IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKING AND SCUTCHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATTERS. AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Mertens, of Gheel, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, and of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKING AND SCUTCHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATTERS. AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 30th October 1855, and dated the 10th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Mertens at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1855.
I, CHARLES MERTENS, of Gheel, in the Kingdom of Belgium, and of
32, Essex Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREAKING AND SCUTCHING FLAX, HEMP, AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATTERS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be
as follows:-
My improvements consist in breaking and scutching flax and other fibrous
matter by a machine that does the work in one single operation. On the
annexed Sheet of Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the endless
holding chains; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of the breaking and scutching
part of the machiue; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the machine seen longi-
tudinally with regard to the holding chains; Fig. 4 is a plan of the whole

page_text: machine; Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section of a breaking and scutching machine
constructed according to another system.
The first portion of the machine, Figs. 1, 2, 3, & 4, relates to a motion for
retaining the matter by holding apparatus, and for guiding the same during
the breaking and scutching. The flax or other fibrous matter is held and
guided by a combination of hinges of iron or other metal, which form two
endless chains (A, B). Each part of this chain or each link consists of a
plane surface, having at each end a projection or hinge for connecting the links
with each other, by means of pins, or their equivalents. On the opposite
surface there are two ribs, that form guides for rollers to roll in. Upon the
plane surface of each link I fix a board of suitable thickness. The two chains
are moved horizontally by hexagonal or other suitably shaped drums, of which
there are two on each side of the machine. The chains thus being set in
motion, a portion of the wooden surface of one chain will be seen to be in
constant contact with the same surface of the other chain (as seen at b, here-
after). The two portions that are thus in contact work between two rows of
rollers, casters, or bowls, that are fixed on shafts, one row D being for the
upper chain, and the other F for the lower chain. The shafts have necks that
turn in journals on a longitudinal piece G, G, which are fixed on the frame
ends. The shafts of the upper chain casters turn in two similar journal pieces
II, H, but a pressure is exerted by means of wedges or screws upon one of
the last-mentioned journal pieces, so as to keep the parts of the chains that
touch each other in proper contact. The chains are thus made to hold the
fibres of flax, &c., and carry them from one end of the machine to the other.
For the purpose of better holding the material, the wooden surface of the
endless chains is covered with strips of india-rubber.
In order to feed the material into the machine by the two endless chains
above described, it is put upon straps of leather or other suitable material, or
tape, which are set in motion by one or more rollers at each end of a table.
One of these rollers or sets of rollers is driven by a strap or chain from a pulley
or sprocket wheel, on one of the hexagonal drums of the lower chain. The
fibrous material is thus carried by the straps or tapes between the two chains
A, B. that take hold of it and carry it from the feeding end to the delivery
end of the machine, and whilst the material thus travels, it is first subjected to
breaking and then to scutching by means of beaters acting upon that portion
of the material which is between said beeters. The shafts of the lower chain
casters, aforesaid, carry bevel wheels at the end opposite the casters, the whole
row being thus set in motion by a shaft E, on which the same number of
bevels are keyed. This shaft is driven by an intermediate pulley, which com-

page_text: municates with a small pulley I on the driving shaft of the machine. The
lower roller shafts thus set in motion the two chains, and also the roller and
shafts of the upper row, by the pressure which is exerted upon said shafts.
The second portion of the machine relates to the breaking and scutching of
the fibrous material, by means of two sheets of leather, which are fastened end
to end by means of any suitable fastening, such as hooks and screws. Each of
these sheets thus forms an endless belt, of the same width nearly as the distance
between the frame sides, and turns horizontally one above the other on the two
rollers L, M, N, O. On each of said sheets I fix externally beaters of wood P,
with iron blades, which prevent them wearing too fast. One of the rollers I of
the lower sheet is fixed upon the shaft that carries the driving pulleys, and.
thus, the driving shaft being set in motion, causes the lower sheet to travel,
this sheet carrying along the upper sheet by its beaters gearing into the corre-
sponding beaters of the upper sheet. At the feeding end of the machine each
beater has its corners rounded off, so as to effect the breaking of the material,
and the scutching begins to take place further on, where the edges of each
beater are sharper; the material being conducted across the beaters by the
two chains A, B, as above described, these beaters passing over the material
horizontally at right angles or nearly so to the fibre, and takes off the non-
fibrous matter. In the space intervening between the two main drums of cach
sheet I adapt smaller turning rollers q, for the purpose of holding down the
sheets, and preventing them being separated from each other by the pressuro
of the material between the beaters when the machine is at work.
The material may also be worked by two of these machines, placed one after
the other in such manner, that when the material is delivered by the first
machine, that portion of said material which has been scutched is taken hold
of by the holding chain A, B, of the second machine, to be scutched by beaters
which correspond to the parts of the material covered by the chains of the first
machine. The material is carried by two or more of the intermediate rollers
9, which project beyond the sheets, and these rollers whilst turning keep the
fibres parallel by an endless web or cloth turning on them, thus allowing the
fibres laid horizontal to bo seized by the second machine.
Fig. 5 of the annexed sheet of Drawings is intended to illustrate by vertical
cross section another system applicable to the scutching of fibrous-materials.
This machine consists of a cylinder R of wood or iron, which is secured upon
the driving shaft R. On the circumference of this drum I fix beaters of the
same shape and width as those of the machine described above. A shoot S,
similar to that of the above-described machine, is adapted to a portion of
the circumference of this cylinder by turning upon two rollers T, U. This

