MACHINERY FOR BREAKING AND PREPARING FLAX AND HEMP
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BUNDY, of Pratt Place, Camden Town, in the Parish of Saint Paneras, and
County of Middlesex, Mathematical Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of February,
in the fifty-seventh year of the reign, give and grant unto me, the said Williamı
Bundy, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Bundy, my exors, adññiors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "MACHINERY FOR BREAKING
AND PREPARING FLAX AND HEMP;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso that if I, the said William Bundy, shall not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
hand
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's Court of
Chancery six months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, T, the said
William Bundy, do hereby declare that my said Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained
in and by the Drawings hereunto affixed, and the following description
thereof (that is to say) :-
My said Invention consists of certain machinery, the form, construction,
and use whereof is herein-after particularly set forth and described, by means
of which I can break and prepare hemp and flax in a dry state, either with
or without the process of steeping or water-rotting, better, with more expe-
dition, and with less loss of material, than by any other process now in use.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawings shews a side view, and Fig. 2 a top view,
of the machine which I first use, and which I call the breaking machine.
The same letters of reference are used in both the said Figs. A represcuts the
timber framing of the machine; B, two boards, or other supports, set edge-
wise on the two opposite sides of the frame to carry the 5 breaking cylinders
C, c, D, E, E; these cylinders are made of becchi, or any other sufliciently
hard wood, and turned so as to revolve truly on the iron pivots or gudgeons
which are affixed to them, and which turn in brass or other plummer blocks
or bearings, as will be seen in the Figures. The bearings C, D, and c, are
fixed upon the supports B, B, while E, E, mercly lay above and between C, D,
and D, c, and are drawn down upon them by 2 rods, as seen at F, F, Fig. 1,
the lower ends of which rods are joined by a connecting bar, and from this
another rod proceeds downwards, its lower end being fixed by a double
adjusting nut G, near the pin or fulcrum H of the lever or presser H, I, which
is loaded with a weight J; there is a similar lover on each side of the machine,
to bear down the 4 ends or pivots of the two rollers E, E, and the ends of
the levers nearest I are united by a cross bar, by means of which weight J
acts on them both, and is made to press equally by a nut and screw on each
side, like G, or this lever may be formed of iron, in one piece, like Fig. 9.
K, L, is a lever, the fulcrum of which is supported in the iron carriage (a)
seen in Figure 1, which is fixed to a part of the frame A, and the lower ends
I and K are attached by a hook or cord in such manner that by pressing
down the end L of the upper one, the cylinders E, E, may be prevented from
pressing on those C, D, c, at the will of the workman. The breaking cylinders
C, D, C, E, E, are all similar to each other in dimensions, and in having
breakers, which act also as teeth, extending their whole length parallel to their
axis; these breakers or teeth I form of thin hoop iron, let about half its s
width into saw cuts, made in the wooden cylinders, into which they are
driven;
and they are retained in their places by an iron hoop put on
to each end of the cylinder, as will be seen in those at E, E, in Fig. 2.
The teeth may be from 1/4 of an inch to an inch asunder, according to the

page_text: fineness of the work intended to be produced, and their tops or external edges
must be well rounded, so as not to cut or injure the fibre of the hemp or flax
they may be required to break; I also make these teeth alternately deep and
shallow in the cylinders (according to the coarseness of the material to be
worked), as will be distinctly seen at C, c, D, and E, E, Fig. 1, the long or
deep teeth I make to project about 3/4 of an inch beyond the solid cylinder to
which they are attached, while the short ones are about half that length, but
variable at pleasure. My breaking cylinders being thus prepared, those
marked C and D, c, are to be placed or attached by means of their pivots
upon the bearings B, B, fixed to the frame A, at such distance as not to touch
each other, and they may be retained in their places by bars or caps screwed
over them, as shown above B, in Fig. 1, and then tho cylinders E, E, are to
be placed upon these, and held down by their rods F, F, which pass through
the frame, and are fixed as herein-before described; the axis or gudgeons of
the roller D is longer than the others, and extends beyond the outside of the
frame, and upon each end of it is fixed an iron, or other sufficiently strong
