Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Clamping and Holding Flax and other Fibres during the Operations of Scutching and Hackling.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 1st July, 1891-Accepted, 26th Sept., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Clamping and Holding
Flax and other Fibres during the Operations of Scutching and
Hackling.
I JOHN WESTROPP BRERETON 13 Upper Mount Street, Dublin Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The substitution of springs compressed by a lever & cam, for the bolt & nut now
used with flax clamps. I attach to the under side of plate on which flax is spread,
a flat spring, & place under it a shorter spring with its concave side to concave side
of longer one. To obtain the necessary power, I use a lever ending in a cam from
the side of which a short pin projects. To apply the power the operator places the
pin of cam in a hole through a strong square pin attached to the centre of longer
spring, but passing freely through short spring & both plates, so that when the
lever is moved across through a semicircle, the cam pressing on the upper plate
close to the square (or spring's pin) draws it upwards compressing the springs. To
use this holder for scutching I bore a second hole in springs' pin to allow for
varying thickness.
.. 201
J. W. BRERETON.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Clamping and Holding
Flax and other Fibres during the Operations of Scutching and
Hackling.
I, JOHN WESTROPP BRERETON, of 13 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, Ireland,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to apparatus for clamping and holding flax or other fibres
during the operations of scutching or hackling.
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying drawings, in
which :-
Figure 1 is a side view of a holder for hackling machines, showing a bent lever
and cam; the objects of the bend in lever are, first, to prevent the cam travelling
beyond its point of greatest pressure, and, second, to prevent the holder passing
into the hackling machine unless the lever is fully pressed down to touch the
plate;
Figure 2 a plan of same;
Figure 3 an end view of Figure 1 ;
Figure 4 section of jaws when used in scutching machines. This is the ordinary
form used for this purpose at the present time, as it is found necessary, even when
bolts and nuts are used, to corrugate the jaws so as to give holding power.
Figure 5 shows a variation in the handle and cam which I use for holders for
scutching machines.
Referring to Figures 1 to 4 :—
A, is a bent handle; B cam at end of same; C a pivot rivetted into hole in
cam B and fitting in hole in bolt D hereafter described; D a squared bolt passing
through clamps E and F, springs G and H and having a thread at end armed with
nut I; E upper clamp; Flower clamp fitting against shoulder L on bolt D ;
G small spring; H carriage spring; I nut; J ordinary guides for clamps.

page_text: It will be seen that the springs and clamp F are held fast to the bolt by
shoulder L, but the upper clamp is free to be removed so as to allow the flax to be
placed on the lower plate previous to clamping.
The mode of action is as follows:-
The handle A and upper jaw E.having been removed, the fax is placed on the
lower plate F evenly distributed from end to end, the upper jaw E is replaced, and
the pivot C pushed into the hole in bolt D, as shown in Figure 1; the handle is
then rotated (in the case of Figure 1) through an angle of 180 degrees, the cam
causing compression of the springs sufficient to tightly grip the fibre.
Figure 5 shows the handle as used for scutching machines.
The difference between this and the handle for hackling machines (Figure 1) is
that the latter is bent so as to touch the plate when the cam is at its point of
greatest pressure; in Figure 5 the handle is straight and has two small projections
one at each side which press down the plate when the handle is moved sufficiently
to right or left. The object of the double cam shown in Figure 5 is to enable the
same holder to be used during the double operation in scutching machines. In the
first operation, when flax straw is placed on the lower plate and the upper plate
dropped over the bolt D to the straw, the hole in the bolt D stands sufficiently
above the plate to allow the pin to be placed in the hole through the bolt when the
handle is perpendicular, as shown in Figure 5, so that, when pressed to the right,
the straw is held with the necessary pressure by the smaller cam. In the second
operation, as the cleaned end of the straw has to be clamped, the handle is pressed
to the left and the pressure obtained from the larger cam.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
:―
1. An improvement in clamping apparatus for flax and other fibres during the
operation of scutching or hackling, which consists in the combination of a lever A,
bolt D or its equivalent acting as an abutment, and springs G H with the clamping
plates E F for the purposes described.
2. A clamping apparatus, taken as a whole, substantially as herein described and
shown.
Dated this 30th day or June 1891.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.