IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, Tow, JUTE, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lawson, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
MACHINERY FOR FLAX, Tow, JUTE, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 26th September 1871, and dated the 17th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lawson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th April 1871.
I, JOHN LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker,
"IMPROVEMENTS
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IN PREPARING MACHINERY FOR FLAX, Tow, JUTE, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
"
This Invention has for its object Improvements in Preparing
Machinery for Flax, Tow, Jute, Hemp, and other Fibrous Substances,"
and is applicable to that class of machinery known as the "screw gill."
It is for the purpose of giving each set of screws a separate or separablo
movement without the addition of a counter or extra shaft, and of
consequence without any of the fixings such shaft or shafts require.

page_text: Instead of fastening the bevel wheels to drive the screws upon their
shaft (known as the back shaft), they are mounted upon and fastened
or keyed to a metal tube which runs loose upon the said shaft. At one
end of this tube is a clutch or pin connecting it with the shaft, and
causing it to revolve therewith. In the event of any excess of stress
above what is required, or of anything going wrong or breaking, the
clutch or pin yields or is thrown out, and the head of screws stops,
all the other parts of the frame continuing to work notwithstanding
this stoppage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lawson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LAWSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Lawson, Her special license that I,
the said John Lawson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Lawson, 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, exorcise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MACHINERY
FOR FLAX, Tow, JUTE, HEMP, AND OTHER 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 samo was
to be performed, and cause the same to bo filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lawson, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:-
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing machinery
for flax, tow, jute, hemp, and other fibrous substances, and is applicablo
to that class of machinery known as the "screw gill." It is for the
purpose of giving each set of screws a separate or separable movement
without the addition of a counter or extra shaft, and in consequence
without any of the fixings such shaft or shafts require. Instead of
fastening the bevel wheels to drive the screws upon their shaft, known
as the back shaft, they are according to this Invention mounted upon
and fastened or keyed to a metal tube which runs loose upon the said
shaft. At one end of this tube is a clutch or pin connecting it with
the shaft and causing it to revolve therewith. In the event of any
excess of stress above what is required or of anything going wrong or
breaking, the clutch or pin yields or is thrown out, and the head
of screws stops, all the other parts of the frame continuing to work
notwithstanding this stoppage.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew the manner in which I prefer
to carry out my Invention.
Figure 1 is a back elevation, drawn half size, of such parts of a frame
as are necessary to show my improvements; Figures 2, 3, and 4 are
detailed views of parts drawn full size, partly in full view and partly
in section.
In the Drawing (a) is the framing; (b) are the stands or carriage
plates; (d) is the back shaft; (e) is a tube mounted on the back
shaft (d), and made to fit loosely on it; (f,f,) are bevel wheels fixed
on the tube (e) and gearing into bevel wheels (f), which are keyed on
to the faller screws (/); (g) is a disc clutch or boss keyed on the back
shaft (d), having holes () drilled in its face corresponding to holes (k)
in the bevel wheels (f). The pins (i) are passed loosely through the
holes () in the wheel and disc.
The common mode of giving motion to these screw gill boxes has been
as follows: Upon the back shaft (d) bevel wheels (f) are keyed or
fastened, and give motion through the bevel wheels (f) to the
screws (h.) Arrangements are made at the driving end of the shaft (d),
so that if the faller or screws become fast or deranged the driving

page_text: apparatus will stop, and the back shaft will cease to revolve, in which
case the whole of the heads or carriages in the frame stop, thereby
causing much loss of time and waste of material.
By my improvements instead of mounting the bevel wheels (✓) on
the back shaft (d), or using an extra shaft for each head, I mount them
on the tube (e) fitting loosely upon the back shaft (d), and connect the
tube with the back shaft by a pin or clutch as herein-before describod,
so that when the back shaft is revolved the tube will revolve with it;
but in case of unequal stress coming upon any one of the heads through
the mechanism going wrong or the parts becoming fast, the pin or
clutch (i) will break or give way, and the tube with the bevil wheels
(fand f) will remain stationary whilst the back shaft revolves within
it, and so the head or carriage will stop without interfering with or
stopping the other heads, thus saving time and material.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lawson, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
TOTD