IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING AND HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rowan, of the firm of John Rowan &
Sons, of Belfast, in the County of Antrim, Engineers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING AND HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR
VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 22nd December 1857, and dated the 2nd July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition' on the
2nd July 1857.
I, WILLIAM ROWAN, of the firm of John Rowan & Sons, of Belfast, in the
Countyof Antrim, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCUTCHING AND HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGE.
TABLE FIBRES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to bo as follows:-
The flax, straw, or other vegetable substance after it has been retted is
securely held at about the middle of its length by a holder, (such as is used at
presentwith heckling machines,)and slowly traversed across the machine,and
pair of jaws is made to nip the straw and then recede away from the holder.
These jaws are armed with plates of metal, either plain or toothed on the
edges, the plates on one jaw alternating with those on the other jaw, and
these bend and break the boon or woody part of the straw between them and
draw it away from the fibres. When the jaws have travelled beyoud the end

page_text: of the fibres, they are made to open and then approach the holder ready to
repeat the operation just described, and this nipping and drawing action is
continued until the holder has reached the side of the machine opposite to that
where it entered. The holder is then taken out of the machine,and the straw
reversed, end for end, in it, and precisely similar operations are performed on
the end of the straw previously untouched
The second part of the Invention for heckling or dressing the fibre is per-
formed in a machine similar to the above, except that instead of plates of
metal the jaws are armed with heckle pins, which are strong and set wide
apart at the side of the machine where the operation begins, and are pro-
gressively finer and closer set from this side to that where the operation
finishes.
The two which is combed out by the heckle pins and gets entangled about
them is cleared off by stripping plates or rods, which receive a motion so as to
alternately expose and conceal the points of, the pins, and thus throw off the
tow from them. I sometimes also make use of brushes instead of heckle pins
affixed to the finishing ends of the jaws to perform the final operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rowan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st January 1858.
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 Second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rowan, Her special licence thatI, 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
SCUTCHING AND HECKLING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND IN

page_text: MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," 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 particu-
larly 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 Willian Rowan, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My improvements essentially consist in scutching and heckling flax and
other similar fibres in the following manner, and by means of the following
machinery-The flax, straw, or other vegetable substance, after undergoing
the usual process of retting or other preliminary preparation, is securely held
at about the middle of its length by a holder, (such as is used at present with
heckling machines for example,) and is slowly traversed across the machine,
and a pair of jaws is made to nip the flax or straw and then recede from the
holder. These jaws are armed with plates of metal, either plain or toothed ou
the edges, the plates on one jaw alternating with those on the other jaw, and
these bend and break the boone or woody part of the flax or straw between
them, and draw it away from the fire. When the jaws have travelled beyond
the end of the fibres, they are made to open and then approach the holder
ready to repeat the operation just described, and this nipping and drawing
action is continued until the holder has reached the side of the machine oppo-
site to that where it entered. The holder is then taken out of the machine
and the straw reversed end for end in it, and precisely similar operations are
performed on the end of the straw previously untouched.
The second part of the Invention for heckling or dressing the fibre is per-
formed in a machine similar to the above, except that instead of plates of
metal the jaws are armed with heckle pins, which are strong and set wide
apart at the side of the machine where the operation begins, and are pro-
gressively finer and closer set from this side to that where the operation
finishes.
The tow which is combed out by the heckle pins and gets entangled about
them is cleared off by stripping plates or rods, which receive a motion so as to
alternately expose and conceal the points of the pins, and thus throw off the

