IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING' OB CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND FOR PREPARING THE SAME FOR SPINNING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rowan, of the Firm of John Rowan' and'.
Sons, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Engineers, for the Invention of:
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING' OB CLEANING FLAX, HEMP,
AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND FOR PREPARING THE SAME FOR SPINNING."
Sealed the 6th December 1867, and dated the 11th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th June 1867.
I, WILLIAM ROWAN, of the Firm of John Rowan and Sons, of Belfast, in
the County of Antrim, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HECKLING OR CLEANING FLAX,
HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND FOR PREPARING THE SAME FOR SPINNING,"
to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in the combination with holders for the fibrous
material (which have descending, ascending, and advancing motions similar to
the holders of an ordinary heckling machine) of rollers formed with sixteen or
other convenient number of bars or ribs, some of which have serrated teeth
and heckle pins, which act upon the fibrous material so as to heckle or clean it
and prepare it for spinning.
I take a pair of rollers set horizontally side by side, and, say, eight feet in
length, and the serrations of which are formed gradually finer as they approach
one end of the rollers. Each bundle of fibres is lowered in its holder perpen-

page_text: dicularly to the rollers at that end where the serrations are coarsest, and after
being operated upon it is lifted and advanced, say, ten inches along a gallery,
again submitted to the rollers, and then lifted, and so on until it arrives at the
opposite end of the rollers where the serrations are finest.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed!
by the said William Rowan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROWAN, of the Firm of John Rowan and Sons, of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rowan, Her special licence that I, the said William Rowan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Rowan, my executors, administrators, 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
HECKLING OR CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIAL, AND FOR
PREPARING THE SAME FOR SPINNING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William.Rowan, my executors or administrators, by. an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Rowan, my do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto' annexed,
that is to say
My Invention consists in the combination with holders for the fibrous
material (which have descending, ascending, and advancing motions similar

page_text: to the holders of an ordinary heckling machine) of rollers constructed and'
arranged as hereafter described, which act upon the fibrous material so as to
heckle or clean it and prepare it for spinning.
In machines constructed according to my Invention there are two pairs of
rollers with ribs or bars and supported by two side frames; each of these
rollers has, in addition to the ribs for cleaning or scutching purposes, one
or more fixed bars or ribs formed with serrated teeth and one or more loose
plain bars, each end of the latter being inserted loosely in saddles fastened to
the rollers; these saddles are so arranged that the bars inserted therein have
room to extend themselves by the centrifugal action produced by the velocity
of the rollers, which latter are worked by gearing; one of each pair of these
rollers is movable at one end so as to separate from the other upon the first
entrance of the flax straw or fibrous material, the object of this separation
being to produce more or less abrasion on the material (while being operated
upon) as it may require, the abrasion by this means becoming progressively
more as the fibre reaches the fixed end of the roller. Against the movable
end of the roller a spring is placed, the effect of which is to bring this roller in
close contact with the tails of the fibre, thereby causing it to be thoroughly
cleaned throughout. Upon a shaft extending across the machine is placed a..
heart-shaped cam which gives a' reciprocating motion by means of a con-
necting rod to a rocking beam, which in turn imparts an ascending and
descending motion to two galleries 'placed in guides, one on each side of the
machine, and connected to the rocking beam by adjustable links.
The action of the machine is as follows:-The flax or straw in proper
quantities is firmly fixed in holders, and placed in one end of the galleries
before described, and at the place where the movable end of the roller is
situated, so that the tails of the flax straw hang between the two rollers, and
on the descent of the galleries are brought into contact with the serrated and
other bars, and the downward motion of the stricks of flax being continued.
through the rollers the first grade of the cleaning or scutching action is produced..
During the ascent of the galleries the material thus partly scutched is propelled
with the holder a certain distance to another position between the rollers, which
being, as previously explained, progressively closer to each other, the flax is
subjected to a finer grade of scutching, and so on until it has been. propelled.
the whole length of the rollers, by which time the cleaning of one end of the
fibre is finished. One attendant supplies holders charged with flax straw as:
fast as space is left by the preceding holders having advanced on their journey,
across the machine, and on the arrival of each holder at the opposite-end;
another attendant receives it, and after reversing the material end-for end. in

page_text: the holder he passes it along the other side of the machine to be subjected to
a similar operation on that portion of the material previously in the grasp of
the holder, and consequently untouched in the first stage of the operation.
Thus since both sides of the machine are precisely similar when the holders
have made their return journey, and arrived at the end they started from, the
material contained in them is completely scutched throughout the whole
length of the fibre, and the first-named attendant removes it in a finished
state, making use of the holders for fresh portions of flax straw. The
progressive motion of the holders continues across the machine as long as
fresh ones are supplied,
The propelling motion of the holders is accomplished by means of pauls
connected to slides on the top of the galleries, which slides are moved by
means of a lever and upright bars, the backward and forward motion being
communicated to the lever by a grooved pulley fixed upon the cam shaft
already described;
.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 is a ground plan of the machine
constructed as berein-before described; Figure 2 is an elevation; Figures 3
and 4 are respectively views of the two ends A¹ and B'; Figures 5 and 6 are
enlarged views of the rollers. The same letters are employed in all the Figures
to indicate the same parts.
"
C, C, are frames of cast iron, one at each end of the machine, and connected
together by the cross frames D.; E, E, are the ribbed rollers upon which are
bolted the serrated bars a¹ and saddles for centrifugal plain bars b', Figure 5;
F is a shaft having on it at one end a fast and loose pulley c', c¹, to receive
the motion by a strap from the mill. On the pulley end of this shaft is a spur
wheel G giving motion by means of the pinions H to one pair of rollers E, E,
while the intermediate wheel I transmits the motion from the wheel G by
means of the pinions J to the other pair of rollers E, E, at the other side of
the machine. At the end of the pulley shaft F is a pinion K giving motion.
to a spur wheel L to which is joined a pinion m¹; this combined wheel and
pinion works upon a stud and imparts motion by means of a spur wheel of
to a shaft M; upen this shaft are placed two heart-shaped cams N com-
municating a reciprocating motion by means of connecting rods p¹ to rocking
beams to which are suspended by links the galleries s'. The holders t¹
for holding the flax during the process of cleaning, or scutching, or beckling,
are placed in these galleries, u, u, are the pauls; u, v, are the vertical bars
fastened into the lever wis the grooved pulley for giving the backward
and forward motion, all as previously described; 0, 0, are the springs for
closing the rollers E, E, of each pair together and regulating the required

page_text: pressure on the fibre, also as before described; P, P, are screws for putting
the rollers of each pair less or more in gear. When the machine is to be used
for beckling purposes heckle pins are used instead of the serrated bars a'
and centrifugal bars 6; the stocks of the heckle pins are bolted to the rollers.
Figures 7 and 8 shew the rollers with the heckle pins g'. The arrows in the
Drawings indicate where the material enters previous to scutching or heckling,
and where it emerges when in its finished state.
I have herein-before described a double machine, that is to say, a machine
with two pairs of rollers and two galleries, and this arrangement is the most
convenient; but if desired the machine may be made with only one pair
of rollers and one gallery, or with more than two pairs of rollers and two
galleries.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Machinery for Heckling or Cleaning Flax, Hemp, and other Fibrous
Materials, and for Preparing the same for Spinning," the combination with
holders for the fibrous material of ribbed rollers which act upon the fibrous
material, such rollers having 'some of the ribs formed with serrated teeth or
with heckle pins, all being constructed and arranged substantially as herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rowan, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Third day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-seven.