IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Haym Picciotto, of 8, Crosby Square, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Haym Picciotto
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th February 1857.
I, MOSES HAYM PICCIOTTO, of 8, Crosby Square, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing flax, hemp,
and other fibrous substances. For these purposes the flax, hemp, or
other fibrous substances in the stalk or stem, without retting or other previous
preparation, are subjected to the action of plain pressing or crushing rollers,
thon to the action of grooved or fluted rollers, and then to the action of a
peculiar construction of scutching or beating machine. This machine con-
sists of two parallel axes, each having a series of beaters fixed on arms
attached to the axes. The beaters consist each of a board or blade, fixed at
the ends of two arms; the outermost edge of such board or blade is caused to
project at right angles to the board, and such projection is formed with a
narrow or sharpened edge. The beaters of the two axes are set so as to
come into action alternately on the flax, hemp, or other fibrous substance; the
two sets of beaters are enclosed in a close frame, except that there is a central
opening through the top of the case, and a central opening in the floor, below

page_text: the upper opening. The flax, hemp, or other fibrous substance is held by tho
hands of the workman, or by a suitable holder, in such manner that one end
descends through the upper opening in the case, and is struck alternately by
the two beaters. The rotation of the beaters causes currents of air, which tend
to bend off the fibrous material first in one direction and then in the other,
so that the next beater in striking acts on the fibrous substance in opposition
to the current of air which has been caused by the previous beater.
When intended for the purposes of textile fabrics, the flax, hemp, or other
fibrous substance in the stalks are subjected, previous to the mechanical
process above described, alternately to a soaking process and a pressing process
between plain pressing rollers. The fibrous substance is first soaked for some
hours in water, heated to between 90° to 100° Fahrenheit. The water is
then changed, and the temperature is increased to from 150° to 160° of
Fahrenheit. The fibrous substance is then pressed between plain rollers, hot
water being allowed to flow over it when being pressed; the fibrous substance
is again soaked in water at about 180° to 190° of Fahrenheit; the substance
is again pressed and again soaked in water, very slightly impregnated with
carbonate of soda, say, one part to from 250 to 400 parts of water, at a tem-
perature of about 180° to 190° of Fahrenheit. By thus alternately soaking
and pressing, and increasing the temperature cach time of soaking, the fibres
are obtained without fermentation and with greater advantage. When flax,
hemp, or other fibrous substance has been subjected' to the action of retting
in the ordinary manner, the fibres may be obtained in a better condition by
subjecting the retted stalks to a similar diluted solution of carbonate of soda,
at a temperature of from 150° to 180° Fahrenheit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Moses Haym Picciotto in the Great Seal. Patent Office
on the 25th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
HAYM PICCIOTTO, of 8, Crosby Square, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Moses Haym Picciotto, Her special licence that I, the said Moses

page_text: Haym Picciotto, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Moses Haym Picciotto, 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 PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Moses Haym
Picciotto, 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 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 Mosés Haym Picciotto, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
It is well known that the method generally in use for the separation of the
fibres of hemp, flax, and other similar fibrous substances from the wooden
stalks or stems, is the "retting" or steeping of the said stalks or stems in cold
or warm water for a time more or less long; during which process fermentation
ensues, and the gummy and albuminous substances of the plant being ultimately
decomposed, the adhesion of the fibres to the woody parts of the stalks is
destroyed, and when dried they become casily separable. But this fermentation
and decomposition attack more or less the strength and cohesion of the fibre,
and is more particularly injurious to hemp and other substances intended for
cordage, wherein strength is the chief desideratum. Other serious incon-
veniences attend also the process of fermentation, among which are the cor-
ruption of the waters, pestilential miasma in the surrounding atmosphere, and
uncertainty of the results. A safe method of preparing hemp, flax, and other
similar substances without fermentation, has, therefore, for a long time been
considered a desideratum.
My Invention consists in the following improvements in preparing hemp,
flax, and other fibrous substances without fermentation :-
My first improvement consists in an improved mechanism for crushing and
triturating the green or raw stalks of hemp and other fibrous substances intended
for the purposes of cordage. To effect this, I'add to a machine, composed of
fluted rollers for triturating the wood, one or more pairs of large plain rollers,

