Improvements in Machinery for Breaking and Cleaning Flax and other Fibrous Plants.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 15th June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 17th Mar., 1890-Accepted, 3rd May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A communication to me from abroad by PIERRE JANSEN, of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, Engineer.
Improvements in Machinery for Breaking and Cleaning Flax and
other Fibrous Plants.
1. EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and Engineers,
of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to machinery for breaking and cleaning or stripping flax or
other fibrous plants without the use of the presses ordinarily used for such purpose.
The improved machine consists of two parallel frames of cast iron or other suitable
material, near one end of which a transverse driving shaft is arranged revolving in
bearings. This shaft has fixed upon its ends two cone belt pullies. It also carries
near one end a toothed wheel which drives two corresponding toothed pinions fixed upon
the axles of the lower rollers of two pairs of rollers which are arranged above trans-
versely across the machine. At the other ends of these axles are fixed toothed wheels
gearing with two corresponding toothed wheels fixed upon the axles of the upper
rollers. A third pair of similar rollers is arranged in advance of those already des-
cribed and are driven by an intermediate toothed wheel gearing with the lower toothed
wheel of the second pair. These three pairs of rollers are grooved or fluted longi-
tudinally and revolve at the same speed, the toothed wheels upon their axles having
the same number of teeth, and as the second pair of rollers are of somewhat less
diameter than the first, and the third than the second, the fibrous materials passing
through them are not stretched in the direction of their length. The bearings of
the upper roller of each pair are capable of moving vertically somewhat so that the
rollers can rise if two large a quantity of material is fed in or if any hard body is
introduced between them.
The flax or other material is delivered from the third pair of rollers upon an endless
travelling band or apron of wire gauze, which conducts it between a fourth pair of
rollers to which an intermittent revolving movement is communicated by means of a
can or crank or of a disc upon a transverse shaft, having a groove of suitable shape
in which works a pin or stud which communicates a backward and forward move-
ment to a connecting rod the other end of which is jointed to the upper end of a
lever pivoted upon a centre near the bottom of the frame. The upper end of this
lever is provided with a toothed sector gearing with a toothed pinion fixed upon one
end of the axle of a transverse fluted roller the other end of the axle having a toothed
wheel gearing with a similar toothed wheel fixed upon the axle of the other fluted
roller which is arranged by the side of the first so that the fibrous material is carried
down between them and conducted between two compressing rollers below, which
have the same movement and the same speed as the rollers above and which hold the
material whilst it is subjected to the action of continuously revolving beaters fixed upon
two transverse shafts before and behind it.
When the connecting rod makes its back stroke the sector together with the upper
rollers and the compressing rollers turn in the opposite direction, and the material is
brought up and deposited upon a second endless band or apron by which it is con-
veyed to a fifth pair of fluted rollers having a compressing roller beneath them revolving
intermittently in the same way as those already described, as well as two similar
continuously revolving beaters below.
These last rollers act simultaneously with those first described the two levers having
the toothed sectors being coupled together by a rod. It should be understood that
the driving roller of the fourth and fifth pairs described actuates the other roller of the
pair by means of the toothed gear and not by the contact of the rollers as the

page_text: grooves or flutes in the rollers do not touch but are simply intended to break and
properly act upon the material.
The two endless bands or aprons are made to move continually forward by means
of pullies and belts.
The conical helt pulley first described at the outer end of the driving shaft
drives by means of a crossed belt a similar pulley upon the axle of the first
beater.
A bevelled toothed wheel fixed upon the outer end of the can or disc shaft drives
a corresponding bevelled toothed wheel fixed upon a longitudinal shaft which also
carries a bevelled toothed wheel driving a corresponding bevelled toothed wheel
upon the transverse axle of the furthest beater.
The two other intermediate beaters are also made to revolve continuously and
are moreover capable of being moved horizontally for the purpose of facilitating
the introduction of the material between the pairs of beaters.
For this purpose the longitudinal shaft has fixed upon it two toothed pinions of
considerable length which gear with and drive two toothed crown wheels, the
horizontal axles of which carry the two inner beaters and are at right angles to
the horizontal driving shaft.
Upon the axle of the furthest beater of the outer pair is fixed a toothed pinion
which drives a corresponding toothed wheel fixed upon a shaft which actuates two
cams which force back the axle of the second beater of the pair the bearings of
which can move in longitudinal guides but are pressed forward by springs. The
cams force back the bearings together with the beater shaft which come back to their
proper position as soon as the cams have passed.
In the same way the moveable beater of the other pair is moved horizontally bat
in the opposite direction by similar cams.
The ends of the material when they cease to be engaged between the two last
pair of rollers are delivered to the outlet from the machine by two crosspieces
fixed upon two small oscillating levers worked by a cam and suitable gear.