wheel, by means of which motion is to be given to the cylinder D, and by this
to all the others. Both the wheels are of the same diameter, one being a spur
wheel, while the other has ratchet teeth, as may be seen at M, Fig. 1, and
they are both seen in profile at M, N, Fig. 2. Motion is communicated to
these wheels in the following manner :-0, in Figs. 1 and 2, is an iron shaft
or spindle running in brass or other bearings, which are fixed at the two sides of
the front of the frame A; this spindle may be turned round either by a winch or
handle fixed to one of its ends, or by wheelwork, or by a rigger and band, as at
P in the Figs., where it is shewn as connected with a pair of spur wheels and
an iron fly wheel to assist in its motion, the axis of the lower spur wheel O, o,
has on each of its ends a crank, as at Q, R, Fig. 2. These cranks are in the
same direction, or so placed that when one is turned upwards the other will
point upwards also; one end of the two connecting rods V, V, is hung upon
each crank, while their other ends are attached to the pieces which are to give
motion to the wheels M, N. These pieces are an iron sextant, U, Fig. 3, & a
tooth to which the connecting rod Q, V, is fixed, and which is shewn at S, in
Fig. 1, and which, by turning on the center S, describes a portion of a circle
shewn by the dotted line T, A, with its point as the crank Q turns round; and, of
coarse, its point, laying hold of one of the teeth of the wheel M, will that
carry
wheel a certain distance round. On the other side of the machine, the connecting
rod R, V, Fig. 2, is attached to the crank R at one end, and to a segment
of the spur wheel, which works in the teeth of the spur wheel N, as will be
more distinctly seen in the reversed view of this part of the machine shewn in

page_text: Fig. 3, where N is the spur wheel upon the axle of the breaking cylinder;
D and U, the toothed sagment which works into it; the connecting rod V, R,
is attached to U in the same manner that Q, V, is attached to S, consequently
turning the shaft O, o, and its cranks will communicate an osscillating motion
to U, in the direction of the dotted line A, T. The length of the connecting
rod V, R, must, however, be so adjusted, that in its motion outwards the end
tooth of U next to A must be withdrawn out of the teeth of the wheel N, but
that when it moves in a contrary direction, or form T towards A, it must move
compleatly in the wheel, which will thus only be at liberty to move with the
rack U; the connecting rod Q, V, in Fig. 1, must also be so adjusted to the
paul or gathering tooth S, by lengthening the throw, so as to make it act upon
its wheel M for the space of one tooth of N, after the rack U, Fig. 3, has
been withdrawn from its wheel N; and thus, although the motion of U would
produce a backward and forward motion in its corresponding wheel N, and the
breaking cylinder D, yet, by the after action of S upon M, the roller D and
its spur wheel N are made to advance gradually, by the space of one tooth for
every revolution of O, o; and thus a slow but regular progressive motion of the
cylinder D is obtained at the same time that the vibratory or osscillating
motion is going on; and as I feed or deliver my hemp or flax to be broken
between the cylinders C and E, from the end next the rigger P, by placing it
upon the feeding board Z of this machine, I cause the cylinder c eventually to
revolve from C towards D, by the means above stated; and by the alternating
motion of the cylinders, and the inequality in the depth of their breakers or
teeth, a rubbing action is produced in the great space left between these
breakers or teeth, which most effectually removes the husk, pith, woody
matter, and chaff from the fibrous substance which is entered between the
cylinders C, E, and is delivered from between E and C at the end next to I.
of the machine, in a sufficiently clean and divided state to enter the rubbing
machine, which will be next described. The moveable situation of the
cylinders E, E, by the operation of the levers H, I, and K, L, and their
weights J, prevents too large a charge of material from choaking the machine;
and to charge it in the first instance, it is only necessary to introduce the flax
or material between C and E, while the pressure of E may at all times be
regulated to the quantity introduced by the end L of the lever K, L. The
chaff falls through and is collected below the machine.
The Rubbing Machine.-Fig. 4 is a side view, Fig. 5 a plan or top view,
and Fig. 6 a front view, of my machine for rubbing the hemp or flax after it
has been passed through my breaking machine, or has been broken or scutched
by any other process, and by the use of which it will be rendered fit for

page_text: heckling or combing, and may be reduced to any required degree of fineness
without injuring the staple or material, and without any waste. In these
figures (a) is the frame for supporting the machine; (b) the wooden or other
bearers for the three rollers c, d, e, disposed as in the breaking machine.
