled on one
side. It will then pass to the next sheet, which, by reason of its rotating in
an opposite direction, will heckle it on the opposite side. And thus the
operation will be continued until the strick has passed under the action of the
whole series of heckle sheets. The holder will now pass forward to the end
of its guides, ready to be removed from the machine to reverse the position of
the flax in the holder, and bring the opposite end of the strick under the action

page_text: may
of the machine. As an indication of the relative speeds at which the heckle
sheets be driven, it may be stated that if the driving pulley for the first
sheet makes sixty revolutions per minute, that of the second may make
seventy, the next following eighty, and so on; but this inequality of speed
may be varied at pleasure.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Heckling Flax and Hemp," and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim the arrangement of heckling machinery, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Newton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ROBERT NEWTON. (L.S.)