IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HACKLING MACHINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Georgo Lowry, of Bury Street Foundry, Salford,
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HACKLING MACHINES."
Scaled the 16th July 1869, and dated the 19th January 1809.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lowry at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th January 1869.
I, GEORGE LOWax, of Bury Street Foundry, Salford, County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HACKLING MACHINES," to be
as follows:-
These improvements consist in applying certain apparatus to the
brush roller situated below the sheet of hackles, which brush roller takes
off the tow the hackles have combed out of the flax. At intervals on
the circumference of the brush roller is placed a rod or stripper so
arranged that when the said roller is made to revolve the rod or

page_text: stripper strikes outward from the centre of roller and doffs the tow
from the bristles of the brush, the stripper then recedes towards the
centre of said roller until the brush has passed the hackles, when the
before-described operation is repeated.
Instead of the stripper being applied as herein-before described the
brushes on the roller may be made to draw within the circumference of
the roller to effect the stripping, the motion being effected by means of
an excentric or other suitable contrivance. Below the roller with the
rod or stripper is placed the ordinary tow catcher.
This Invention further consists in bringing the tow from the inside:
brush roller to the outside of the machine in duplex hackling machines
as follows:-Instead of the tow being caught from the inner brush
roller by the ordinary tow catcher it is caught by a revolving tow
catcher in which the angle of the pins is against the inner but with the
outer brush roller, which outer brush roller sweeps off the tow taken 1
from the inner roller and deposits it outside the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Lowry in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LOWRY, of Bury Street Foundry, Salford, County of Lancaster, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Lowry, Her special licence
that I, the said George Lowry, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Lowry, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF HACKLING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Lowry, any executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, should particularly describo 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 Lowry, do hereby declaro
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 :-
My improvements consist in applying certain apparatus to the brush
roller situated below the sheet of hackles, which brush roller takes off
the tow the hackles have combed out of the flax. At intervals on the
circumference or periphery of the brush roller is placed a rod or stripper
so arranged that when the said roller is made to revolve the rod or
stripper strikes outward from the centre of roller and doffs the tow from
the bristles of the brush, the stripper then recedes towards the centre of
said roller until the brush has passed the hackles, when the before-
described operation is repeated.
Instead of the stripper being applied as herein-before described the
brushes on the roller may be made to draw within the circumference
of the roller to effect the stripping by means of an eccentric or other
suitable contrivance. Below the brush roller may be placed the ordinary
tow catcher.
My Invention further consists in bringing the tow from the inside
brush roller to the outside of the machine in duplex hackling machines
as follows:-Instead of the tow being caught from the inner brush roller
by the ordinary tow catcher in which the angle of the pins or teeth is
against the inner but with the outer brush roller, which outer brush
roller sweeps off the tow taken from the inner roller and deposits it
outside the machine.
And that the Invention may be fully understood I will proceed to

page_text: describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, and forming part of this
Specification.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a hackling machine with my
Invention applied thereto, and in this said Fig. the same letters of
reference indicate like parts.
The brush rollers indicated by the letter A are provided with
brushes C, in the ordinary manner, and they are made to revolve by
suitable gearing as usual in these machines. Immediately behind each
brush and in contact with the bristles are rods or strippers D, D;
these strippers are carried by the short bars E, E, which are placed
at suitable intervals in sockets H provided in the periphery of the brush
rollers, the said sockets H serving to guide the stripper rods by means
of the bars E which have a collar or head L to prevent them dropping
out. The hackles are arranged as usual above the brush rollers, as shewn
by the letter K. The action is as follows:-When the brush roller
revolves the brushes take off the tow from the hackles, and when the
bar E has arrived below the level of the centre of the roller, as at M,
the stripper strikes outward partly by centrifugal force and partly by its
own gravity, and thus strikes off the tow which adheres to the bristles
of the brush. This operation is repeated as each line of brush arrives
at the same point during the revolution of the brush roller, likewise
when the bar E has its position reversed, as at N, the stripper falls
against the periphery of the roller and thus passes the hackles. In some
cases the strippers D, D, can be dispensed with altogether, the
centrifugal force being sufficient to throw off the tow adhering to the
brushes when the brush roller has sufficient velocity. In this case I
arrange and construct the brushes with a back lining, as shown in Fig. 2,
in which P is the back lining, and O the brushes as before, the lining
serving as a support to the bristles when striking the hackles.
Having described and ascertained the nature of the Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it
understood that I do not claim any particular detail separate and
apart from the object of my Invention; but what I do claim is,-
1stly. The mode of taking off the tow from brush rollers in hackling
machines by means of. self-acting strippers, substantially as described
and shewn herein in reference to Fig. 1.
1

page_text: 2ndly. The mode or method of dispensing with strippers or doffers, as
shown and described herein in reference to Fig..2.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lowry, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
ALFRED GILES.
(L.8.) GEORGE LOWRY.