The crown wheels upon the moveable axles can move backward and forward
upon their pinions without coming out of gear and in this way the two pairs of
beaters are opened for the introduction of the material between them and are closed
at the right times.
The first of the moveable levers carrying the toothed sectors has fixed upon it below
the centre upon which it turns a small toothed sector which by means of intermediate
toothed gear drives backward and forward a toothed rack the outer end of which
is connected to the feeding table. This table, upon which the attendant places the
material, consequently advances automatically towards him so that he can arrange
and spread the material properly upon it with the lower ends of the stalks turned
from him, the table then returning and delivering it into the machine.
A machine of about 3 mêtres in length can operate upon about 8000 kilogrammes
of flax in 12 hours, and from the arrangement of the parts the lower ends of the stalks.
are acted upon more than their tops.
ated this 15th day of Tri 1000
COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Breaking and Cleaning Flax and
other Fibrous Plants.
A communication to me from abroad by PIERRE JANSEN, of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Engineer.
},
i.. EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawings, (that is to say) :—
In order to separate from flax, hemp, and the like the surrounding woody portions
and bark, two operations are needed as is generally known viz.: breaking and scutching.
These two operations which were originally carried out by separate machines, have
been lately effected by a combined breaking and scutching machine. The latter how-
ever consisted only of a mere arrangement, in combination, of the working parts of
the former, which operated in exactly the same manner as in the distinct machines.
In the machine forming the subject of this invention, the breaking operation is like-
wise effected, as in the existing machines, by pairs of fluted rollers arranged one
behind the other. These rollers are so proportioned that each pair has a smaller
diameter than the previous ones. All the pairs have the same angular speed so that
the circumferential speed thereof decreases proportionately to the diameter. The
object of this is to prevent an injurious pull upon the last fibres, which takes place
with fluted rollers having the same diameter, owing to the rear ends of the fibres
which have already been operated upon being moved more rapidly than their front
ends which are only just entering between the rollers. The scatching operation is
effected by means of two rotating scutchers in such a manner that the scutchers' which
rotate the quickest beat or thrash out the hardest and most unyielding barky portion
of the root end and of the lower half of the flax stalks, while the slowly rotating
pair of scutchers operate upon the head or upper part thereof.
Generally speaking these scutchers or beaters move much more slowly than in
scutching machines ordinarily hitherto used, and they can be moreover separated from
one another, in order to facilitate the insertion of the bundle of flax requiring to be
operated upon, while as they rotate they return automatically into close proximity to
one another.
In scutching machines such as are ordinarily used, the stalks are deprived of treat-
ment for a certain length of time in consequence of the draught of air produced by
the rotating beaters which accomplish from 400 to 500 revolutions per minute. This
machine should therefore not only work quicker with less power, but should also
produce less waste.
My improved machine is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
figure 1 is a side view and figure 2 a plan of the same. Figure 1' is the spreading
and feeding board or table with a portion of figure 1, figure 2¹ is a plan of figure 1.
Figures 3, 4, aud », are cross sections on lines A B, D, and E F, of figure 1,
respectively.
Figures 6 and 7 shew the working parts of the machinery, the driving mechanism
being in this case omitted.
Figure 8 shews a front and side view of a pair of fluted rollers. Figure 9 is a
rotating scutcher. Figures 10 and 11 are two moveable supports. Figure 12 shows
the position of a flax stalk between the beaters.
The flax bundles are placed upon the spread board, which is shewn at 3, figure; 6,
in such a manner that the root ends are seized by the nearest and first pair of rollers
and are fed forward over small separated boards through the four remaining pairs of
rollers. Here the vetted flax bundles are broken. After having left the last pair of
rollers they arrive between the flutes of a sixth pair of rollers J, arranged contiguously
which convey them downwardly with the aid of a pair of pressure rollers placed below,
until they reach the scutchers and are freed from the broken woody or barky
parts still adhering to them. In order to facilitate the entry of the flax bundles
between the scutchers in gear, the axis of the right handed scutchers are capable of
moving to and fro. As soon as the front end of a flax bundle reaches the beaters,
these axles are moved to the right hand side by a mechanism hereinafter to be described,
and return to their former position immediately the bundle is properly seized. The
flax bundles are accordingly operated upon half their length only while the scutching
of the other and upper half thereof is effected between the pair of scutchers T.,T'
placed further to the left. For this purpose an alternating forward and backward
motion is imparted to the pair of rollers JJ, leading the flax bundles bolow, as well

page_text: as to the pressure rollers M. M¹ placed thereunder, that is to say these rollers accom-
plish a determined number of revolutions corresponding to half the length of the flax
bundles in one direction, while they also receive a similar number of turns in the other.