page_text: between which I pass the stalks, which thus become flattened and crushed,
and on emerging from between the plain rollers they pass through the fluted
rollers. For this purpose, I prefer a horizontal machine composed of eight:
or any other number of fluted rollers, to which I attach additionally the plain
rollers, fixing between the two sets of rollers an endless web or a wooden tray,
as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, Sheet I., in which Figure 1 is a plan,
Figuro 2 a perspective view, and Figure 3 an end elevation. The crushing
between plain rollers might be also effected by a separate machine, but I
prefer the proposed arrangement as more convenient. The effect of this
flattening and crushing will better preparo the woody part of the stalks for
trituration, and is more particularly necessary for the safe and effectual work-
ing of the largo thick stalks of hemp.
My second improvement consists in an improved scutching machine, suited
more particularly for hemp and other similar long fibres.
This machine is shewn in the accompanying Drawing, Sheet 2, in which
Figure 1 is a vertical section, Figure 2 a sectional clevation, Figure 3 a
perspective view. The machine is double, or made for two scutchors. A is
an external case, through which pass the two parallel axes B, mounted on
plummer blocks, and adjusted horizontally; D are discs fixed on the axis B,
and carry each three arms C fixed at equal distances. Each pair of arms
carries at the end a beater E, which ends in the form of a blade, but the
shape of which may be varied to suit the quality of the fibre under treatment;
whatever be the shape, however, tho surface presented to the fibre should
always be smooth. At one end of the axes B, outside the case, are fixed two
pinions F of the same diameter, in gear with the two bevil wheels G, fixed
on the shaft H. This latter is adjusted horizontally on plummer blocks on
the supports M, or in any other more convenient way. Motion is imparted:
through the driving pulley I in the ordinary manner. At the bottom of the
case, between the two circles described by the revolutions of the arms, an
opening is left, and two inclined boards K are placed, so as to form the s
sides of a bottomless trough. A communication is thus opened between the
interior of the machine and the apartment below through the floor, the
trough being prolonged a little down the area of the lower apartment. On
motion being applied to the pulley I the sets of arms and beaters will be
made to revolve in the direction of the arrows, those of the inside working
against those of the other side at a distance of about half an inch between
tho two circles. They act like two powerful fans one against the other,
driving the air into the chamber below through the opening K, K. The
hemp or other inmaterial, after having been crushed and triturated in the first

page_text: machine above described, is taken a bundle or a handful at a time by a
workman, holding it fast in his hand or in some convenient holder, at one-
third of the length of the material, and the longer side is introduced into the
machine through the opening L, and is exposed to the action of the beaters
and of the two opposite currents of air; then it is withdrawn, the position of
the hand or holder changed, and the other side of the material exposed to the
same treatment until the whole of the fibre has been scutched. The operation
is almost instantaneous, and it will be found that, by the action of the beaters
combined with the two opposing currents of air, the fibre has been sufficiently
cleaned from the shives or wooden particles, dressed, and divided. The arms
must be adjusted in the machine in the position shown in the Drawing, so as
to strike the fibre alternately on each side, and not simultaneously on both.
The most suitable speed is between 140 and 160 revolutions per minute, the
more or less depending on the quality and condition of the fibre. The woody
particles, dust, and some tow are driven into the chamber below, from which
they may be from time to time removed. The blast of air thus obtained may
be further utilized by enclosing a portion of the space below with wirework,
so as to confine and retain the matters falling from the machine, and using
the remaining space for a drying room or other purposes where a current of
air is desirable. The new and important feature in this machine consists in
the following points combined and considered together, viz*:—
First, it is extremely simple, it having no complication of mechanism what-
over.
Second, it has a double action, two series of beaters being set to operate at
the same time on the two sides of the fibre.
Third, the fibre is not struck or scutched on a hard substance as usual, but
against the air, receiving alternate blows on the two sides from the beaters.
Fourth, it is suitable for fibres of any length, and consequently best adapted
for scutching and cleaning hemp and other similar fibrous substances.
Fifth, the two counter currents of air produced have the effect of keeping
the fibre straight in the middle, with a tremulous motion most favourable to
the attainment of the object in view.
With regard to flax and other fibrous substances intended for textile fabrics,
my improvement consists in treating the raw or green stalks with water
at various high temperatures, without allowing fermentation to take place, and
conjointly with the said treatment, squeezing or pressing and washing the
stalks while hot and soft, so as to remove by mechanical agency the gummy
and albuminous substances of the plant, and thereby destroy the adhesion of
the epidermis and of the fibres to the woody parts of the stalks. I proceed

