CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lowry, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 16th February 1858, and dated the 24th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lowry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1857.
1, GEORGE LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
The first part of this Invention is applicable to those sheet heckling
machines, in which the rollers for the sheets are made to approach and
recede from each other, and consists in making the guides of the heckle
bars elastic, so that when the roller or rollers have been moved to approach
or recede from each other, the elasticity of the guides keeps them in contact
with the bearing or shaft of the roller.
The second part of my Invention consists in making the sheets of sheet
heckling machines of metal, or of metal combined with leather or other
suitable material, the object being to avoid the stretching or elongating of the
sheets:
My Invention consists thirdly, in the application of stays to the shafts of
therollers over which the sheets pass; the object of these stays is to prevent the
Price Rd 1

page_text: deflection of the suid shafts. The stays may be connected to a rail extending
from one frame side to the other, or they may be placed between the shafts or
otherwise constructed.
The last part of my Invention is applicable to all heckling machines, in
which the strick holders are traversed fro:n one end of the machine to the
other; this consists in an improved combination of levers for traversing the
strick holders along the rails or trough.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filod
by the said George Lowry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria. by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Lowry, Her special licence, that I, the said George
Lowry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Lowry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
upon the condition, (amongst others) that I, the said George Lowry, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next andimmediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Lowry, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
The first part of this Invention is applicable to those sheet heckling

page_text: machines, in which the rollers for the sheets are made to approach and recede
from each other,and consists in making the guides of the heckle bars elastic,
so that when the roller or rollers have been moved to approach or recede from
each other, the elasticity of the guides keeps them in contact with the bear-
ings or shafts of the rollers.
The second part of my Invention consists in making the sheets of sheet
heckling machines of metal, or of metal combined with leather or other
suitable material, the object being to avoid the stretching or elongating of the
sheets.
My Iuvention consists thirdly, in the application of stays to the shafts of
the rollers over which the sheets pass; the object of these stays is to prevent
the deflection of the said shafts. The stays. may be connected to a rail
extending from one frame side to the other, or they may be placed between
the shafts or otherwise constructed.
The last part of my Invention is applicable to all heckling machines in
which the strick holders are traversed from one end of the machine to the
other,and consists in an improved combination of machinery for traversing
the strick holders along the rails or trough.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, and realily
carried into operation, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is an end elevation of a sheet heckling machine to which some of
my improvements are applied; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same;
Figure 3 is a detached view of the machinery for making the rollers for the
sheets approach to and recede from each other; Figure 4 is a detached view
of the heckle bars and parts connected therewith, and Figure 5 is another
detached view,showing the elastic guides of the heckle bars; a, «, are the
belts, sheets, or chains, which are made as usual, or according to the improved
mode hereinafter described,to which the heckle bars 6,6,are attached. The
belts or sheets a, a, pass around the small rollers or drums c, c, and large
drums d,d. The parts above referred to and all the others necessary to com-
plete the machine,which are not particularly referred to hereafter, are made
in the ordinary manner,or according to the improvements secured to me by
former Letters Pateut. The small rollers c, c, are made to approach and
recede from each other in the manner shewn in Figure 3, or as described
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Second day of
April One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven,and as it is desirable that
the guides of the heckle bars b, b, should remain in contact with the