page_text: tow from them. I sometimes also make use of brushes instead of heckle pins
affixed to the finishing ends of the jaws to perform the final operation.
Having thus set forth the essential features of my Invention, I will proceed
to describe its nature more fully, and also the manner of carrying it into prac
tical effect, commencing with the arrangement employed for heckling, and
premising that for both purposes the machine is exactly similar except in the
appliances or tools which act immediately upon the fibrous material. In my
machine a pair of rocking levers, supported by two side frames, receives
reciprocating motion from a rotating shaft with two cranks. From the ends
of these two rocking levers are suspended horizontal bars by means of a pair
of links at each end of the two levers. These bars, which hang in pairs, oue
pair on each side of the machine, have their opposed faces armed with heckle
pins so arranged that there shall be a progressive increase of fineness from one
end of the bar to the other, the coarsest being at that end of the machine
where the flax is first entered. The horizontal bars to which the heckle pins
are fastened are guided at each end by vertical slides attached to a parallel
motion, and are made to approach and recede from each other by eccentrics
or cams fixed on the crank shaft. The action of the machine is as follows:-
The flax firmly fixed in proper quantities in holders is placed at the end of a
slide extending across the machine,so that the tail of the flax shall hang down
between the heckle pins on the horizontal bars. The holder traverses along
this slide, being actuated by a screw which in turn receives its motion from a
lever on the axis of the rocking levers by means of a ratchet wheel and pawl.
The cams or eccentrics are so set in respect to the cranks, that immediately
before the horizontal bars with the heckle pins descend, the vertical slides are
inade to approach each other, and thus cause the heckle pins to penetrate the
suspended flax on both sides, and the descent of the heckle pins following, this
produces a combing action on the fibre. On arriving at the bottom of the
stroke,the cams cause the separation of the heckles, so that they are quite free
from the flax in the returning or up stroke. The attendant ou the machine
supplies holders with flax as fast as the preceding holder has advanced far
enough to leave room; and on the arrival of each holder at the opposite end
of the machine another attendant receives it, and after reversing the flax end
for end in the holder, he passes it along the other side of the machine, to be
subjected to similar operations, both sides of the machine being precisely
similar.
For scutching, instead of heckle pins I use plates of metal attached to, the
horizontal bars before described. These plates have some of their edges plain

page_text: and some serrated, which closing on the flax or straw by the action of the
machine, are drawn downwards. The boone or woody portion of the flax or
straw is thus broken and taken away from the useful fibrous portion.
In the annexed Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse section of a
machine constructed for carrying into effect iny improvements for heckling;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 a ground pian, partly in
section, of the same machine. The same letters apply to like parts in each
of these Figures. A, A, are open frames of cast iron, one at each end of the
machine, and connected together by the cross frames B, B, B; C is a shaft
with cranks on it near the ends, and having on it the driving fast and loose
pulleys a, a, and the fly wheels b. b, for equalizing the motion; D, D, are two
beams or rocking levers fixed on an axle c, and receiving a rocking motion
from the cranks by the connecting rod d; E, E, are links by which the
sliding sockets F, F, are suspended from the rocking levers. Instead of
connecting these links direct to the rocking levers, I sometimes, when the
curved line. traversed by the ends of the rocking levers is objectionable,
connect the links E, E, to the rocking levers by the intervention of slides and
links or by other means of producing parallel motion. To the sockets F, F,.
are fixed the bars G, G, of iron or wood, to which are bolted the stocks of
the heckle pius H, H. The details of this portion are shewn more distinctly
in the enlarged sections. Figure 5 and Figure 6, to which the same letters of.
reference apply.
.
The joints by which the sliding sockets F, F, are attached to the links E, E,
are situated considerably below the sockets; the object of this will be seen.
presently. The sliding sockets F, F, work up and down on the guides I, I,
and these again are carried by the triple levers J, J, to which they are jointed
by the crossheads K, K. The horizontal limbs of the levers J, J, are cou.,
nected together by the upright rods e, e. Thus the upper and lower levers
J, J, being similarly affected, the guides I, I, are at all times constrained to
be parallel with each other. L, L, are frames attached by the adjusting
screws ff, to the vertical guides I, I, causing the movements of all the
vertical guides to be simultaneous; M, M, are two cams keyed upon the
crank shaft, and made of such a form as to allow the motion produced by
them to be as quick as convenient, with intervals of rest between the suc
cessive movements; g, g, are friction rollers on which the cams act, and
which, being carried by the cam frames L, L, communicate a reciprocating
motion to them, and also to the vertical guides, and all connected therewith;.
N, N, are slides or galleries in which are placed the holders retaining the

page_text: flax. These galleries are attached to the side frames of the machine at such
a height as to just clear the heckle bars when the latter are at their top
stroke, aud have each a screw hat the end; at the end of the screw is a small
pinion gearing into a wheel j. On the same spindle as the wheel j is a
ratchet wheel i, with a lever and pawl k, which is shewn also in the detached
Figure 4. This lever is in connection by the rod with the lever m on the
axle of the rocking levers, and thus motion is communicated to the screw h.
The flax holders have projecting pieces on their sides which take into the
threads of the screw, and they thus receive a progressive motion across the
machine as long as fresh holders are supplied by the attendant, that which is
last supplied pushing all the others before it. S,S, are shield plates attached
to the guides I, I, their object being to prevent the flax and tow adhering to
the greased surface of the guides I, I. The cams M are so set, as regards
the position of the cranks, and the direction in which they revolve, that the
heckles shall be closed together immediately before they commence their
descending stroke, and consequently they will open just before the com-
mencement of their ascending stroke. The combing action on the flax
therefore takes place when the heckles are moving downwards only, and
during the time they are rising the screw receives rotary motion by the means
described, and urges the flax holder a step forward ready for the repetition of
the combing action till at length the holder arrives at the end of the machine,
and the heckling process will be finished on that end of the flax which is thus
far operated upon. The attendant now uuscrews the holder, and inverting
the flax, end for end, in it, again screws it up, and passes it to the other side
of the machine to repeat the process. The rate at which the holder traverses
the machine is regulated at will by lengthening or shortening the lever m,
which, with this object in view, I make with a long slot to receive the joint
pin of the rod 7. In the enlarged sections, Figures 5 and 6, 0,0, are bars
of wood, which I call stripping bars; these are pierced with holes cor-
responding with the beckle pins, and work freely on them. Any tow combed
out from the flax and adhering to the heckle pins may be removed from them
by causing the stripping bar to recede from the position shewn in Figure 6
to that shewn in Figure 5, and I produce this requisite motion in the fol-
lowing manner-To the stripping bars O is secured the sheet metal P,
forming with the stripping bar a box enclosing the bar Gand beckle stock H,
an opening being made near each en whet ba. 18 bolted to the
socket F. As before mentioned, the joints of the sliding sockets F, F, to
which the links E, E, are attached, are at some distance below the sockets,

page_text: and consequently that part of the links which is level with the heckle bars
will receive less motion from the cams than the heckles themselves. I there-
fore connect the sheet metal box P with the links E, E, at this level, and
when the heckle pins are withdrawn from the flax by the action of the cam,
the stripping bar having less motion than the heckle pins is moved on them
towards their points, and pushes off the tow.
I prefer to arrange the heckle pins in alternate blank and full sections, the
blank spaces on one bar being opposite to the full spaces on the opposed bar,
and I also have the heckle pins much wider apart at the commencing end
than at the finishing end, making them progressively finer from the former to
the latter. I also find it useful to substitute a section of plates of metal, as in
Figure 7, in place of heckle pins at the commencing end of the machine.
The depth to which the heck le pins penetrate into the flax is regulated by the
adjusting screws f, f, which connect the vertical guides with the cam frame.
In adapting my machinery for scutching purposes I use precisely the
arrangement above described, except that in place of heckle pins I use plates
of metal attached to the bars G, G, as shewn in the enlarged views, Figures 7,
8, and 9, Figure 7 being a cross section, Figure 8 a face view, and Figure 9.
a ground plan. Q, Q, are the scutching plates, the outer edges of which are
serrated or toothed, as shewn in Figure 9. The teeth are made finer pro-
gressively from the commencing to the finishing end of the machine, and I
sometimes use the first section with plain edges, that is, without the teeth
just described. The plates on the one bar are made to alternate or pass
between those on the opposite bar, and any number of plates may be used,
but I prefer the number and arrangement shewn. Besides these plates I use
sometimes toothed plates R, R, fixed to the under side of the bars G, G,
the teeth on one side intersecting with those on the other side. I find
these useful in disengaging the boone or shoves previously broken by the
plates Q, Q.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the best
methods with which I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I
desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details
herein set forth, as they may be varied in many ways, and mechanical
equivalents obtained for the different parts, without departing from the
essential features of my Invention; and I declare that I claim,―
First, as my improvements in scutching and heckling flax and other similar
vegetable fibres, the method of passing the said fibres in holders through or
along a suitable machine, and of causing scutching and heckling appliances

page_text: to enter the fibres near the holders, pass longitudinally through them, separate
after leaving them, return to their first position, and then again enter other
fibres and repeat the aforesaid movements, as herein-before described, together
with the general method of action of such appliances.
And I claim, secondly, as my improvements in machinery employed in
scutching and heckling flax and other vegetable fibres, the construction and
employment of machinery for producing the aforesaid movements, essentially
as herein before described, and represented in the drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rowan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLM ROWAN. (L.S.)