NEW MACHINE FOR BREAKING OR SWINGLING AND PREPARING FLAX OR HEMP
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
WILSON, late of Abbey Street, Bermondsey, but now of Lambeth Walk, in the
County of Middlesex, Flax Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of January last, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Wilson, His
special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Benjamin Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of
them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies,
servants, or agents, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Wilson, iny
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, 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, my invented or
found out "NEW MACHINE FOR BREAKING OR SWINGLING AND PREPARING FLAX OR
HEMP;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Benjamin Wilson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention.
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Wilson, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the
plan or Drawing hereto annexed, and the following description thereof,
that is to say-
My new machine for breaking and swingling and preparing flax or hemp
consists of, first, the part of the machine for breaking, exhibited at Figure 1,
a side view, and Figure 2, a front view, in which three or more indented
rollers of iron or other fit material are made to work into each other, and the
flax or hemp intended to be broken is introduced between two upper rollers,
and delivered from between the two lower; or if more than three rollers are
employed, the flax or hemp is intended to be introduced between the two upper
rollers, and delivered from those at the end of the range. A is the fly wheel
and crank or handle, upon the reverse end of the shaft or axle of which is a
pinion B, working into the cog wheel C, attached to the axle of one of the
indented rollers, and by the revolution of said fly wheel the whole is put in
motion; the axles of the indented rollers are to be placed in two forked
standards D, which are seen in Figure 1, holding three indented rollers
E, E, E, and which rollers are pressed upon by spiral springs and bushes; seen
at F; the flax or hemp introduced, as above described, between the two
upper rollers is conducted by a concave guide G (placed behind the second
roller) to the teeth or indentations of the second and third rollers, through
which the flax or hemp will then pass. The swingling machine, which may or
may not be connected with the foregoing apparatus, is represented at Figure 3,
a horizontal view, and Figure 4, a vertical view, in which H is a crank or
handle to turn the shaft I, and upon this shaft is a bevel edged vertical cog
wheel K working the pinion L attached to the spindle M, which spindle
carries a flying beater N, of one, two, or more arms. The mode of using this
machine for swingling is as follows:-Hold or suspend the parcels of broken
flax or hemp so as to receive the strokes of the flying beaters as they revolve,
and by this beating the wooden particles will be detached, and the material
will be then prepared for the heckle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, One thousand cight
hundred and eighteen.
BENJAMIN (L.s.) WILSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-third day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Benjamin Wilson came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-third day of July, in the year above written.