IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HACKLING FLAX, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lowry, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
HACKLING FLAX, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND SUCH
LIKE MATERIALS."
Sealed the 13th April 1863, and dated the 8th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lowry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
December 1862.
I, GEORGE LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR HACKLING FLAX, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN FLAX, HEMP, TOW, AND SUCH'
LIKE MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
The nature and novel features of my Invention consists in an improved
combination of parts of machinery arranged and adapted to perform and effect
the operations of hackling flax, and preparing to be spun flax, hemp, tow, and
such like materials.
Firstly, in a növel arrangement of swivel stripper rods for stripping the tow.
from the hackles of sheet hackling machines after the hackles have passed.
through the pendant stricks of fibrous material. In this arrangement the

page_text: stripper rods are attached to elbow levers hinged to intermediate plates or to
the blocks around which the straps of the sheet backles pass, these stripping
rods drop by their own gravity as the drums revolve, and thus strip the
hackles.
Secondly, in an improved method of raising and lowering the needle bars
or fallers of what is known as the screw gill system of preparing, by applying
an eccentric to the bottom screw, and putting in motion a cradle or levers to
raise or lower the faller bars as may be required.
Thirdly, in applying to the improved tow shaking machine described in
the Provisional Specification of Letters Patent applied for by me on the
Fourteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, No. 2016,
an apparatus for making laps for carding engines. This apparatus is similar
to the lap machines employed in preparing cotton.
Fourthly, in arranging a perforated ribbed or barred creeper sheet under-
neath the workers and stripper rollers of circular carding engines, which
creeper carries forward the fibre and allows the dirt and shives to fall to the
floor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Lowry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LOWRY, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said. George Lowry, Her special license, that I, the said George
Lowry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Lowry, 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 HACKLING, FLAX,, AND PREPARING TO BE SPUN FLAX, HEMP,
Tow, AND SUCH LIKE MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said George Lowry, 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 George Lowry, 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 (that is to say) :-
The nature of my Invention consists, first, in a novel combination, arrange-
ment, and adaptation of swivel strippers or stripper rods, for the purpose of
stripping the tow from the hackles of sheet hackling machines when and after
the hackles have passed through the stricks of fibrous material.
Secondly, in an improved method of raising and lowering the gills, needle
bars, or fallers of screw gill machines by the application of an eccentric in
conjunction with the bottom screw, and a combination and adaptation of
levers, the operation of which screw puts into motion a rocking lever to raise
or lower the gills or faller bars as may be required.
Thirdly, in applying to the improved tow shaking machine described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me on the Fourteenth day of July,.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, number 2016, an apparatus for
making laps for tow carding engines.
And, fourthly, in arranging a perforated ribbed or barred concentric flexible
creeper sheet, underneath the working and stripper rollers of tow carding
engines, which creeper carries forward the fibre and allows the dirt, shives,
and other impurities to fall to the floor.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, I will proceed to describe my improvements, which may be
arranged under four divisions, and the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings,
reference being had to the figures and letters marked thereon.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a section of part of a sheet hackling machine, the
construction, parts, and operations of which being familiar to persons conversant
with such machinery, I shall not herein describe or refer to the same, further
than as may be necessary for the explanation of my present improvements,
which are a series of swivel strippers or rotatory stripper rods; Figure 2 is
a front view of the same.
a, a, are the axles of the top rollers; b, b, the axles of the bottom drums,

