IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND CLEANING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Cantrell Gibbs, of Brentford, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND CLEANING HEMP, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 12th March 1875, and dated the 16th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Cantrell Gibbs
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th September 1874.
I, GEORGE CANTRELL GIBBS, of Brentford, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND CLEANING HEMP, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its objects improvements in machinery for
cleaning, opening, and softening the fibres of different fibrous substances.
The substances to the treatment of which it is more especially applicable

page_text: are hemp, New Zealand flax, rhea, plantain, and pine apple fibres, but
it is also applicable to other fibrous materials requiring similar treatment
and preparation.
My improved apparatus consists of two revolving rollers, the peri-
pheries of which are pressed against each other by springs or weights,
and between which the fibrous material is fed as required. The rollers
are not cylindrical, but are octagonal or polygonal, so that one flat face
of one roller is always in contact with a corresponding flat face upon the
other roller, fresh faces coming into contact as the rollers revolve. One
or both of the rollers not only has a revolving motion round its axis,
but also a motion backward and forward in the direction of its length,
and the faces or flat surfaces of the rollers are not smooth, but have
flutes or ribs formed upon them more or less inclined to their axis, which
flutes or ribs I prefer to make not parallel, but more or less radial to
cach other. The fibre passing between the rollers has the bark or outer
epidermis rubbed off by the end motion of the roller, and when suffi-
ciently treated the revolution of the rollers brings a fresh supply of the
material between two fresh faces of the rollers. The revolution and the
endlong motion of the rollers may be effected by ratchets and palls, or
by cams, or in any other convenient way. Any number of rollers may
be used, arranged as described.
Another arrangement of machinery which I sometimes adopt instead
of that already described, especially for the treatment of plants in their
green state, consists in using flat plates instead of polygonal rollers. I
arrange two such flat plates of any suitable material, but preferably of
steel, side by side, and I feed the fibrous material between them by
feeding rollers made to revolve by means of ratchets and palls, or cams,
or other convenient means. The inner faces of the flat plates have
radially arranged grooves or ribs formed upon them similar to those
already described upon the faces of the rollers. One or both of the
plates is made to have a backward and forward motion by means of a
crank and connecting rod or other convenient means, so that the fibrous
material is cleaned by being rubbed between the grooved sides of the
plates.

page_text: may work through guides provided with springs or weights, by which
the grooved surfaces of the plates are pressed together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Cantrell Gibbs in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
CANTRELL GIBBS, of Brentford, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Cantrell Gibbs, Her special license
that I, the said George Cantrell Gibbs, executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Cantrell Gibbs, 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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND CLEANING HEMP, FLAX, AND
OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Cantrell Gibbs, 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 George Cantrell Gibbs, do hereby

page_text: by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is
to say) -
This Invention has for its objects improvements in machinery or
apparatus for cleaning, opening, and softening the fibres of different
fibrous substances. The substances to the treatment of which for such
purposes it is more especially applicable are hemp, New Zealand flax,
rhea, plantain, and pine apple fibres, but it is also applicable to other
fibrous materials requiring similar treatment and preparation.
One form of my improved machinery or apparatus consists of two
rollers of any suitable diameter and length revolving in bearings and
having their peripheries pressed against each other by springs or weights,
the pressure of which may be made adjustable if desired. These rollers
are not made cylindrical, but polygonal in section, each having three or
more flat sides, so that when the rollers are made to revolve one or other
of the flat faces of one roller is always in contact with a corresponding
flat face upon the other roller. The bearings of one or both rollers are
not fixed, but are either formed or attached to vibrating links, or are
made to slide to or from the axis of the alternate roller, so that the
rollers may be made to revolve and yet allow the flat faces to come in
contact when opposite to each other. One or both the rollers is made to
revolve by means of ratchet wheels and palls upon their axes or in any
other convenient way from any suitable power; and in addition to this
revolving motion one of the rollers has also an endlong motion backward
and forward communicated to it by means of cams, a crank and con-
necting rod, or other convenient means, so that when the fibrous
substance to be treated is fed between them it is rubbed between the
successive flat faces of the rollers. Sometimes both the rollers have an
endlong motion backward and forward, but in opposite directions.
In order to facilitate the cleaning, opening, and softening of the fibres,
which is thus effected, I prefer to make the flat surfaces of the rollers
not smooth, but with a series of parallel flutes or ribs, more or less
inclined to the axis formed upon them, and sometimes I make these
flutes or ribs not parallel, but more or less radial or divergent from each
other, so that they spread out like the leaves of a fan. The fibrous
substance which is treated for the purpose described by passing between
the rollers has the bark or outer epidermis rubbed off between the flat
fluted faces by the endlong motion of the rollers, and when sufficiently

