IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HECKLING HEMP
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting En-
gineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR HECKLING
HEMP." A communication from abroad by George Webber, of
Doston Macacahuette Tinited States of Amerion
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 9th November 1869, pursuant to the 9th Section.
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR HECKLING HEMP," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that

page_text: it has been communicated to me from abroad by George Webber, of
Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing
forming a part of this Specification
Heckling machines ordinarily employed in dressing Manilla hemp are
not well adapted for combing long Russia or black hemp, because owing
to the tenacity and length of its fibre a large amount of tow is produced
and much waste thereby occasioned.
This Invention has for its object the prevention of this waste, and
consists in a series of toothed bars or combs moved in a horizontal
direction through the material by a pair of parallel screw shafts, cach
comb on arriving at the termination of the screw threads dropping down
and being received by another pair of parallel screw shafts, by which it
is carried back to the front of the machine, where it is raised by a pair
of lifters into a position to engage with the upper pair of screw shafts.
By thus allowing the combs to freely fall away from the hemp at the
end of their travel in a horizontal plane the liability of tearing and
injuring the fibre incident to machines in which cylinders are employed
is avoided and the operation of heckling is greatly facilitated.
To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my Inven-
T:11 wood to decoribe the manner in which I have comind

page_text: extremities of two horizontal screw shafts J, J, parallel to each other
and extending longitudinally between the opposite ends of the frame-
work. The wheels H, I, mesh into and drive two similar toothed wheels
K, L, on the outer ends of another pair of horizontal screw shafts M, M',
parallel to each other, and to the two screw shafts J, J', and respectively
placed over them near to and slightly below the centre of the screw
shafts are placed parallel strips or pieces a, b, which serve to support
the ends of a series of combs or bars c provided with teeth d, the
ends of the combs also projecting into the grooves or recesses formed by
contiguous threads of the screw shafts, which as they revolve.carry the
combs with them, the lower screw shafts J, J', causing the combs c on the
lower supporting pieces b to advance toward the front of the machine
(sec red arrow 5) until they are brought to the termination of the screw
threads when they enter open spaces e formed between the front of the
two supporting pieces a, b, and cleats in line with and in front of the
latter. Simultaneously with being carried by the screw shafts J, J',
into this position, two lifters N, N' (projecting from smooth portions of
these shafts) rise under and raise the combs c into the spaces e against
a pair of bent springs g, which yield and allow the vertical passage of
the combs up to the level of the tops of the supporting pieces a, on
arriving into which position the ends of the combs are pressed thercon
by the springs g, and the threads of the screw shafts M, M', engage
therewith and carry them in the direction of the red (arrow 6. On
arriving at the opposite termination of the threads of the screw shafts
M, M', after having passed through the hemp being fed through the
machine in a manner presently to be described, the combs one by one
fall or drop by their own weight from their supporting pieces a through
open spaces i upon the lower supporting pieces 6, where they are taken
up and carried forward by the lower pair of screw shafts J, J', in a
manner already explained, the number of threads in each of the lower
shafts being one less than those in each of the upper shafts in order to
insure the combs dropping into place, as desired. On the end of the
driving shaft B opposite. to that bearing the driving wheel C is a bevel
wheel O, which drives a bevel wheel P.on a shaft Q, extending trans-
versely across the machine. The shaft Q carries a toothed wheel R,
which meshes into and drives a wheel S on one end of a shaft T bearing
a roller U, the other end of this shaft carrying a pulley V; W is another
roller placed on a shaft X directly over the shaft T; Y, Z, are a pair of
rollers similar in construction to those U, W, and revolved in suitable

page_text: bearings by means of a belt & passing from the pulley V over a corre-
sponding pulley V₁on one end of the shaft bearing the lower roller of
the front pair Y, Z. The size of the pulleys V, VI, should be such as to
cause the back pair of rollers.U, W, to revolve nearly twice as fast as
the front pair Y, Z., The combs are. intended to travel at about twice the
speed of the back rollers: U, W, through which the "hands" of raw
hemp are entered, and consequently the combs should move faster than
the material which they are to operate upon.
The hemp introduced between the front pair of rolls is led to the
back pair of rolls, and as a greater velocity is imparted to the latter than
to the former the hemp is stretched and drawn out so that the fibres
are smoothly laid parallel to each other, and the velocity and peculiar
operation of the combs through the hemp is such that it is not torn
or otherwise injured thereby. If preferred a positive transmission of
the power may be secured by substituting a series of toothed wheels for
the belt k.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign. correspondent, and shewn how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim in a
machine for heckling hemp a series of toothed bars or combs c moved
in horizontal planes by two pairs of screw shafts J, J, M, M², in com-
bination with lifters N, N', and springs g, or their equivalents, operating
in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said. William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-ninc.
Witness,
H. J. GEDGE.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)