In the other case the flax bundles are fed below half their length to be scutched, then
firmly held by the pressure rollers and finally conducted upward. The transmission
from the pair of rollers J to the pair J¹ is effected by means of an endless board or
table placed between them and working upon two wooden rollers. The two moveable
supports a and b which are raised by levers at the proper time cause the issuing flax
to be laid upon the endless board or table firmly fixed to the end of the machine from
which the scutched bundles are finally removed by an attendant. The person employed
at the spreading or feeding board has to insert fresh bundles of flax in the machine at
stated intervals corresponding, as will be hereinafter explained, to an entire revolution
of the driving pulley, this being effected in such a manner that the heads of the
bundle 2, shewn in dotted lines in figure 6, are released by the fifth pair of rollers
when the root ends of bundle 3 enter the first pair of rollers, so that the bundles
following on successively are not acted upon together, but enter and issue singly
between the scutchers or beaters, this taking place during half a revolution of the
driving pulley.
The flax bundles are thus always placed in corresponding positions inside the
machine (figures 5, 6, and 7). When the flax bundle 1 is placed upon the endless
band, bundle 2 is between the five first fluted pair of rollers. When bundle 1 is seized
by the pair of scutchers on the left, bundle 2 is seized by the beaters on the right.
The machine is set in motion by the driving pulley A figures 1 and 2, upon the shaft
of which is keyed the toothed wheel B. The latter gear with the small spur wheel B¹
mounted upon the shaft of the first lower fluted rollers. The train of wheels C, C1, C2,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, drives the five lower fluted rollers. The various toothed wheels'of
this train have the same diameter and hence the angular speed of the different rollers
is the same, while the direction of their motion is similar. With the five lower fluted
rollers engage five upper rollers, so that a lower and an upper roller operate together
as a pair.
The upper rollers are moved by special gear arranged upon the opposite side of the
machine in such a manner that the toothed wheels D,D2, D, D, and D³, are mounted
upon the shaft of the lower fluted rollers, and gear with the toothed wheels D', 1',
D, D', and D, mounted upon the shafts of the upper rollers. As the diameters of
these pairs of toothed wheels are different the speed of revolution of the pairs of rollers
is likewise different. This particular motion of the rollers, which may perhaps appear
superfluous, on account of the engaging flutes, is yet requisite to prevent a skidding
motion of the rollers however slight it may be, which motion would otherwise impair
the breaking operation when the stalky fibres are introduced. The upper rollers move
in the same direction as the hands of a clock, the lower rollers in the opposite direction.
The stalky fibres which are placed upon the spreading board z arranged in front of
machine, figures 1 and 21, pass likewise through the five pairs of fluted rollers above
mentioned. The transmission from pair to pair is facilitated by the wooden boards
or shelves placed between them and fixed to the sides of the machine, these shelves
likewise preventing the material from falling. As the stalks leave the last of these
five pairs of rollers, which are placed at a uniform height or thereabouts, they are
seized by the sixth pair of fluted rollers J, and led downward. This pair of rollers
has an alternately forward and backward rotary motion, for which purpose the toothed
wheel E mounted upon the driving shaft is arranged to gear with the toothed wheel E'
upon whose shaft is fixed the crank disc F. The connecting rod jointed to this disc
is provided at its other end with an adjustable cross head F¹, which moves to and fro
upon brackets fixed to the frame of the machine and provided with guiding surfaces
(figures 1 and 2). Upon the cross head F1 is permanently fixed a rod toothed at
both ends but without teeth at the centre. These toothed ends gear with the toothed
wheels I and I, which are keyed upon the shafts of the fluted rollers J and J¹ and
turn the same, as they move to and fro, in one or the other direction. The second
rollers paired with the rollers J and J¹ must have, as already stated, an independent

page_text: motion. This is effected by means of the gear wheels L, and L¹, or N, and N¹. The
speed of revolution of the sixth and seventh pair of rollers is so arranged that while
the five first pairs rotating continuously in the same direction make five revolutions,
the former rollers only tarn 4 times (that is to say 24 in one direction and 2+ in the
other). This difference has for its object to prevent the sixth and seventh pairs of
rollers which have the same diameter as the fifth from exerting during their slower
motion any injurious tension upon the fibres.
