IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR. BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER LIKE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR. BREAKING AND
CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER LIKE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."-A commu-
nication from abroad by Gelston Sanford and James Edward Mallory,
both of New York. United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th October 1862.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BREAKING AND
CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER LIKE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to break and clean flax, hemp, and other
like fibre-yielding plants by operating griping fluted rollers in a peculiar manner.
The material to be operated upon is fed in on one side, and the woody part is
broken by a crushing action, and the. broken fragments loosened from the
fibres-by-a-rubbing action of the flutes alternately in opposite directions.
The lower rollers turn in fixed boxes in the frame, and each carries a cogged
pinion outside the frame of the machine, both of which engage, and are
operated by a spur wheel that turns on a fixed stud. On this stud there is a

page_text: vibrating arm coupled by a connecting rod and crank, with a driving shaft, so
that the arm is vibrated back and forth by each rotation of the driving shaft.
A double bifurcated pawle is mounted on a fulcrum pin on the inside of the
arm, and the lower bifurcation embraces two springs on the lower end of the
arm, the tension of which springs keeps the two pawles in such position that
they both partially engage the cogs of the spur wheel, so that by vibrating
the arm in either direction the wheel will receive an axial direction, and com-
municate the same to the fluted rollers.
To ensure the rollers turning a greater distance in the forward than in
the backward direction, the bifurcated pawle is provided on the inside with
a pin or projection, which, as the arm vibrates to turn the wheel in one direc-
tion, passes under a sector which is concentric with the stud on which the
arm vibrates, or nearly so, and on the return vibration of the arm the opposito
pawle cannot engage the cogs of the wheel to turn it in the opposite direction
until the pin or projection passes beyond the sector, and in this way by the
length of the sector, or by changing its position on the frame, the return
motion of the wheel and fluted rollers can be made as much less as may be
desired. By this arrangement therefore, the fluted rollers which gripe the
flax or other plant, will through their reciprocating rotary motion alternately
in opposite directions, rub out the woody substance from the fibres as they are
passing through the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting. .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license, that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: 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 BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER
LIKE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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.
i
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent relates
to a novel arrangement of machinery for breaking and cleaning flax, hemp,
and other like fibre-yielding plants. It is also capable of being beneficially
applied to the softening of fibres after they have undergone the scutching
operation. The machine consists mainly of two pairs of gripping fluted rollers,"
which are operated in such a manner that the woody portion of the material
under treatment is broken by a crushing action and the broken fragments
loosened from the fibres by a rubbing action of the flutes alternately in
opposite directions.
.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved
machine; Fig. 2 is a plan'view of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken at
the line A, a, of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4, a section representing the inner face of
the vibrating arms, pawls, and sector by which the fluted rollers are actuated.
The same letters indicate like parts in all the Figures; a represents the
framing of the machine, and b, the table on which the material to be treated
is placed to be presented to the action of the fluted rollers."
There are two pairs of fluted rollers c, c¹, and d, d. The two lower
rollers c and d, turn in fixed boxes in the framing, and to them are respec-
tively keyed the cogged pinions e and ƒ outside the framing. These pinions
engage and are operated by a spur wheel g, that turns on a fixed stud h,
projecting from the side of the framing a. On this stud his hung a vibrating
arm i, which is coupled by a connecting rod ; with a crank pin k, carried by
the driving shaft ; the ärm i is therefore vibrated back and forth at each
rotation of the driving shaft. A double bifurcated pawle. m.is mounted--on-a-

page_text: fulcrum pin on the inside of the arm i, and the lower bifurcation n, embraces
two springs o, o, on the lower end of the arm. The tension of these springs o
keeps the two pawls in such a position that they both partially engage the
cogs of the spur wheel
Ig, so that when the arm i is vibrated in either direction,
the pawle on the side towards which the arm is moving will fully engage the
cogs, and turn the wheel g in that direction, the springs allowing the pawle to
yield for that purpose. So far as described it will be seen that such an
arrangement would turn the cog wheel 9, and the two fluted rollers c and d,
an equal distance alternately in opposite directions, but the object is to have
them turn in the direction of the arrows to a greater distance than in the
opposite direction in order that the fibrous material fed up to the rollers may
be carried through the machine. To accomplish this result, the bifurcated
pawle is provided on the inside with a pin or projection p, which as the arm i
vibrates to turn the wheel 9 in the direction of the arrow, passes under a
sector q, which is concentric with the stud on which the arm i vibrates, or
nearly so, and on the return vibration of the arm i, the opposite pawle cannot
engage the cogs of the wheel g, to turn it in the opposite direction until the
pin or projection 6. passes beyond the sector. In this way by the length of
the sector, or by changing its position on the frame the return motion of the.
wheel 9₁ and fluted rollers c and d, can be made as much less as may be
desired.
To facilitate the adjustment of the sector it is formed on the upper end of,
à plate, having one or more elongated holes through which the screw or
screws pass by which it is secured to the frame.
The two upper fluted rollers c¹ and d', have their journals mounted in
boxes held down by india-rubber or other springs r; r, by the tension of which
these rollers are pressed down towards the lower rollers so that the material to
be operated upon shall be griped by a yielding pressure between the flutes of the
upper and the lower rollers. As the rollers turn in the direction of the arrows
the flax or other plant is presented to the bite of the rollers c, c', and caught
by them, and carried forward between them, and as the return motion is
less than the forward motion, the flax is gradually carried or fed forward
from the first pairs of rollers to the second pair d, d, and then carried
forward jointly by both pairs, and finally delivered by the second pair d, d'.
The ribs or flutes of these rollers are so formed as to present no sharp edges
to the fibres, and to allow of the pairs of rollers gearing together loosely,
whereby sufficient play will be given them to avoid injury to the fibres.
By the above described mode of operation the flax or other plant is acted
upon by the flutes of the rollers alternately in opposite directions, and equally on

page_text: the lower and on the upper side, not only effectually breaking the woody parts
of the plant, but effectually separating the woody fragments from the fibres
by a rubbing action alternately in opposite directions both above and below;
and by the use of two pairs of rollers (or more if desired), the woody particles
are shaken out from between the fibres in the open space between the pairs of
rollers.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Breaking and Cleaning Flax, Hemp, and other like Fibrous Substances,"
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not limit my claim to the use of two pairs of rollers,
as one pair, or more than two pairs may be used; but what I claim under
the above in part recited Letters Patent is, giving to the fluted rollers which
gripe the flax or other plant a reciprocating rotary motion alternately in oppo-
site directions, (the motion in one direction being greater than in the opposite
direction,) in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)