These rollers in this machine are for the purpose of drawing or leading the
flax through the machine, the breaking being presumed to be already done,
they must therefore be fluted or grooved; but I prefer making them in the
same manner as hercin-before described for any other machine, but with teeth
of equal length, much shorter, and of a finer guage or pitch. f, Fig. 4 & 6,
is a rigger or pulley to which rapid circular motions is to be given by any of
the accustomed modes. This rigger is hung on a shaft or spindle 7 turning
in brass or other bearings fixed to the frame a; on its end h is formed an
endless screw or worm, which may be either within or without the framic, and
this works into or turns a small wheel i, fixed upon the lower end of an iron
spindle k, turning in the bearings 1, 1 (Fig. 5), and leading, by a bevel pinion
at its upper end m, to the face whcel n, fixed in one of the gudgeons or pivots
of the toothed or fluted roller c, so that whenever the rigger f is turned (even
with a rapid motion) a very slow motion will be communicated to the rollers
c, d, c. The most essential part of this machine consists in the rubber boards
a, p, q, r, which are placed at the front of the machine, are seven in number in
the Drawing, but may be more or less, and are about an inch in thickness;
these are best made of beech, oak, or other moderately hard wood. Thero
front form is best seen in Fig. 6, and their dispositions in Figures 4 and 5.
o, p, p, p, I called fixed boards, though, in fact, none of them are positively
fixed except o, which is firmly attached to the framing (a), while p, p, p, are
stationary in respect to up and down motion. Two strong cylindrical iron pegs
or pins pass through holes in all these boards; those in p, p, p, nearly fit them,
and the iron pins having shoulders are firmly screwed through o into the strong
frame (a; the boards 1, 2, 7, have long holes extending vertically from 7 to 1
(Fig. 4), by which means the board o cannot move at all, p, p, p, can only
move backwards and forwards towards s, and 7, 7, 2, can not only move back-
wards and forwards, but upwards and downwards at the same time. All the
boards p, p, p, and q, q, q, are pressed or forced towards o by spiral or other
springs placed upon two other iron pins, as at t, t, or they may be drawn
inwards towards. o by weights, or other yielding means, made to press
upon them as nearly as possible in the line of the mouths or slits by which
the flax enters, as will be afterwards described. The shaft or spindle y has a
crank in its center, as V, Fig. 6, on which a connecting rod u works, and this
communicates with the moveable boards 1, 2, by a pin W passing through
them and the iron shackle or loop X, which is screwed to the inner board q,

page_text: and connects all the moveable boards 7, 9, together. It is therefore evident
that the same power which gives slow motion to the rollers c, d, e, will give a
rapid up and down motion to the moveable boards 7, 7, 9. I have likewise in
some cases made the moveable boards q, q, so much shorter than p, p, that
they work up and down entirely within the steady pins s, s, and spring pins t, t.
In this case guides must be fixed upon the boards (o, p, p) for the boards q, 1,
to slide between, and I rather prefer this construction, as making the machines
work more steadily, for now the long holes in the moveable boards, described
as extending from 9 to r, may be dispensed with, and round holes to slide
horizontally on the pins s and t will only be necessary. The whole of the
boards o, p, p, q, q, have an horizontal mouth or slit cut through them about a
quarter of an inch wide, and nicely rounded so as to prevent injury to the
hemp or flax, as will be distinctly seen at y, y, Fig. 6, and when the crank
V is in an horizontal position, all the slits in the board will be opposite to
each other. Of course, when the crank is down, the openings through the
boards will appear, as represented in Fig. 4, and when the crank is up they
will be in the opposite position. The flax or hemp already broken or
scutched is to be introduced through these various slits, and laid between the
rollers, when, on putting the machine in motion, the rollers will gradually
draw it forward towards Z, while the rubbing boards, by their action, will
separate and cleanse the fibre, and reduce it into a most beautiful state for
heckling or combing. For the purpose of charging this machine, and setting
it to work, in the first instance I cause all the upper parts of the several
boards o, p, q, p, q, above their slits to open, which hinges at one end in the
direction of the dotted line y, y, Fig. 6; and I fix down their other ends
either by a hook, screw, lock, catch, or any of the accustomed modes of fix-
ing things together. These moveable tops to the rubbing boards are made to
fly open so soon as the catches or fastenings are moved, and they are kept in
this open state for the purpose of charging the machine by means of a
spring 12 applied to each of them; when once charged with work, will tail
on without opening them again; and as it is the new principle of my machines,
namely, the loose play of the breakers, and the alternate rubbing during the
rotatory motion of my first machine, and the entirely new principle of rubbing
in my second, as the same have been herein-before described, which I claim
as the essential parts of my Invention, I reserve to myself the choice of all
such materials for constructing my machines, and such modifications of propor
tion, form, and disposition of parts as may produce similar effects, and may
hereafter render my machines more perfect and effective, but which can only
bo ascertained by future experience.
My next machine is for the purpose of heckling or finishing hemp and flax

page_text: for spinning after it has been broken or prepared by my former machines, or
by any other process which may have brought it into a fit state for heckling.