page_text: as follows: I place the green stalks on the perforated false bottom of
a vat with water, which, by means of steam introduced between the two
bottoms, I heat up to between 90° and 100° Fahrenheit, and keep the vat
covered. After twelve to fifteen hours I raise the temperature up to between
150° and 160°, or I discharge the first water and throw in clean water, heated
and maintained at 150° to 160° Fahrenheit, in which I keep the stalks for a
few hours; then I discharge the water and subject the stalks to pressure,
either by passing them between one or more pairs of plain rollers with a fall of
water to wash the stalks during the operation, or by using a vertical or hori-
zontal press, contrived and fixed inside the vat, so as to squeeze the moisture
out of the stalks without removing them from their place. In this case a fall
of water should be brought into the vat to wash the squeezed stalks. After
this the vat is again filled with clean water, heated to a temperature of between
180° to 190° Fahrenheit, at which it is maintained for a few hours, at the end
of which the stalks are again pressed hot, and washed once or more till they
are freed from the gummy and albuminous substances. If a fine and soft flax
is desired, I add another treatment with water containing a very dilute solution
of carbonate of soda or potassa, say, one part of carbonato to from 250 to 400
parts of water. In this solution I keep the stalks for half an hour to an hour, at
a temperature varying between 150° and 190° Fahrenheit, according to the con-
dition and quality of the stalks, after which they are again washed, and, if found
necessary, pressed also. Some qualities of flax require to be boiled to obtain
the dissolution and separation of their gummy and albuminous substances.
For these a treatment in boiling water during two or three hours will dispense
with the greatest part of the treatments, above described, in waters at lower
temperatures; but the pressing and washing while hot, once or more, is
indispensable, as the principles of this my process are the dissolution of the
gummy and colouring matters, the softening of the albuminous or glutinous
substance, and the removal of both, and of the epidermis by mechanical
action. Thus the fibre is obtained in a very short time, viz. in between 20
and 30 hours, of a fine light colour and brilliancy, with results always certain
and equal, and without the tediousness and mischief of fermentation. Tho
first water, which is highly charged with the gummy and other soluble sub-
stances of the plant, will form, and with proper arrangements may be used as,
an excellent manure for the cultivation of flax, it being a return to the land of
the elements which the preceding crop of flax has abstracted from it. The
stalks, when dried, are ready for the separation of the woody part from
the fibres by means of the usual manipulations, known under the names of
breaking and scutching, for which the best known machines ought to be used;

page_text: and the operation becomes very easy through having effected a more perfect
removal of the adhesive substances than is generally the case in the process of
fermentation.
Another improvement applicable to flax stalks, which have undergone the
ordinary process of retting and fermentation, is to treat the same before being
broken and scutched with water slightly impregnated with carbonate of soda or
potassa, say, 1 part of the carbonate to from 250 to 400 parts of water, for
about half an hour to an hour, at a temperature of from 150° to 180°
Fahrenheit. In this operation a great quantity of gummy and coloring
matter is extracted, and the flax becomes more pure, soft, and brilliant.
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 confino
myself to the precise forms and details described; but what I claim as my
Invention is,
First, the flattening and crushing the raw or green stalks of hemp and other
similar material intended for the purposes of cordage, before passing the same
between fluted rollers for trituration.
Second, the combination or arrangement of a machine for scutching and
cleaning hemp or other long fibres, in which the fibres are struck or beaten on
both sides against the air, and held in the proper position and centre by two
counter currents of air, as described.
Third, the treatment of flax stalks and other similar plants intended for
textile fabrics with hot water, with or without alkaline mixture, combined with
pressure and washing, so as to effect without fermentation and by mechanical
action the removal of the gummy and albuminous substances and epedermis,
and the consequent separation of the fibres, as described.
Fourth, the treatment of retted or fermented flax stalks with a dilute
solution of carbonate of soda or potassa, as described, for the purpose of
purification and improvement of the fibre.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Haym Picciotto, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
Jxo. ALCOCK.
MOSES H. PICCIOTTO. (L.S.)