IMPROVEMENTS IN HACKLING MACHINERY APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY TO PHORMIUM TENAX AND OTHER LAIDE" PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Moysey, of Leytonstone, in the County of
Essex, Engineer, and Cornelius Thorne, of No. 16, Mark Lane, in
the City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN HACKLING MACHINERY APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY TO PHORMIUM TENAX AND
OTHER LAIDE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Moysey and
Cornelius Thorne at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 11th March 1870.
WC, JOHN MOYSEY, of Leytonstone, in the County of Essex, Engineer,
and CORNELIUS THORNE, of No. 16, Mark Lane, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN HACKLING MACHINERY APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY TO PHORMIUM TENAX
AND OTHER LONG FIBRES," to be as follows:
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in hackling machinery
applicable especially to phormium tenax and other long fibres.
We employ for the purpose of hackling phormium tenax and other long.
fibres a drum revolving on a horizontal axis, and armed with teeth or

page_text: spikes pointed at the end, and having sharp angular edges in front or at
the front and back. This drum is of such a size that the fibre upon the
machine shall not be able to lap more than half way around it. At the
front of the drum and nearly on a level with its axis a pair of horizontal
feed rollers are arranged; they are by preference fluted so as to obtain a
very firm hold of the fibre. These rollers are held towards each other
whilst at work by means of a treddle on which the workman places his
foot with a suitable pressure.
One of the rollers is driven by a train of
wheels or other gear having a reversing clutch or apparatus capable of
being actuated by a handle. The fibre to be hackled is supplied by the
workman to the feed rollers which draw it forward and present it to the
toothed drum, which acts upon it, commencing at the point of the fibre,
and as the rollers advance the fibre the teeth clean and work it up to the
centre of its length. When this is effected the workman reverses the
action of the feed rollers and the fibre is drawn back off the drum. The
workman then turns the fibre end for end and repeats the operation.
The drum is driven at such a speed as to throw off the tow or short fibre
by centrifugal action. A guard plate is provided immediately over the
feeding point in order to keep the fibre against the drum until it becomes
lapped partially around it. The reversing gear may be so arranged as to
draw back the fibre more rapidly than it presents it to the drum.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Moysey and Cornelius Thorne in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
MOYSEY, of Leytonstone, in the County of Essex, Engineer, and
CORNELIUS THORNE, of No. 16, Mark Lane, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Moysey and Cornelius Thorne,
Her special licence that we, the said John Moysey and Cornelius
Thorne, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,

page_text: the said John Moysey and Cornelius Thorne, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 HACKLING
MACHINERY APPLICABLE ESPECIALLY TO PHORMIUM Tenax and other LONG FIBRES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Moysey
and Cornelius Thorne, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and
scal of one of us, or them, 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 we, the said John Moysey and Cornelius
Thorne, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in hackling machinery,
applicable especially to phormium tenax and other long fibres.
We employ for the purpose of hackling phormium tenax, aloe,
Manilla hemp, and other similar long fibres a drum revolving on a
horizontal axis, and armed with teeth or spikes pointed at the end, and
having sharp angular edges in front or at the front and back. This
drum is of such a size that the fibre upon the machine shall not be able
to lap more than about halfway around it. At the front of the drum
and nearly on a level with its axis a pair of horizontal feed rollers are
arranged; they are by preference fluted so as to obtain a very firm hold
of the fibre. These rollers are held towards each other whilst at work
by means of a treadle on which the workman places his foot with a
suitable pressure. One of the rollers is driven by a train of wheels. or
other gear having a reversing clutch or apparatus capable of being
actuated by a handle. The fibre to be hackled is supplied by the work-
man to the feed rollers which draw it forward and present it to the
toothed drum, which acts upon it, commencing at the point of the fibre,
and as the rollers advance the fibre the teeth clean and work it up to
the centre of its length. When this is effected the workman reverses
a

page_text: the action of the feed rollers and the fibre is drawn back off the drum.
The workman then turns the fibre end for end and repeats the operation.
When the fibre is of sufficient strength to admit of it the drum is driven
at such a speed as to throw off the tow or short fibre by centrifugal
action, but if the fibre is found to be weak the drum is driven slower, so
as not to break it, and the tow is stript off by hand from time to time.
A guard plate is provided immediately over the feeding point in order to
keep the fibre against the drum until it becomes lapped partially around
it. The reversing gear may be so arranged as to draw back the fibre
more rapidly than it presents it to the drum.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the Drawings
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view and Figure 2 a plan of a machine constructed
according to our Invention.
a, a, is the frame carrying in bearings an axis 6 with fast and loose
pulleys b¹, 62, upon it to receive a driving belt; c is a drum fixed on the
axis ; it is clothed with lags of hard wood in which the steel teeth or
spikes c¹, c¹, are firmly fixed. These teeth or spikes are made sharper on
their leading edges; they may be set radially as the Drawings indicate,
or may be pitched somewhat forward. The drum is driven in the
direction indicated by the arrow on Figure 1. d, d, are fluted feed
rollers, of which the lower one d can be driven in either direction from
the axis 6; it is driven in a forward direction, or so as to advance the
fibre to the drum by means of a spur wheel e loose on its axis, but which
is then clutched with it by the clutch f sliding with a groove and feather
on the axis, and having projections upon it engaging with corresponding
projections on the boss of the wheel in the usual way. The wheel e
gears with an adjustable intermediate wheel g; this wheel can be set
higher up or lower down on its standard a¹ and moved along its stud
axis so as to gear with one or other of the three pinions h, h¹, and h³
fixed on the axis b. In this way the roller d can be driven either faster
or slower in relation to the drum c. The roller d is driven in a backward
direction, or so as to draw back the fibre from the drum by means of the
belt pulley h mounted loosely on its axis, but clutched with it at such
times by the clutch f. The belt on the pulley h takes its motion from

page_text: the pulley on the axis 6; i is a table which assists in supporting the
fibre under treatment; k is a treadle, by means of which the workman
when he inserts the fibre between the feed rollers d, d¹, presses the upper
roller d' down towards the lower with a pressure sufficient to hold the
fibre securely; k³, k¹, are rods connected to the treadle; they are forked
at their upper ends where they embrace the axis of the lower roller d
and carry the bearings of the upper roller d¹; is the clutch lever for
controlling the direction of rotation of the feed rollers and for stopping
them when required; m is an axis with a belt fork upon it at m¹, and a
handle at m²; by turning this axis partly round the driving belt is
shifted on the pulleys b¹, b², to start and stop the machine; n is a fixed
guard to prevent the teeth or spikes of the drum throwing off the fibre
as soon as it is presented to them.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that what
we claim is, the construction of hackling machinery applicable especially
to phormium tenax and other long fibres, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Moysey and Cornelius Thorne,
have hereunto set] our hands and seals, this Eighth day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.