page_text: sheet carries also beaters gearing into those of the drum, thus being obliged to
turn with the latter, and effecting the scutching of the fibrous material that
passes between the beaters, being carried by two endless chains from one side
of the machine to the other. The space between the two sheet drums is pro-
vided with other rollers for supporting the sheet whilst rolling upon the same.
For the purpose of preventing the beaters of the sheet being separated from
those of the drum by the pressure of the material, the driving pulleys may
also be placed on one of the shafts T, carrying the sheet drum. The fibrous
material is conducted and held by endless chains A, B, the same as in the first
machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Mertens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MERTENS, of Gheel, in the Kingdom of Belgium, and of 32, Essex Street,
Strand, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Ier reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Mertens, IIer special licence that I, the said Charles Mertens, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Mertens, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREAKING AND SCUTCHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATTERS, AND IN
THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles Mertens, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Mertens, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):-
-
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the machine; Figure 2, the plan of
the same, with part of a second one; Figure 3, a vertical cross section
of the machine through A, B, of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4, a vertical cross
section of the machine through C, D, of Figure 2; Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and
10 represent different parts of the machine in detail; Figure 11, a vertical
cross section of a machine, in which the same system is modified or differently
applied. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 11 are drawn to a scale of one inch
to a foot; and Figures 8, 9, and 10 are full size, and the same letter in each
Figure refers to the same part or parts.
a, a, b, and b', are rollers, carrying two endless webs of leather or other
suitable substance, upon which are fastened, parallel with the rollers, strips of
wood or other substance, c, c, c, (the beaters), running the whole width of the
web. These strips are each of a varying section, as shewn full size in Figures
8, 9, and 10. Figure 8 represents the form of the beaters where the flax,
hemp, &c. enters between them. Figure 9 shows how these beaters alter
gradually in their form till they appear as shewn by Figure 10, which represents
the section of the beaters at and near that end of the machine where the
flax, hemp, &c. leaves the same. d, d, are rollers, fixed inside the respective
beating webs to prevent them from separating when in operation. The lower
web is put in motion by the roller a', which is driven by a band from any
suitable motive power through the pulley e, e', being a loose pulley used for tho
purpose of stopping the machine.
The upper web is driven by its beaters gearing into those of the lower one.
The purpose of these beating webs is to break and scutch the flax, hemp,
&c., it being presented to the beaters at one end of the machine, and travels
slowly to the other end of the same, having thus been submitted to a rapid
corrugating and scutching action, by which the non-fibrous parts of the flax,
hemp, &c. are removed from the fibre, and delivered by the lower web at the
back of the machine over the roller a'. The series of beaters are fixed upon
the webs at intervals, so as to allow the amount of scutching or beating action
to be varied, according to the state of flax, hemp, &c. to be operated upon,
this being effected by placing all or only some of the beaters in gear at a time.
It must be understood that only about one-half of the length of the flax,
hemp, &c. is at one time operated upon by the beaters, whilst the other part
is held by the traversing holders, which carry the flax, hemp, &c. very slowly
from end to end of the machine.
These holders consist of two endless chains or bands passing over hexagonal

page_text: or other shaped pulleys ƒ, j,j,f. The inside parts of these chains are pieces
of iron g, g, with internal flanges on both sides, which serve to keep them
laterally in their positions. These pieces of iron are either hinged together
and covered with pieces of wood h, h, as shewn in Figure 7, or serve only as a
lining to an endless band of leather, india-rubber, gutta percha, or other
suitable substance, as shewn in Figure 6. In all cases the chains should be
covered with thin bands of india-rubber or other suitable substance i, i, thus
increasing the holding power of the chains. The lower endless chain is moved
by means of the small rollers j. j, on the spindles of which are fixed bevil
wheels k, k, which are driven by corresponding wheels 1, 1, carried upon a
spindle m, which receives its motion also from the pulley & through pullies g
and P, and wheels o and n, causing the necessary reduction of speed. The
upper endless chain is moved by contact with the lower one, being pressed
upon it by rollers j', as the bearings r, r, of these rollers as well as those of
the lower rollers may be adjusted by screws 8, 8, wedges, or other means.
There are also two rollers j' which serve to press the chain together outside
the frame. Both these chains are prevented from sagging by the pullies t, t.
The rollers u and u¹ carry endless tapes, and receive motion from one of tho
hexagonal pullies f through the pullies vand v', and upon these tapes the flax,
hemp, &c. is spread and taken by them into the holding chains, so that
about one-half of the length of the flax, hemp, &c. may undergo the beating
or scutching action of the machine. w is a surface of wood or iron, which
supports the ends of the flax after leaving the tapes and before entering into
the beaters, and this surface w supports the flax, &c. till it enters between the
beaters. It is obvious from the above that only one-half of the flax, hemp, &c.
is operated upon at a time, and to complete the remaining half it can either
be passed through the same machine a second time (the ends of the flax,
hemp, &c. being reversed), or it can be delivered by the first machine directly
into a second one, placed as shown in Figure 2; and to ensure the flax, hemp,
&c. not being disarranged on its passing from the holding chains of the first
machine to those of the second, intermediate endless holding bands a are used,
which receive their motion from one of the hexagonal pullies through pullies
y and y', as shown in Figures 2 and 5; at the same time the rollers =,=, serve
as supports for the ends of the flax, hemp, &c., and being moved rapidly in
outward directions, keep them stretched nearly at right angles to the holding
chains, as seen in Figure 4.
Figure 11 represents how a drum may be substituted for the lower beating
web and its rollers a', b'.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise
details; but what I claim is, the combination herein described, whereby the
flax or fibrous material is held and carried through the machine, and is scutched
or beaten by the beaters, as herein explained, and when desired is also
conducted into a second machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Mertens, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
C. MERTENS. (L.B.)