page_text: bearings or shafts of the said rollers, I make these guides elastic. The lower
end of each guide is attached to a bracket f', fixed to the frame end, aud
near the upper end is fitted a movable saddle f,see Figure 5; this saddle is
held by the elasticity of the guide in contact with the bearing or axle of the
small roller or drum c; the saddle is made moveable so that it may adjust
itself to the bearing or axle. The machinery shewn in Figure 3, consists of
an internal cain m³, see also Fig. 2, fixed on the same shaft as the usual
excentrics m; the cam m² acts on the link m³, and moves the lever m³ up and
down; this lever is fixed to the cross shaft m³,to which are fixed elbow levers
112. The horizontal arms of these elbow levers give lateral motion to the
bearing ',by the link m³,and the upright arm gives a similar motion to the
bearing me,by the link mo. The bearings m' and mo, have excentric bushes
in which the axles of the rollers c revolve,as described in the Specification of
the Letters Patent above referred to. When the rollers c revolve in pedestals,
to which a lateral motion is given, the upper end of each guide f,is attached
to a flange of the pedestal, as shewn in Figure 1, by this monus the guide
moves to and fro with the pedestal, and it may be rigid instead of elastic as
above described. As the belts or sheets a, a, when made of leather as
hitherto customary,are very liable to stretch after being some time in use, 1
propose to obviate or diminish this evil by making them of metal.or of metal
combined with leather or other suitable material; when made of metal 1 prefer
the use of very thin endless sheets or plates of steel,brass, or copper. These
endloss sheets or plates may be rolled in the same manner as the ribbon or
endless saws now known and in use,and when made only partly of metal, 1
make use of thin plates of steel or other suitable metal rivetted to the leather
or other material,or connected thereto by the bolts or rivets which secure the
heckle bars b, to the sheets or belts.
My Invention of the application of stays to the shafts of the rollers or
druns over which the sheets of heckles pass,is illustrated in Figure 4; at the
right hand side of this Figure, the shafts of both the rollers or drums c and d,
are stayed by the stays c and d, these stays are united by bolts, and the
distance between the shafts is adjusted by a regulating set screw d³. It is
evident, that when one or more of these stays aro applied the deflection of the
shafts is either prevented or diminished. The loft hand side of Figure 4,
representsa modification of this part of my Invention,applicable when the the
top roller c does not move laterally; in this caso the cross rail a, passes from
one frame end to the other inside the sheets, and to it is fixed one or more
bearings, to support the shaft of the roller or drum c.
These stays are
particularly useful when applied to very wide machines, but they are also

page_text: beneficial when applied to machines of the usual width, as the shafts of the
rollers or drums may be of less diameter when such stays are applied; other
modes of constructing these stays might be shown, but the foregoing are
sufficient to illustrate this part of my Invention.
The last part of iny Invention, relating to the mode of traversing the strick
holders from one end of the machine to the other, is constructed in the follow-
ing manner: The strick holders marked g, are traversed along the trough ?,
(which is raised and lowered in the usual manner by the excentrics m, m,
and side bars n, n.) but in this instance the trough has a longitudinal motion,
as well as the up-and-down motion imparted to it by the link n', which is
jointed below to a projection from one of the side bars n, and above to one
arm of the elbow lever o, the upper arm of which is jointed to the link o¹,
which is also jointed to the pendulum lever p, the lower extremity of which
is connected to the trough i, by the link q; the trough i bears upon rollers 1²,
which are mounted on studs fixed to the side bars n. To these side bars is
fixed the rail, to which are hinged the catches s, s; by this arrangement
when the trough i is down, or in the position shewn by the full lines in
Figure 2, it projects sufficiently at the feeding end of the machine for the
insertion of the strick holders g, and as the trough rises it is gradually moved
longitudinally towards the delivering end of the machine, until when up it
assumes the position shewn by dotted lines; the strick holders are thus
traversed with the trough, and when the trough descends the strick holders
are prevented returning with it by the catches s, which take on studs project-
ing from the strick holders.
Another modification of this part of my Invention is shewn at Figure 6;
in this view the longitudinal motion is given to the trough i, by the cam u ;
which is fixed on the same shaft as the excentrics m, by which the usual up-
and-down motion is imparted; this cam u acts on the lever v, whose fulcrum
is at ul, the upper end of the lever is connected to the trough i, by the
link w.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carry-
ing the same into operation, I declare that I claim, --
First, making the guides of the heckle bars elastic, in the manner and for
the purposes described.
Secondly, making the sheets or belts of sheet heckling machines of sheets
or plates of metal, or of sheets or plates of metal combined with leather or
other suitable material, to prevent or diminish the elongation thereof as
described.
Thirdly, the application of stays to the shafts of the drums over which the

page_text: sheets and heckle bars pass, to provent or diminish the deflection thereof as
described.
Fourthly, the improved combinations of machinery for traversing the
strick holders along the machine as described.
And lastly, the general arrangement and combination of the machinery
shewn and described for heckling flax, and other fibrous materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lowry, have hereunto 'set 'my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
GEO.
(15.)