IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Combe, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim,
and Kingdom of Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 12th September 1862, and dated the 21st April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Combe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st April
1862.
I, JAMES COMBE, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, and Kingdom of
Ireland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in an improved arrangement for connecting
the hackles to the sheets or substitutes for sheets of vertical or other hackling
machines, by means of which there is obtained control of the angle which the
hackle pins make to the material being hackled when they first penetrate it
while they are passing through it, and while they are returning to repeat their
action, which allows of the hackle pins being put in the best position for
acting on the flax, and also of their being made to leave the flax at such an
angle that the tow is left behind them. For some kinds of work this mode
of stripping the tow from the hackles will be sufficient.
To accomplish this I connect the hackles and teeth or the hackles with a
bar to each, or to any number of them, to the sheets in such a manner that
there can be an independent circular movement given to them, in addition to
the onward motion conveyed to them by the sheets to which they are attached.
This circular movement, by acting like a hinge, allows the angle of the pins to

page_text: the sheets to vary as much as is necessary for their proper action on the flax,
and for their leaving the tow consequent on this action behind them, without
putting any unnecessary strain on the sheets. The hackle pins are kept at
the proper angle for penetrating the flax by the teeth or ends of the bars to
which the hackles are fastened fitting the ordinary grooves in the top sheet
rollers, and by their holding the hackles in a definite position according to the
angle at which the hackle pins are put in their stocks. After the teeth or
bars leave contact with the top rollers, they are at liberty to move back by
the hinge-like action referred to as far as is necessary to prevent the flax
being dragged to the roots of the pins, and they may either be allowed to do
so by the drag of the work, or they may have a positive motion given to them
by a lever and slide. The resistance to yielding in this way may be regulated
to any degree by the weight and position of the bars or teeth, or by springs;
or by separate weights. This arrangement, by allowing the hackles to yield
rather than break the fibres, increases the yield of dressed flax.
Although the circular movement or hinge-like action of the hackle is here
described as taking place between the sheet on the one part, and the tooth or
hackle bar and hackle on the other part, it may be in some cases more con-
venient to take place between the tooth and sheet on the one part and the
hackle and bar on the other part.
The second part of this Invention consists in imparting a varying speed to
the hackles in conjunction with the above. In carrying out this object, I
cause the hackles at the commencement of the operation to move (by means
of any suitable gearing) at a slow speed till the fibres of the flax on which
they act become open and parallel to a certain extent. The speed of the
hackles is then gradually increased, in order to give the proper amount of
cutting or splitting to the fibres, and in this way the increased action of the
backles is less severe upon the fibres of the flax, as they have been prepared
for it by the slower speed of the hackles at the commen cement of the
operation, and consequently an increased yield of dressed flax is the result.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Combe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
COMBE, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, and Kingdom of Ireland, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Combe, Her special license, that I, the said James Combe, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Combe, 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 FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Combe, 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 per-
formed, 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 James Combe, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to an improved arrangement for connecting the
hackles to the sheets or substitutes for sheets of vertical or other hackling
machines, by means of which I am enabled to obtain control of the angle
which the hackle pins make to the material under operation when they first
penetrate it while they are passing through it, and while they are returning
to repeat their action. The Invention therefore allows of the hackle pins
being put in the best position for acting on the flax, and also of their
being made to leave the flax at such an angle that the tow is left behind
them.
The manners in which this is effected will be understood from the following
description and accompanying Drawing, where Fig. 1 is a section of the
hackle stocks a, tooth or bars b, and stripper bars c of a vertical sheet
hackling machine, shewing the angle the pins take whilst entering and passing
through the flax; Fig. 2. is a detached view of the hackle stock a and tooth
or bar b, which is so constructed that when the tooth 6 comes in contact with
the top sheet rollers d, the hackle stock a has a circular or rocking

page_text: movement communicated to it, by which the points of the pins are thrown
forward, and when at liberty, after passing round the top of the roller d, the
hackle stock a falls back against the sheet e, owing to the drag of the flax or
the weight of the tooth 6; the amount of this forward rocking movement is
regulated by the shape of the tooth b. The hackle stock a is fastened to the
tooth in the ordinary manner by the screws a'; the hackle stock a and.
tooth 6 are connected to the sheet e by means of the small projection 6' in the
tooth or bar b, which acts like the pivot on which they hinge. The tow is
taken off the hackle pins a, in the arrangement shewn in Fig. 1, by means
of the stripper bars c, for which method of stripping hackles Letters Patent
were granted to me bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one, No. 2039. The stripper bars c are shewn as
fitted with rows of bent pins c', which are set sufficiently close to take a hold
of the tow, and which increase the stripping power of the bars on the
hackles.
Fig. 3 shews an arrangement in which by bevelling the back of the hackle
stock a, and thus giving more room for the hinge or circular action of the
hackle and tooth a, b; the use of stripper bars c, for some kinds of work, may
be dispensed with, the point of the hackle pins in this case admitting of being
thrown so far back as to cause them to leave the tow behind after completing
their hackling action. The general construction is the same as in Figures 1
and 2, and to keep the hackles in their proper position, whilst cutting, the
slide 9 is applied, acting on the teeth. The tow catcher f may be used
when found necessary. Fig. 4 is a section of the sheets and hackles of a
vertical sheet hackling machine, shewing an arrangement for giving com-
plete control of the direction of the pins in all positions in the circumference
of the sheets e, applicable to cases where the more simple arrangements
already described, do not give sufficient variation. In the previous instances.
the hackle stock a and tooth or bar 6 are connected together and hinge
upon the sheet e, being carried forward by the projection ', but in this
case the teeth b are fixed to the sheet e by means of screws or rivets,
and in them are formed round holes for receiving round bars a¹,
which carry the hackle stocks a. These bars a¹ are free to rock in the
holes in the teeth, and to the bars are attached at one end the levers a²,
fitted with a projecting pin a³, which as the sheets rotate pass along a slide
or continuous groove h. The shape of this groove is arranged as shewn so as
to make the points of the pins strike in at any angle, pass through the flax as
required, and throw them back in a manner that will ensure their leaving the
tow behind or on the tow catcher f. In this case there are of course no hackles

page_text: opposite the sheets as the hackles require to fall back between them in the
various positions they assume.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Machinery for Hackling Flax and other Fibrous Substances," and explained
the manner of earrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim controlling the angle
of the hackle pins whilst working, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Combe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JAMES COMBE. (L.S.)