page_text: treated their revolution brings a fresh supply of the material between
the flat faces. Any number of sets of rollers, arranged as described,
may be used.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figures 1 and 2, on Sheet I., are in
illustration of this arrangement, Figure 1 being an end view, and
Figure 2 a front view.
a is the framework of the machine; b and c are two rollers, polygonal
in transverse section, revolving in bearings d, d, in the framework a,
and pressed together by springs at e, e¹; f is a driving shaft driven by
the pulley g, and communicating a rapid endlong motion to the roller o
by means of the cam h and the lever i. The rollers b and c are shewn
geared together by the wheels k, k³, and they are made to revolve at
intervals so as to bring fresh faces into contact by means of the ratchet
wheel and pall l, m, actuated by the weighted lever n, which is raised by
the cam o made to revolve at a suitable speed by the toothed wheels p, p',
(all shewn in dotted lines in Figure 1).
In Figure 2 the several faces of the rollers are shewn having divergent
grooves or ribs formed upon them.
Another arrangement of machinery or apparatus which I sometimes
adopt instead of that already described, especially where fibrous vegetable
substances in their green state are to be treated, consists in using flat
plates instead of polygonal rollers for the purpose of cleaning them. In
this form of my Invention I arrange side by side two flat plates of any
desired size (which may be varied according to the substance to be
treated) and of any suitable material, but preferably of steel. The flat
faces of these plates are pressed against each other by means of springs
or weights (the pressure of which may be made adjustable), and the
fibrous material is fed between them by means of feeding rollers made
to revolve when required by means of ratchets and palls, or cams, or any
other of the methods well understood and practised. One (or both) of
the flat plates is arranged to work in suitable guides, and has a recipro-
cating motion backward and forward (either vertically or horizontally)
in its own plane communicated to it by means of cams, crank, and con-
necting rod or other suitable means in the same way as the endlong
motion was communicated to the rollers in the arrangement first
described.

page_text: Sometimes I interpose a third plate between the two flat plates
described, and I feed the fibrous material upon both sides of this central
plate, and I prefer to make the edges of the plates bevilled for the more
ready entrance of the materials. Either the central plate or the plates
on each side of it may have the reciprocating motion described.
I prefer to make the surfaces of the plates between which the fibrous
material is rubbed not smooth, but having flutes or ribs similar to and
arranged in a similar manner to those upon the flat faces of the rollers
in the arrangement first described.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figures 3 and 4 are in illustration of
this form of my Invention.
In Sheet II., Figure 3 is an end view, and Figure 4 a front view of
apparatus constructed according to my Invention.
a is the framework of the machine (shewn broken off); 6 is a driving
shaft actuated from any convenient power by the pulley c. Upon the
shaft b are formed cranks d, ď³, which by means of connecting rods e, e',
communicate a vertical reciprocating motion to the bars f, f¹, which
work in guides 9, 9³, and the upper ends of which carry the flat plates
,. Upon either side of the plates h, h¹, are arranged corresponding
flat plates i, 1, 2, 3, supported upon the centres k, k', k³, k³, which may
be pressed against the plates h, h¹, by the springs 1, A, or screws m, m¹.
The adjustable feeding rollers n, n¹, between which the fibrous material
is fed forward, are carried in bearings upon the framework a, and are
actuated by the ratchet wheel and pall o driven by an excentric or cam p
upon the driving shaft b.
In Figure 4 at h¹ is shewn the shape of the grooves or ribs which I
prefer to form upon the surfaces of the flat plates between which the
fibrous material is rubbed.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which it is
to be performed, I claim the arrangement of machinery or apparatus for
cleaning, opening, and softening fibrous substances by feeding them
between flat surfaces formed upon the peripheries of rollers or upon
plates, such flat surfaces having a reciprocating motion imparted to
them, substantially as and for the purposes described and shewn in the
Drawings; also the formation upon such flat surfaces so applied of ribs

page_text: or grooves, arranged substantially as described and shewn in the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Cantrell Gibbs, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
GEORGE CANTRELL GIBBS. (L.S.)