IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHNERIY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cardwell McBride, of Armagh, in tho
County of Armagh, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHNERIY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 1st November 1856, and dated the 20th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cardwell McBride
at the Oflice. of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th May 1856.
I, WILLIAM CARDWELL MCBRIDE, of Armagh, County Armagh, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
HENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain arrangements of machinery, whereby flax
and other fibrous substances are scutched or beaten on opposite sides alternately
at every stroke or revolution of the machinery.
My scutching machinery consists of two parallel shafts, with arms on each
of them, which arms are of greater length than half the distance the shafts
are apart, so that in revolving they form two intersecting circles, or, as it were,
overlap each other. To the extremities of these arms are fixed beaters or
scutchers fastened to the arms by one end, and as nearly as may be at right
angles to the arms, or parallel to the shafts. There are two concave surfaces

page_text: ("stocks,") one placed opposite to each set of beaters, exterior to one set and
interior to the other, and at sufficient distance therefrom to leave room for.
the flax (or other fibrous material acted upon,) to pass between them. A
partition may or may not be placed within the double convex space formed by
the intersection of the two sets of beaters. The two shafts revolve in
opposite directions, that is towards each other, and are so placed that their
beaters shall pass cach other, striking the flax on opposite sides alternately, the
flax being held outside the point of intersection of the beaters, and at this
point the beaters draw it under their action, alternately striking it on opposite
sides. In the case of the intermediate partition being used, the beaters will
draw the flax alternately to each side of the partition.. A shield may or may
not be placed inside the edges of the beaters, adjustable to suit different
qualities of flax or other fibre. The fibres are held by the apparatus which
formed part of an Invention for which Letters Patent for England were
granted to me the 18th June 1852.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Cardwell McBride in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CARDWELL MCBRIDE, of Armagh, County Armagh, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Cardwell McBride, Her special licence that I, the said William Cardwell
McBride, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such otliers as I, the
said William Cardwell McBride, 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 "IMPROVE-
HENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SCUTCHING FLAX AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Cardwell McBride, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Cardwell McBride, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in certain arrangements of machinery, whereby flax
and other fibrous substances are scutched or beaten on opposite sides alternately
at every stroke or revolution of the machinery.
My scutching machinery consists of two parallel shafts, with arms on each
of them, which arms are of greater length than half the shafts are apart, so
that in revolving they form two intersecting circles, or, as it were, overlap
each other. To the extremities of these arms are fixed beaters or scutchers
fastened to the arms by one end, and as nearly as may be at right angles to
the arms, or parallel to the shafts. There are two concave surfaces (stocks),
one placed opposite to each set of beaters, exterior to one set and interior to
the other, and at sufficient distance therefrom to leave room for the flax (or
other fibrous material acted upon) to pass between them. A partition may
or may not be placed within the double convex space formed by the intersection
of the two sets of heaters. The two shafts revolve in opposite directions, that
is, towards each other, and are so placed that their beaters shall pass cach
other, striking the flax on opposite sides alternately, the flax being held outside
the point of intersection of the beaters, and at this point the beaters draw it
under their action, alternately striking it on opposite sides. In the case of the
intermediate partition being used, the beaters will draw the flax alternately
to each side of the partition. A shield may or may not be placed inside the
edges of the beaters, adjustable to suit different qualities of flax or other fibre.
The fibres are held by the apparatus which formed part of an Invention, for
which Letters Patent for England were granted to me the 18th June 1852.
Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2, a plan; and Figure 3, an end
elevation of a double scutching machine constructed according to my present
Invention. I may here remark that although I recommend double mills to be
used, as operating upon the fibre in a more quick and economical manner, yet,
where desired, a single machine may be employed. A, A, is the general frame;
work; B, B', the scuteber shafts, one of which B is furnished with tast and
loose pulleys C, C'; D, D, are toothed wheels keyed on the shafts B, B!