Fig. 7 is a top view or plan of this machine, and Fig. 8 an elevation or side
view of it, in which 1 represents the frame or stand of wood upon which the
machine is built; 2, 2, are arnis extending upwards from this stand to carry.
the metal crank 3, the two ends of which run in brasses or other plummer
blocks screwed upon 2, 2, near their tops. Upon one gudgeon of this crank
a handle is to be fixed to turn it, or motion may be communicated to it by
a rigger or pulley 4, to be driven by a band, or in any other manner. The
throw of the crank 8 is made to turn in the end of the piece 5, the other end
of which is attached by hinges to 6, which is again fixed in the same manner
by hinges to the bottom board 7. This bottom board is attached to one of
the cross bars of the stand 1, by hinges, as at 8, and is kept in au horizontal
position by resting on the other cross bar between the two legs, its end 9
extending about six inches beyond the bottom hinges of 6. On the top of
5 the long armi 10, 11, is fixed by hinges at 11, while the flax or hemp to be
heckled is placed between the clamps at 10, and held down by tightening the
screw or screws 12. The arm 10, 11, is prevented from falling too low by
the stop or cross bar 13 extending across the open part of 5. Whenever the
crank 3 is turned, so as to cause the rigger to revolve in the direction of the
arrow placed against 4, it is evident the end of the arm 10, with the flax or
hemp contained in it, will be depressed and thrown forwards at the same time,
so as to carry the flax in front of the teeth of the heckle 14, which is firmly
fixed, by ironwork upon a block of wood 15, upon the top of the rigger side
of the stand or frame 1, 1; and, to prevent the loose flax or hemp from
becoming entangled with the teeth of the heckle before it is fairly lodged in
them, a reel is fixed so as to move in a block 16, fixed upon the oposite side
of the top of the stand 1. This reel consists of three or more arms of wood
or metal, which are shewn at 17, in Fig. 8, in the end of each of which a
piece of strong wire or cane is fixed at right angles to the arms, as may be
seen at 18, in Figure 7, which, by its motion, is brought underneath the flax
or hemp as it descends and clears it away from the teeth of the heckle; and
in order to do this the more effectually, the arms are made of unequal length,
that which strikes it first being the longest, while the others diminish in length
till the last, which merely clears the teeth of the heckle. To produce motion
in this reel I make use of a train of small brass or other metal bevel wheels,
all of the same size and number of teeth, one of which is placed on the axle
of the reel, two (viz. one at each end) upon the spindle 19, and one on the end
of the gudgeon of the crank 3, which is opposite to the handle or rigger 4.

page_text: 19 is supported in two carriages, one fixed to two, and the other to 16, as
may be seen in Figure 8, and I geer these wheels into each other in such way
that one revolution of 4 will produce one revolution of the reel in the sanc
direction and time, as will be seen by the disposition of 19, and these wheels
in Figure 7. But inasmuch as the operation of heckling cannot be well and
effectually performed, unless the flax or hemp is brought gradually upon the
heckle by combing its points only in the first instance, and increasing the
length of stroke upon upon the fibre as its entanglement is subded, I produce
this effect by the operation of a snail wheel 20, Figure 8, which is fixed upon
a spindle of iron or steel passing through the piece 5, and acting against the
edge of the friction roller 21, placed so as to revolve in a slit in the armi 10, 11;
and as the snail revolves, and its longest radius comes under the roller, the
arm 10, 11, becomes elevated into the situation of the dotted line 22, 11, by
which the points only of the flax or hemp dip into the teeth of the hickle;
but as 20 revolves 22 is gradually depressed until it reaches the situation 10.
The motion of the snail 20 is produced by machinery which may be seen in
but cannot be particularly described by Figure 8, on account of its small
dimensions, but is shown in Figures 10 and 11, which are drawn to half the
real size. Figure 10 is a top view of 5 of Figures 7 and 8, and Figure 11 a
side view of the sanic. In both these 5 is the piece upon which the crank
acts, and to which the long flax and hemp-carrying arm is fixed by the hinges
11, 11, which are not screwed to 5, but to an intermediate piece 23, 24, which
is fastened in an indent or rebate cut in the end of 5 to receive it by means
of the screw 23, upon which it turns as a center, and is forced outwards by
the spring 25 shewn within the rebate. The use of this piece is to throw the
end 10 of the long arm 10, 11, to that side of the machine which is furthest
from the rigger 4; and as the arm 10, 11, descends by the revolution of the
snail 20, it comes against an inclined plane formed on the end of the stop 13,
the face of which is shewn at 26 in Figure 10, by descending along which the
arm 10, 11, is gradually pushed towards the other side of the machine, and
thus the teeth of the heckle are prevented from always passing through the
same part of the flax or hemp, which may be suspended from 10. 20, in
Figure 10, is a top view of the snail wheel, as it would appear in the position
shewn in Figure 8, and 20 in Figure 11 is a side view of it in its extrenie
elevation, or when its point stops against the strengthening cross bar or stop 13.