The broken stalks are conducted from the above mentioned pairs of rollers to the
beaters X, X¹, and T, T₁, arranged below, after having previously passed through
guiding rollers M, M, or M, M', covered with india rubber or other suitable elastic
material, and rotating in exactly the same manner as the fluted rollers arranged above
them, being driven by means of the gear wheels N, and N', or N³, and N³, one roller
turning the other by friction. The stalks are now freed from the loose portions of
bark still adhering to them, by the beaters of the scutching part of the machine. The
speed of revolution of these scutchers is much less than that of similar machines
hitherto constructed, while the stalks are firmly held by the rollers J J', and their
guiding rollers M M¹, so as to ensure a more efficient working. The transmission
from the right hand pair of scutchers to the left hand pair is effected by an endless
board moving upon two wooden rollers to the left hand one of which motion is
imparted, by the aid of the chain and chain wheels O¹ and O, by the fluted roller Cs,
while the other roller is driven by friction. The laying of the flax bundles upon this
board and also upon the endless board fixed at the end is effected in such a manner
that the ends of the bundles are laid during the scutching operation upon moveable
shelves a or b which surround these ends at the close of the process. For this purpose,
these shelves receive a swinging motion from the levers c, d, and c¹, d', (see also
figures 10 and 11) whose fulcrum is arranged in the sides of the machine. A simul-
taneous motion of these two boards a and b is obtained by means of the connecting
rods e and e¹.
Below the fulcrum of the lever c is arranged a projection against which strikes a
pin ffixed to one of the links of a pitch chain, thereby turning the levers and boards
to the left. The angular displacement of the lever should not exceed from 65° to 70°
as clearly shewn in the figure, the same being brought back into its original position
by the pressure of a spring fixed to the frame of the machine.
The chain which carries the pin is driven by the chain wheel h and guided by the
disc h. Upon the shaft of the crank disc F is mounted, on the opposite side of the
'machine the chain wheel P which by means of a chain imparts a rotary motion to
the pulleys R and Q keyed upon a common shaft.
The pulley R is connected with the pulley R¹ for the front pair of scutchers,
whilst the pulley Q is connected with the pulley Q1 for the other pair. The
axles of the rotary scutchers are set in motion by toothed gear.
In front of the front wheel S are placed the bevelled wheels U and U¹ which are
mounted upon the shaft i which is carried in bearings V and V¹ on one side of the
machine.
Upon the shaft is also mounted the bevilled wheel U³, the central boss of which
is prolonged and furnished with a groove in which works a small pin fixed upon the
prolonged axis p' of the scutcher T₁. The latter is driven directly by the bevelled
gearing U and U. The arrangement for the beaters X is exactly similar.
In order to facilitate the insertion of the material between the beaters, the axles of
T and X can be shifted for a short distance as already stated without their rotation
being interrupted. For this purpose the cam Y which operates upon a small friction
roller, is keyed (see also figures 6 and 7) upon the middle of a shaft m driven by a
chain and arranged below the endless board. This friction roller is placed upon a
moveable connecting rod of the two bars o and o' carrying the axles of the beaters T¹
and X' to be displaced, slots being at the same time formed therein for the fixed axles
of m and the beater X. When, therefore, the point of the cam presses the small roller m
to the right, which takes place by a suitable displacement of the driving mechanism
whenever a fresh bundle of flax is introduced to the scutcher the axes of the

page_text: scutchers T and X' are likewise moved to the right so that the space between the
latter and the scutchers T and X is increased. When thus moved to the right the
axes P and p¹ carry with them by means of the pins kand k¹ the bevelled wheels
which are also capable of being displaced upon the axes i and h. These two wheels
remain therefore in gear with their corresponding wheels so that the axes T' and X'
do not stop but continue to rotate.
Upon the bearings of the same which move to and fro in suitable guides in the side
frame are applied strong steel springs which bring them back into their former
position when the point of the cam Y has passed the roller n. Finally the spreading
board which feeds automatically the stalky fibres to the working rollers, figures 11
and 21, consists of a removeable board Z which is covered with raw material and
placed by an attendant upon a frame consisting of four feet connected together by
means of cross bars. Against the cam whose shaft is set in motion by the aid of
chains from the motor shaft, bears the connecting bar r of the table by the action of
springs and s¹, whereby the whole spreading board, which is also guided below
at u, u', receives a to and fro movement in such a manner that the movement toward
the rollers is quick and short, whilst the table remains a longer time in its position at
the other side where the attendant stands, so that the latter may conveniently place in
position another board covered with the raw material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
1. A breaking and scutching machine having a to and fro automatic feed for the
stalky fibres in which the operation of the scutcher upon the two ends of the said
fibres is carried out with differential power, in consequence of the stalks issuing from
the breaking rollers being introduced with their root ends first between two scutching
drums (X, X,) then drawn back and subsequently lowered and inserted with their
twisted ends between two scutching drums (T, T',) rotating slowly, these stalks being
afterwards withdrawn therefrom and carried away, substantially as described and
shewn.
2. A breaking and scutching machine of the class mentioned in claim 1, in which
in order to ensure the proper action of two scutching drums working conjointly, one
of the drums receives relatively to the other an intermittent backward and forward
movement, substantially described and shewn.
Dated this 15th day of March 1800
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.