IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY .FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stephen Cotton, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
.FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 5th December 1873, and dated the 9th June 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stephen Cotton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th June 1873.
I, STEPHEN COTTON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
My present Invention relates to what is termed the "intersecting
hackling machine," that is, that description of machine or apparatus
where "strieks" of flax or other fibrous material are hackled on both
sides thereof at one and the same time by hackles placed opposite each
other, the said strieks of flax being suspended or held between such
hackles,

page_text: وو
The object of this Invention is to remove the "tow or short fibres left
or remaining in or amongst the hackles after the latter have passed
through the material being hackled.
I attain or accomplish the said object of my Invention by means of a
rod or bar of wood or other suitable material placed immediately behind
or above each line or row of hackles, and which rod or bar is herein-after
called the "stripper rod," the points of the hackles or hackle pins
projecting sufficiently beyond the outer or front edge of such stripper
rod when passing the strieks of flax, to allow the hackles to properly
enter and hackle such flax. Each end of the stripper rod is inserted
and works or slides in a slotted bracket or other projection fixed to the
bar which carries the hackles. The said slots or oblong openings are
made sufficiently long and wide to allow the stripper rod to slide freely
backwards and forwards therein by its own gravity, according to its
position during its course round with the ordinary endless sheet to which
hackle bars are securely attached. After the hackles have entered
and passed through the flax, the tow is left lying in or amongst the
hackles and upon the stripper rod, which latter, when at the lower
part of its course or circuit slides or falls forward to the front end of the
slots or oblong openings previously described, and in its course forces or
carries the tow from amongst the hackles, and at the same time throws
off that portion of the tow which had fallen upon it during or after the
operation of hackling. This process is repeated by each stripper rod
when it arrives at the lower part of its course or circuit, and with each
revolution of the endless sheet which carries the hackling apparatus, as
previously described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
:
filed by the said Stephen Cotton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN 30
COTTON, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth

page_text: year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Stephen Cotton, Her special license that
I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors, admini-
strators, 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 MATERIALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Stephen Cotton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe 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 Stephen Cotton, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
My present Invention relates to what is termed the " intersecting
hackling machine," that is, to that description of machine or apparatus
where "strieks" of flax or other fibrous material are hackled on both
sides thereof, at one and the same time, by hackles placed opposite cach
other, the said "strieks" of flax or other fibrous material being suspended
or held between such hackles.
The object of this Invention is to remove the tow or short fibres left
or remaining in or amongst the hackles after the latter have passed
through the fibrous material being hackled by self-acting means.
The method by which I attain or accomplish the said object of my
Invention I now proceed to explain with the aid of the accompanying
Drawing which forms part of this Specification, reference being made
thereto by the letters marked thereon, which reference applies to each
portion of the said Drawing where the same index letters appear.
The Drawing represents the principal parts of an "intersecting
hackling machine," with my improvement attached thereto.

page_text: The tow left in or amongst the hackles 6 is removed therefrom by
means of a rod or bar of wood a, or of other suitable material, placed
immediately behind or above each set of hackles, and which rod or bar
is herein-after called the "stripper rod," the points of the hackles or
hackle pins 6 projecting sufficiently beyond the outer or front edge of
such stripper rod a when passing the strieks of flax, to allow the
hackles 6 to properly enter and hackle such flax. Each end of the
stripper rod a is inserted and works or slides in a slotted bracket c or
other suitable projection fixed to the hackle bar d which carries the
hackles. The slots or oblong openings in the brackets c are made
sufficiently long and wide to allow the stripper rod a to slide freely
backwards and forwards therein by its own gravity, according to its
position during its course round with the ordinary endless sheet e, to
which the hackle bars d are securely attached. After the hackles 6
have entered and passed through the flax the tow is left lying in or
amongst the hackles and upon the stripper rods a, which stripper rods
when at the lower part of their course or circuit slide or fall forward to
and beyond the front ends of the said slots or oblong openings, as shewn
at f, and in their course force or carry away the tow from amongst the
hackles, and at the same time throw off that portion of the tow which
had fallen upon them during or after the operation of hackling. This
process is repeated by each stripper rod on the same sheet in succession,
when it arrives at the lower part of its course or circuit, at f, and with
cach revolution of the endless sheets e, which carry the hackling
apparatus, as previously herein described.
Having thus fully explained the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, without binding myself to the
precise details now illustrated, I claim as my Invention and desire to
secure by the before-mentioned in part recited Letters Patent, the use
and mode of application of a self-acting stripper rod, substantially as and
for the purposes herein described and shewn in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Cotton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.