27 is the back of the inclined plane 26. 28 is the iron or steel spindle upon
which the snail turns. 29 is a toothed wheel fixed upon the end of the
spindle 28, and which works into the endless screw 30, fixed upon the same
axis as the brass ratchet wheel 31, and which turns between the points of the

page_text: two screws 32, in the cock or carriage 33, which altogether turns upon a
center screw at 34; and thus the endless screw 30 may be withdrawn from
the teeth of the wheel 29, when the snail will be free to move upon its axis;
and by means of a spiral spring 35, Figure 10, upon the end of that axis, the
snail will always be brought into the position it has in Figure 11, viz, with its
point against 18, so soon as the long arm 10, 11 is lifted from it; but the
weight of that arm overcomes this spring, and drives this snail round as the
arm descends. The arm may, however, be retained in any position, by push-
ing the screw 30 into gear with the wheel 29, and it will be held in this
position by the catch 36 laying hold of the carriage 33, and thus keeping the
teeth of the wheel 29 in action with the screw 30. The wheel 31 is made to
move by the fixed driver 37, the point of which takes into the notches of 31,
while its opposite end is attached by a joint to a plate of iron 38, which is
screwed to the side of 6; and as this joint does not accord with that of 5 and 6,
whenever these are moved by the revolution of the crank 3, the driver will
be pushed backwards and forwards, and advance the weel 31 one tooth
for every revolution of the crank; and thus a gradual motion of the snail 20
is produced which increases the draft of the flax or hemp through the
heckle, until at last, when the point 10 of the arm 10, 11, gets quite down,
a projecting pin 40, which is placed upon the snail axis 28, comes under
the projections 39 of the catch 36, and lifts it, by which the screw 30
is discharged from the teeth of 29, and no further motion of the snail
ensues, as the teeth of the heckle now pass their whole length through the
flax or hemp, and must continue to do so until it is sufficiently heckled,
when a fresh quantity must be put into the machine; and after the point 10
has been set by hand to the proper height, the carriage 33 must be pushed
into the holding of the spring catch of 36, and the machine will be again
ready to work. As, however, I find it an advantage to vary the length of the
stroke upon the heckles, and to imitate, as much as possible, the operation as
performed by hand, I produce this effect by using the lever board 8, 9,
Figure 8, before mentioned, upon which the pieces 6 and 5 are supported by
their respective hinges. This board turns on hinges at 8, and its end 9 is
supported on the point of the tooth or bracket 41, which is fixed upon the
lever 42, turning on the fulcrum 43, supported either by two standards from
the bottom, or continuing the top cheeks of the stand or frame 1, 1. The
other end, 44 of 42, is fastened by a joint to the connecting rod 45, which has
another joint into the bottom of 5, immediately under the throw of the crank 3,
and thus 44 is made to rise and fall as the crank turns, and with it 41, and
consequently 9,. together with 6, 5, and 10, 11, being all the pieces which are

page_text: placed upon it; but 9 has a long slit in it large enough to receive the whole
of 41, if 42 should be shifted a little to one side, when of course 42 would
rise and fall without producing any effect on 8, 9, and I cause 42 to be so
shifted by a contrivance which I shall next describe. 46 is a thin plane wheel
or rigger fixed upon an iron axis which passes through the two top cheeks of
the stand 1, 1, so that the wheel and axle cannot move independant of each
other. There are from 10 to 14 notches cut in the circumference of this
wheel for the purpose of receiving the end of the winch or a single pin 47,
Figure 8, upon the moving rigger 4, at each revolution, in consequence of
which the wheel 46 will be pushed a little forward at each turn of four, and
will move quite round when when it has made as many revolutions as there
are notchics in 46, whatever may be their number on the wheel 46. Just
within the notches is placed a wedge or inclined plane 48 of plate iron or
other materials sufficiently thick to act against the side of the lever 42, or a
projection from it, as is shewn in Figure 7, by which 42 may be so pushed
aside as to make the tooth or projection 41 of 42 fall into the cavity of 9.
This inclined plane need not be more than the distance from one notch to
another, nor need it rise more than 3/8th of an inch. The projecting part of
42 is drawn towards 40 and 48 by a spiral spring or weight. It is scarcely
necessary to add, that in using this machine the middle of the flax or hemp
must be fixed in the clamp 10, as only one half of its length can be heckled
at once, as by the hand process.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bundy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventeen.