IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Collett Homersham, of Caroline Villas,
Kentish Town, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 11th July 1856, and dated the 14th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Collett Homersham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th January 1856.
I, WILLIAM COLLETT HOMERSHAM, of Caroline Villas, Kentish Town, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF HEMP,
FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the combination of the mechanism, herein-after
described, for crushing and beating the material, and in the mechanism for
scutching, herein-after described.
The mechanism for crushing consists of a series of pairs of fluted rollers
mounted horizontally in a frame, each pair acting independently on the
material under operation, and every succeeding pair being driven at such a
speed as to cause the material to be delivered less freely than by the pair
preceding them, thereby obviating. the tendency to break the fibre by tension.

page_text: The number of such pairs of rollers may be varied, and the mode of actuating
them; but once in cach pair should be fixed, and the other adjustable, by means
of springs, to suit the nature and quality of the material to be operated upon.
By this means a kind of cushion of the material is formed on the board or
endless web which conveys to the material from one pair of rollers to the next,
and the material in this position will be acted upon by means of canes or
other suitable beaters, which are made to impart an elastic blow to the
material by means of cams and springs, in order to imitate the action of hand-
caning on a horizontal surface. It may also be found desirable to combine
with this mechanism a suitable blowing apparatus.
For the scutching process, I employ a set of beaters, mounted so as to
operate as the vanes within a case similar to the ordinary blast fan, the front
of such beaters being made to act on the striking board or boards, which is or
are adjustable. By the revolution of these beaters or fans there is combined
with the beating action a strong current of air, which is so conducted and
directed as to materially assist in clearing off the boon or other matter
required to be removed. In some cases I insert in the beaters fine steel pins
or points, to assist in opening and cleaning the material under operation.
The current of air, produced as stated above, subsequently causes the dust,
boon, tow, and lengths of the material that may have escaped from the main
body thereof to pass along a conduit to a room suitably covered to collect the
boon, &c. In a portion of such conduit or of such room, spikes or other
suitable contrivances are so arranged as to arrest, collect, and keep free from
the boon or dust the tow or escaping lengths of the material. In some cases
it may be found desirable to introduce a current or currents of air by means of
a separate blowing apparatus, in addition to that caused by the revolution of
the beaters, as above stated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Collett Homersham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COLLETT IIOMERSHAM, of Caroline Villas, Kentish Town, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,

page_text: "
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the ba
William Collett Homersham, Her special license that I, the said William Collett,
Homersham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Collett Homersham, 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 "Im-.
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE PREPARATION OF HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER.
FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Collett Homersham, 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 William Collett Homersham, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for the Preparation of
Hemp, Flax, and other Fibrous Materials," consists in the combination of the
mechanism, bercin-after described, for crushing and beating the material, and
in the mechanism for scutching, herein-after described.
⚫ The mechanism for crushing and beating consists of a series of pairs of fluted
rollers, mounted horizontally in a frame, each pair acting independently on
the material under operation, and every succeeding pair being driven at such
a speed as to cause the material to be delivered less freely than by the pair
preceding them, thereby obviating the tendency to break the fibre by tension.
The number of such pairs of rollers may be varied, and the mode of actuating
them;
but one in each pair should be fixed, and the other adjustable, by means
of springs, to suit the nature and quality of the material to be operated upon.
By this means a kind of cushion of the material is, formed on the hoard.or
endless web which conveys the material from one pair of rollers to the next,
and the material in this position will be acted upon by means of canes or other,
suitable beaters, which are made to simpart an elastic blow to the material by.
means of cams and springs, in order to imitate the action of hand-caning, on-a
horizontal surface. It may also be found desirable to combine with this
mechanisni a suitable blowing apparatus..

page_text: For the scutching, process, I employ a set of beaters, mounted so as to
operate. as the vanes within a case similar to the ordinary blast fan, the front
of such beaters being made to act on the striking board or boards, which is or
aire adjustable. By the revolution of these beaters or fans there is combined
with the beating action a strong current of air, which is so conducted and
directed as to assist materially in clearing off the boon or other matter required
to be removed. In some cases I insert in the beaters fine steel pins or points,
to assist in opening and cleaning the material under operation. The current of
air, produced as stated above, subsequently causes the dust, boon, tow, and
lengths of the material that may have escaped from the main body thereof to
pass along a conduit to a room suitably covered to collect the boon, &c. In
a portion of such conduit or of such room, spikes or other suitable contrivances
åre so arranged as to arrest, collect, & keep free from the boon or dust the tow
ór-escaping lengths of the material. In some cases it may be found desirable
to introduce a current or currents of air by means of a separate blowing
apparatus, in addition to that caused by the revolution of the beaters, as above
stated..
·
In order, however, that my-Invention may be fully understood and readily.
carried into effect; I will proceed to describe the accompanying Drawings, in
which is represented-the-machinery-above referred to..
CRUSHING AND BEATING MACHINE.
'
Figures 1 and 3 are side and end elevations, and Fig. 2 is, a plan. or
horizontal view of the machine. A, A, is the frame or standards of the
machine; B is the driving shaft, set in motion by the pulleys C from the
prime mover; D, D, are a series of bevil wheels on the shaft B, with diameters.
decreasing successively, so as to impart to the crushing rollers successively a
decreasing speed, by gearing with the wheels E, E, of uniform diameters, on
_ the axles of the rollers F, F, (that is to say,) the rollers which are first made
to operate on the material are driven at a given speed, then the rollers in
_succession therefrom throughout the series are driven at gradually decreasing
speeds. The lower set of rollers F, F, are mounted in suitable bearings in the
frame in the ordinary manner, but the upper set of rollers are mounted in
adjustable bearings, and they are capable of exerting an elastic pressure
downwards by means of their springs G, G. The upper set of rollers F, F,
are also fluted, the flutes thereof slightly decreasing in size from those at that
end of the machine where the material is introduced. H, H, are series of
rollers, mounted in the framo in pairs, each pair carrying an endless web I,
composed of any suitable material, working over a platform or table of wood

