IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DROIDT Tums HOMP AND GTMTY AD TROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lawson, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DROIDT
Tums HOMP AND
GTMTY AD TROUS SUBSTANCES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lawson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th August 1874.
I, JOHN LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PREPARING FLAX, JUTE, HEMP, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
to be as follows :—
This Invention is applicable to those machines known in the trade as
"Good's Patent chain gill spreading, drawing, and hackling machines."
The first improvement has for its object to give greater facility than
heretofore for taking out and replacing the gill bars. Hitherto the bars

page_text: which are connected together by links to form an endless chain have
been severally made in one piece with their pivot or joint pins. I now
propose to form the bar and the pivots or joint pins in separate pieces,
and to connect them together by means of screws. The bars thus con-
structed may be taken out of the machine and replaced without
disturbing the said pivots or joint pins. Consequently the continuity of
the chain remains intact, and the machine may be worked with or
without one or more bars if found necessary.
The second part of my improvement also refers to Good's Patent
chain gill. Hitherto the gill bars have been made straight with their
axes central to the bar. I now propose to crank the bars so as to bring
the axis of the pivot or joint pins (when the gills are in a position for
action) above the bar. The adoption of this arrangement necessitates a
further modification as will be presently understood.
In the first arrangement with straight bars as the chain passes from
front to back the bars are free to fall by their own gravity with the
points of the teeth downwards, and in their passage a vibratory motion
is given to them which shakes out the short fibres and accumulations
which gather in the hackle pins, but in these cranked bars the centre of
gravity causes the pins to turn upwards.
Now the last part of my Invention consists in turning the hackle pins
of these cranked bars downwards, and in giving them a shaking or
vibratory motion as they pass from front to back, in order to shake out
the loose fibres and other accumulations which get between the hackle
pins. To accomplish this I make the back guides of such form that the
joint pins on the ends of the gill bars may pass between and be held in
such a way that the points of the hackle pins are downwards. On the
upper surface of these back guides I form projections and on the lower
surface hollows, so that as the gill bars pass from front to back they are
shaken or vibrated, and having the points of the hackle pins downwards
the loose fibres and other accumulations fall out without the aid of a
brush or stripper.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lawson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eight year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Lawson, Her special licence that
I, the said John Lawson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Lawson, my 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 MACHINERY
FOR PREPARING FLAX, JUTE, HEMP, AND SIMILAR FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lawson, 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 John Lawson, do hereby declare
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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto.
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention is specially designed for improving those machines
known in the trade as "Good's Patent chain gill spreading, drawing,
and hackling machines," but it is also applicable to other machines.
having the same general features of construction.

page_text: t
The first improvement has for its object to give greater facility than
heretofore for taking out and replacing the gill bars. Hitherto the bars,
which are connected together by links to form an endless chain, havo
been severally made in one piece with their pivot or joint pins. This
has however been productive of great inconvenience for on one of the
gill bars being injured so as to require removal the machine had to be
thrown out of work until the bar could be replaced. I now propose to
form the bar and the pivots or joint pins in separate pieces, and to
connect them together by means of screws or otherwise. The bars thus
constructed may be taken out of the machine and replaced without
disturbing the said pivots or joint pins.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have given several views
to illustrate the first head of my Invention.
Fig. 1 shews in partial front view the gill bar hitherto used in
"Good's chain gill machine," and Fig. 1ª is a cross section shewing
three gill bars and the drawing rollers in connection therewith. A is
the gill bar furnished at its opposite ends with a pivot pin A¹, which
pins are made in one with the bar and pass through the interlocking
links of which the endless chains B are formed; C, D, are the drawing
rollers, and E the guiding crank ends of the bars. In order to remove
a bar of this construction it will be necessary to unship the chains, and
thus disarrange the whole machine.
Figures 2 and 2° shew my improved construction of gill bar in which
the hackle pins are fitted into the bar.
Fig. 3 is a front elevation of part of a gill bar of my improved
construction with the hackle pins fitted in the bar, and made so as to
modify or ease the strain upon the slides and guides during the operation
of drawing or hackling; Fig. 3ª is a cross section of the same.
Fig. 4 is a front elevation of part of a gill bar similar to that in Fig. 3,
but with a hackle stock rivetted or screwed to the gill bar instead of
the hackle pins being fitted in, and Fig. 4ª is a cross section of the
same.
In these three arrangements it will be seen that the bar A and the pivot
pins A³ are made in separate pieces, and fitted together so as to form a
lap joint, their attachment being secured by means of screws a, a.
When therefore it is required to remove a hackle bar from the machine it

page_text: will be only necessary to withdraw the screws a, and thereby to disengage
the bar from its pivot pins. The continuity of the chain will thus
remain intact, and the machine may consequently be worked while one
or more of the bars are absent if found necessary.
Figures 3 and 4 also serve to illustrate the second head of my Inven-
tion. Hitherto the gill bars of Good's Patent chain gill spreader have
been made straight with their axis of motion in line with or central to
the bars. I now propose to crank the bars so as to bring the axis of the
pivot or joint pins (when the gills are in a position for action) above the
bar, as shewn at Figures 3 and 4, and thereby to modify or ease the
strain upon the slides and guides during the operation of drawing or
hackling. The adoption of this arrangement necessitates a further
modification as will be presently understood.
In the arrangement of straight jointed bars, shewn at Fig. 2, as the
chain passes from front to back, the bars are free to fall by their own
gravity with the points of the teeth downwards, and in their passago
they receive a vibratory motion sufficient to shake out the short fibres
and accumulations which gather in the backle pins, but in these cranked
bars the tendency will be for the pins to retain their vertical position.
To remove this tendency and to ensure the proper clearing of the pins
is the object of the third lead or last part of my Invention.
My Invention consists lastly in means for turning downwards the
hackle pins of my improved cranked bars, and in giving them a shaking
or vibratory motion as they pass from front to back, in order to shake
out the loose fibres and other accumulations which get between the
hackle pins. To this end I make the back guides of such form that as
the guide pins of the cranks on the ends of the gill bars pass between
the guides, their cranks will be turned in such a way as to direct the
points of the hackle pins downwards.
In Sheet II. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 5 shows in
longitudinal section so much of a chain gill flax spreading machine, as
will serve to explain the application of the third head of my Invention,
and Fig. 6 is a side view of one of the pair of back guides which I.
employ detached from the machine. The back guides are composed
each of two pieces of cast iron F, F', which are braced or rivetted
together, and the same are secured by bolts or otherwise to the main
framing of the machine. Between these parts F, F, which together