IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1859

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 SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 7th October 1859, and dated the 11th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th April 1859.
I, WILLIAM ROWAN, of the firm of John Rowan & Sons, of Belfast, in the
County of Antrim, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS
MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of machinery
and apparatus to be used in preparing flax, hemp, China grass, and other
similar fibres, previously to their being spun into yarn. In lieu of the screws
now used in screw gills I use screws, the pitch of which is variable, so as to
produce a corresponding variable motion in the gills instead of a uniform
motion as at present, whereby the drawing action on the fibres is more
effectually performed than in the machines now in use.

page_text: 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 October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROWAN, of the firm of John Rowan & 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 April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second 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 SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS," 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 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 William 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 Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of machinery
and apparatus to be used in preparing flax, hemp, China grass, and other
similar fibres, in order to fit them for being spun into yarn. In lieu of the
screws now used in screw gills I use screws, the pitch of which is variable so
as to produce a corresponding variable motion in the gills instead of a uniform
motion as at present, whereby the drawing action on the fibres is more
effectually performed than in the machines now in use.
In the annexed Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 is a transverse section of a

page_text: portion of a machine constructed for carrying my improvements into effect;
and Figure 2 is a ground plan of the same. The same letters of reference
apply to like parts in both Figures. A and B are the gill bars, which are
made like those now in common use. The gills a, a, are fixed upon them,
and they receive longitudinal motion from the right and left-handed screws
C, C, and D, D. The upper gill bars on arriving at the end of the screws
C, C, are forced downwards by the cams E, E, into the position of B, and
the screws D, D, revolving in directions opposite to those of the upper screws
urge the gill bars with a retrograde motion until they arrive at the end of the
screws. They are then lifted by the cams F, F, into gear with the upper
screws C, C, and recommence the journey first described. The screws C, C,
are commonly made of a uniform pitch of thread from end to end, carrying
the gill bars along with an invariable motion; but in those constructed
according to my Invention I make the said screws with a gradually increasing
pitch, whereby the gill bars are gradually accelerated in their motion, and the
flax or other fibre thereby is better cleaned, divided, softened, and drawn than
in the machines with gills having uniform motion. The increase of the pitch
thus described may be carried to the extreme end of the screws, but I find it
better not to do so, but to make the last three or four threads of the screws
to decrease again in their pitch, so as to bring the gills more upright imme-
diately before being acted upon by the cams E, E, which urge them into
gear with the lower screws. The increase of pitch I find best is about two to
one, but this may be considerably varied in its limits.
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 the employment
in screw gills of screws of variable pitch, for producing variable motion in
the gills essentially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I the said William Rowan, bave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
WILL ROWAN. (L.S.)