page_text: or iron. On this endless web the material is deposited as it passes from each
set of the crushing rollers. K, K, are a number of cams fixed respectively
on the shafts B and L, on each side of the machine, which cams on being set
in motion raise the levers M* at the ends of the beaters M, of cane (or other
suitable material), and immediately afterwards allow the same levers and ends
of the beaters to be suddenly brought down by the action of the springs N on
the levers at the opposite side of the fulcra O, thereby imparting to the canes
or beaters M a sharp striking action. These beaters, with their respective
cams and springs, are arranged on each side of the machine, so as to be capable
of operating on the material deposited and spread over the surface of the endless
web to which they are applied. The beaters M are screwed to the levers M*,
so as to be easily renewed when required.
The action of the machine is as follows:-On motion being imparted to the
shaft B, the first pair of crushing rollers F will be made to act upon the material
introduced at the left-hand end of the machine, from which pair of rollers it
will be passed to the second pair, and at a slightly decreased speed to the third
pair of the first set of rollers, whence it will be deposited on the first platform
or table of endless web I, where it will be submitted to the action of the canes
or beaters M applied to this web. The material will next be passed on and
taken up by the second set of crushing rollers F, through which it will pass,
and after undergoing a further crushing process, will be delivered from the
second pair of this set of rollers at a slightly decreased speed, and deposited
on the second platform or table of endless web, and submitted to a second
process of beating. The material will then be passed on and taken up by the
third pair of crushing rollers F, from the second pair of which, after being again
crushed, it will be delivered at a slightly decreased speed and deposited on the
third platform or table of endless web, and acted upon by the beaters belonging
thereto. Hence, it will be seen, that the material is alternately crushed and
beaten during the whole course of its progress through the machine. When
it is thought desirable to combine a blowing apparatus with the above-
described mechanism, it may be adapted so that the blast may be directed upon
the material as it becomes deposited upon the travelling platforms I, I, in the
line of its course through the machine.
I would here remark, that I do not confine myself to the number of rollers
or sets of beaters shewn in the Drawing and described above.

page_text: mounted in plummer blocks, bolted to the frame, as shewn; b, b, are the driving
pulleys; c, c, are the beaters, bolted or fixed to the ends of the arms d, d,
which are bolted to the discs e, e, mounted on the driving shaft. The beaters
c, c, are enclosed within a case f,f, within which they are made to revolve in
the direction of the arrows, and by their revolution to act successively upon
the material which is introduced upon the striking board or boards g, g, which
is or are adjustable by means of the screws h, h, so as to regulate the distance
from the boards at which it may be convenient for the beaters to operate upon
the material. In some cases fine pins or points may be inserted in the beaters
c, c, to increase their effect in cleaning the material. i is an opening in the
upper part of the case, forming an outlet for a portion of the blast occasioned
by the revolution of the beaters. This blast passes into the pipe or channel k,
whence.it is directed through the nozzle (inserted in the striking board) upon
the. material under operation of the beaters. By this means the blast will
be made to act upon the material, so as to assist materially in clearing off the
boon or other matter required to be removed, by presenting the material to the
action of the beaters in à less compact form than it would otherwise be, and
at the same time forming a current of air at the back of and through the
material. The opening i in the case may be covered more or less by means
of a slide m, moved by a rack and pinion n, worked by a handle o, so as to
regulate the strength of the blast directed to the back of the material, as may
be required. p is a conduit, along which the dust, boon, and lengths of the
material escaping from the main body thereof may be impelled by the blast
or current of air within the case; 9, 9, are spikes, inserted in boards at inter-
vals within the conduit p, for the purpose of retaining and collecting such
escaping lengths of material, and keeping them free from the boon or dust
that may have passed with them from the case, such boon or dust being blown
forward to the room or receptacle provided for it.
It will thus be perceived, that on power being applied to the shaft a, the
beaters c, c, will be made to revolve in the direction of the arrows, and to act
upon the material introduced upon the board or boards g, so as to prepare it,
by beating and separating its fibres, at the same time causing a blast, a portion
of which is directed upon the material through the striking board with the
effect above described, thereby separating the boon, dust, &c. from the material,
and causing the former to pass off into a room or receptacle for the purpose,
the escaping lengths of the material being arrested and collected and kept
free from the boon, dust, &c., as described. In some cases it may be desirable
to employ a separate blowing apparatus in order to direct the blast through
the striking board to the back of the material, and to direct the whole of

page_text: the blast created by the revolution of the beaters to the front of the material
under operation.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not mean
or intend to confine myself to the precise forms and arrangements of the
parts represented and described; but what I claim as of my Invention is, in
respect of the crushing and beating machine, the combination of the crushing
rollers with the beaters, as described; also the adaptation and application of
beaters with their apparatus, as described, to machinery for preparing hemp,
flax, and other fibrous materials.
And in respect of the scutching machine, I claim the combination and
arrangement of mechanism, whereby the beating of the material is combined
with the creation and direction of the blast, as described; also, the mode
described of collecting the escaping lengths of the material and keeping them
separate from the dust, boon, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Collett Homersham, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
20 Witness,
G. B. COULCHER,
50, Chancery Lane.
W COLLETT HOMERSHAM. (L.S.)