page_text: 'whereby equal motion in a contrary direction is imparted from B to B E is
à friction cone on the shaft B', whichi communicates motion through a belt and
similar cone E¹ to a shaft F, on the inner end of which is keyed a toothed
pinion F, which gears into and drives a toothed wheel F' upon a shaft G,
which has keyed to it two endless screws Gand G. The screw G gears into
and drives a worm wheel II keyed on the upright shaft I, to which is also affixed
the holding grooved wheel or pulley K for machine No. 1, while the other,
screw G² gears into and drives a worm wheel II' keyed upon a similar shaft l',
to which is also affixed a similar holding grooved wheel or pulley K for
machine No. 2. L, L, are arms affixed to the inner extremities of each of
the scutcher shafts B,. B'; and M, M, are curved beaters or scutchers fixed
to the arms. The arms and beaters are shewn detached in Figures 4 and 5,
which are respectively front and sectional elevations thereof. The shafts B, B',
are geared together in such manner as to cause their respective beaters or
scutchers to act alternately and successively upon the .fibre to be scutched;
that is to say, supposing one beater of shaft B to have acted on the fibre; one
of the beaters on shaft B' next comes into play, then the second-beater on
shaft B, and finally the second beater on shaft B', and so on regularly. To the
sides of the scutching chamber frames A', A', and extending across them to an
extent equal with the length of the beaters, are attached two curved stocks
N, N', shewn in dotted lines in Figure 1, machine No. 1, one above and the
other below the feed openings a in the sides of the scutching chamber. Each
of these stocks is interior to one and exterior to the other set of beaters, that
is the outside of the, beaters on the shaft B is presented to the inside of the
lower stock N', and the outside of the beaters on the shaft B₁ to the inside of
the upper stock N', whereby the fibres held and fed, as hereafter described,
are scutched on both sides.
The holders which, as before stated, are similar to those previously patented
by me, consist of grooved pulleys or wheels, endless bands, tension levers, and
pulleys to keep the bands tight, and directors or, guides. K is the grooved
pulley for machine No. 1; b, c, two endless bands or ropes passing round
it, and around two tension pulleys d, d, connected by chains e, e, to two
weighted cranked levers f, f; g is a guide pulley. The grooved holding
pulley K' for machine No. 2 is placed on a lower level than that for machine
No. 1, and is provided with similar bands, or ropes and tension apparatus.
The action of the machinery. is as follows:-Motion having been.com-
municated to the scutchers and holding pulleys through the fast pulleys C, C,
and the gear
herein-before described, the fibre (änd we will suppose that
fibre to be flax), is fed. into machine No. 1 by being inserted between the

page_text: endless ropes b, c, and the holding wheel K. The flax is nipped just above its
mid-length, and carried forward in the direction of the arrow shewn on the
wheel in plan, Figure 2, into the scutching chamber, where the beaters or
scutchers scutch that end of the flax which the wheel has introduced over the
under stock. The fibres undergo the scutching operation until, by the rotation
of the holding wheel, they are withdrawn from the scutching chamber. Guides,
not shewn in the Drawings, assist in directing the flax forward in its proper
position, and just previously to the holding wheel and ropes ceasing to grip the
flax, the hanging and scutched end is caught by the ropes and holding wheel
of machine No. 2. The unscutched end is guided over and on to the under
stock in machine No. 2, where it is operated upon by the beaters in this
machine until it is carried by the revolution of the holding wheel and ropes
out of the scutching chamber. As soon as the ropes and wheel cease their
grip on the flax, an attendant removes it scutched throughout from the
machine at the side opposite to that at which it entered.
In some cases, where flax requires harder scutching at one end than at the
other, I alter the size of one of the fast pullies, but under ordinary circum-
stances I drive both sets of beaters at the same speed.
Again, in the scutching of soft fibre, in order to prevent the edges of the
beaters from breaking or otherwise injuring it, I apply what I call shields to
them. These shields are plates placed on the inside of the edges of the blades,
and are capable of being protruded more or less therefrom.
And having now described the. nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the construction, arrangement, and method of action of the scutchers
or beaters herein-before described, whether acting upon flax or other fibres
held and presented to them in the manner herein-before described, or
otherwise.
And, second, the combination and general arrangement of machinery for
holding and scutching flax and other fibres herein-before described and
represented in the Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cardwell McBride, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
WILLM C. MCBRIDE. (L.S.)