page_text: and c, c, the leather sheets to which the hackle bars d are attached. To the
axles 6 are fixed the discs e, to which are jointed the bent or elbow levers f,
supporting the stripper rods g, see the right hand side of Figure 1. At the
left hand side of Figure 1 the stripper rods 9 are fixed to swivel pieces ƒ³,
which are jointed to the levers f; these stripper rods extend the full length of
the hackles, and when the hackle bars are passing under the lower circum-
ference of the bottom drums, the stripping rods swivel or turn partly round
on their pivots, striking past the back of the hackles, and thereby stripping
the tow from the hackle pins. As the drums continue to rotate, the stripping
rods swivel back and are replaced to their original positions on the drums to
be ready to swivel or rotate again when required. The swivel stripper rods g,
shewn at the left hand side of Figure 1, are prevented from rotating too soon
by the guides h, which are fixed to the brackets h¹, secured to the rail h³,
extending from one frame side to the other inside the sheets. The guides i,
at the right hand side of Figure 1, are to keep the stripper rods back from
the hackle bars, the studs on the levers f passing within the guides i, which
are secured to the brackets fixed to the rail ².
In reference to the second part of my improvements, Figure 3 is a side
view, and Figure 4 a front view of part of a screw gill machine, constructed
according to my improvements. In these views j is one of the screws to which
is fixed the eccentric j¹; k is one of the usual gills, needle bars, or fallers, the
ends of which work in the propelling screws j, as now customary; 1 is a shaft
which is made to revolve at the same speed as the screws j; on the shaft / is
a wheel with a stud projecting from its face, taking into the slot lever m,
which is fixed to the rocking shaft m³, a similar lever is fixed to the other end
of the rocking shaft, and these two levers give a to-and-fro motion to the
rods m³, commensurate with one revolution of the screw. The eccentrics j
on the screws j give an up-and-down motion to the vertical rods j, which are
hinged below to the rocking lever js vibrating on the studs j. When the
needle bar or faller arrives at the end of the screws j, it drops on to the ends
of the rods m², which are then drawn back into the position shewn in Figure 3,
the rocking lever j³ then comes into operation, and raises the gill or needle bar
until it comes into contact with the threads of the propelling screws j. By this
means the bottom screws are dispensed with, and the machine is thereby con-
siderably simplified, or the machine may be made with the ordinary top and bottom
screws and without the levers m, and rods m², the eccentrics j' are then applied
to the bottom screws to give motion to the rocking lever j³, for raising the needle
bars or fallers from the bottom to the top screws, as herein-before described.

page_text: r,
In reference to the third part of my improvements, on Sheet 2, Figure 5 is
an elevation, and Figure 6 a plan of my improved tow shaking machine, for
which Letters Patent were granted to me on the Fourteenth day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, number 2016, the parts marked o, p, q;
and s, are similar to those described in the Specification of the above recited
Patent, in which they are marked with corresponding letters of reference.
The tow, after it has been operated, upon by the fingers p', drops on to the
creeper s, which continually passing around the rollers s¹ and s², the latter
roller delivers the tow to the calender rollers t, from which it passes over the
table t' to the lap roller u, on which it is wound or lapped in a similar manner
as in lap machines now employed in preparing cotton. The lapped roller or
lap is then ready to be taken to the tow carding engine.
In reference to the fourth part of my improvements, Figure 7 represents
such part of a tow carding engine to which my improvements are applied;
w is the axle of the main cylinder of the carding engine, and w¹ and w³ are
the ordinary workers and stripping rollers; x is a flexible creeper sheet
passing around the rollers x and x, the former of which receives motion from
one of the workers w' by means of the wheel w³ gearing into the wheel a³, or
in any
other convenient manner; to the creeper sheet x are fixed the bars y,
which have projecting arms at each edge by which they are fixed to the
creeper sheets, as shewn in Figure 8. The ends of the bars y take into a
grooved guide z, to keep the creeper concentric to the main cylinder or nearly
SO. When the machine is at work the creeper carries the fibres forward, and
allows the dirt, shives, and other impurities to fall on the floor or into a
suitable receptacle. I wish to observe that the creeper may be perforated
or ribbed, or made in any other convenient manner for the said purpose.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the several improvements, I declare that I claim,-
First, the arrangement and combination of mechanism, whereby the loose
elbow jointed levers and rotatory swivel rods, as herein described as swivel
strippers, become self-acting for the purpose of making more effective the
stripper rods of shect hackling machines.
Secondly, the adaptation and combination of mechanism described as
adapted to screw gill machines for raising the gills, needle bars, or fallers from
the bottom to the top screws when two pair of screws are employed, or for
traversing the needle bars or fallers and raising them when only one pair
of screws are employed as shewn and described in reference to Figures 3
and 4.

page_text: Thirdly, the application of the lapping apparatus of a lap machine to a tow
shaking machine as herein described.
And lastly, the adaptation of a perforated ribbed or latticed concentric
creeper sheet to tow carding engines, as shewn and described in reference
to Figures 7 and 8.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lowry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
GEORGE LOWRY. (L.S..)