FLAX. By this term we understand thebastor inner bark of theLinum usitatissimum,which is spun into yarn for weaving linen webs. This plant blossoms in June or July, and commonly ripens its seeds in September. As varieties, we distinguish thespringflax, with short knotty stems, whose seed capsules at the period of maturity, spring open with a perceptible sound; and thecloseflax, with longer smoother stems, whose capsules give out their seeds only when threshed. The Germans, who have bestowed much attention upon the culture of flax, call the formerKlangleinorSpringlein, and the latterDreschlein. This is the kind most commonly grown, but from the difference of climate, soil, and culture, it affords flax of very different qualities. The best ground for this plant is an open, somewhat friable clay, mingled with sand and mould. The early flax is usually sown in the end of April or beginning of May, the late, in June. The seeds ought to be sown thick, whereby the stalks are forced to grow more slender, and the fibres of the bast or harl are not only smoother and finer, but more uniform in length. If the raising of seed be the principal object, the flax must be more thinly sown, whereby it will produce stronger stalks, but more knotty, with shorter fibres, and more productive of tow.Whenever the flax is ripe, which is shown by the bottom of the stalk becoming yellow, and the leaves beginning to drop off, it must be immediately reaped by pulling it up by the roots. The seeds are still immature, fit merely for the oil press, and not for sowing. When the seed crop is the object, the plant must be suffered to acquire its full maturity; in which case the fibres are less fine and soft.The flax is carried off the field in bundles to be rippled, or stripped of its seeds, which is done by drawing it by handfuls, through an iron comb with teeth eight inches long, fixed upright in a horizontal beam. When the seeds are more fully ripened, they may be separated by the threshing mill.The operations next performed upon the flax, will be understood by attending to the structure of the stem. In it, two principal parts are to be distinguished; the woody heart or boon, and theharl(covered outwardly with a fine cuticle), which encloses the former like a tube, consisting of parallel lines. In the natural state, the fibres of the harl are attached firmly not only to the boon, but to each other by means of a green or yellowish substance. The rough stems of the flax after being stripped of their seeds, lose in moisture by drying in warm air, from 55 to 65 per cent. of their weight; but somewhat less when they are quite ripe and woody. In this dry state, they consist in 100 parts of from 20 to 23 per cent. ofharl, and from 80 to 77 per cent. of boon. The latter is composed upon the average of 69 per cent. of a peculiar woody substance, 12 per cent. of a matter soluble in water, and 19 per cent. of a body not soluble in water, but in alkaline lyes. Theharlcontains at a mean 58 per cent. of pure flaxen fibres, 25 parts soluble in water (apparently extractive and albumen), and 17 parts insoluble in water, being chiefly gluten. By treating the harl with either cold or hot water, the latter substance is dyed brown by the soluble matter, while the fibres retain their coherence to one another. Alkaline lyes, and also, though less readily, soap water, dissolve the gluten, which seems to be the cement of the textile fibres, and thus set them free.The cohesion of the fibres in the rough harl is so considerable that by mechanical means, as by beating, rubbing, &c., a complete separation of them cannot be effected, unless with great loss of time, and rupture of the filaments. This circumstanceshows the necessity of having recourse to some chemical method of decomposing the gluten. The process employed with this view is a species of fermentation, to which the flax stalks are exposed; it is calledretting, a corruption of rotting, since a certain degree of putrefaction takes place. The German term isrusting. This is the first important step in the preparation of flax. After the retting is completed, the boon of the stalks must be removed by the second operation calledbreaking, and other subordinate processes. The harl freed from the woody parts contains still a multitude of fibres, more or less coherent, or entangled, and of variable lengths, so as to be ill adapted for spinning. These are removed by theheckle, which separates the connected fibres into their finest filaments, removes those that are too short, and disentangles the longer ones.I.Of retting.—The fermentation of this process may be either rendered rapid by steeping the flax in water, or slow by using merely the ordinary influence of the atmospheric damp, dews, and rain. Hence the distinction of water-retting and dew-retting. Both may also be combined.Prior to being retted, the flax should be sorted according to the length and thickness of its stalks, and its state of maturity; the riper the plant, the longer must the retting last. The due length of the process is a point too little studied.Water-retting.—When flax stalks are macerated in water, at a temperature not too low, fermentation soon begins, evinced in the dingy infusion, by disengagement of carbonic acid gas, and the production of vinegar. If the flax be taken out at the end of a few days, dried, and rubbed, the textile filaments are found to be easily separable from each other. By longer continuance of the steep, the water ceases to be acid, it becomes to a certain degree alkaline, from the production of ammonia, diffuses a fetid odour, from the disengagement of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, along with the carbonic acid; the acetous fermentation being in fact now changed into the putrid. The filaments become yellowish brown, afterwards dark brown and lose much of their tenacity, if the process be carried further.When the operation is conducted with discernment, the water-retting may be completed by the acetous fermentation alone, as the putrefaction should never be suffered to proceed to any length; because when over-retted, flax is partially rotten, gets a bad colour, and yields a large proportion of tow.For water-retting, the flax must be bound up in sheaves, placed in layers over each other in the water, or sometimes upright, with the roots undermost. Straw may be put below to keep it from touching the ground, and boards may be laid upon the top, with weights to hold it immersed about a foot beneath the surface, especially when the fermentative gases make it buoyant. As soon as it sinks at the end of the fermentation, it must be inspected at least twice a day, and samples must be taken out to see that no over-retting ensues. A single day too long often injures the flax not a little. We may judge that the retting is sufficient when the harl separates easily from the boon by the fingers, when the boon breaks across without bending, and when several stalks knotted together sink to the bottom upon being thrown into the water. For this completion, a shorter or longer time is required according to the quality of the flax, the temperature, &c., so that the term may vary from five to fourteen days. It may be done either in running or in stagnant water. For the latter purpose, tanks five feet deep are dug in the ground. In stagnant water, the process is sooner finished, but it is more hazardous, and gives a deeper stain to the fibres, than in a stream, which carries off much of the colour. The best place for steeping flax is a pond with springs of water at its bottom; or a tank into which a rivulet of water can be occasionally admitted, while the foul water is let off. For every fresh quantity of flax, the pond should be emptied, and supplied with clear water. Water impregnated with iron, stains flax a permanent colour, and should therefore never be used. After retting, the flax should be taken out without delay, rinsed in clean water, and exposed in an airy situation to dry by the sun.Rough rippled flax stalks, well seasoned before being retted, and dried afterwards, show a loss of weight, amounting to 20 or 30 per cent., affecting both the boon and the harl. This loss is greater the finer the stems, and the longer the retting. The harl contains, beside the textile filaments, a certain portion of a glutinous cement; but nothing soluble in water. The destruction of the gluten cannot be pushed to the last point by steeping, without doing an essential injury to the filaments.Dew-retting.—The fetid and noxious exhalations which the water-retting diffuses over an extensive district of country, and the danger of over-retting in that way, especially with stagnant water, are far from recommending that process to general adoption. Dew-retting accomplishes the same purpose, by the agency of the air, dews, and rain, in a much more convenient, though far slower manner. The flax, with this view, should be spread out thin upon meadow or grass lands, but never upon the bare ground, and turned over, from time to time, till the stems, on being rubbed between the fingers, show that the harl and the boon are ready to part. The duration of dew-retting is, of course, very various, from 2 to 6, or 8 weeks, as it depends upon the stateof the weather; a moist air being favourable, and dry sunshine the reverse. The loss of weight by dew-retting is somewhat less than by water-retting; and the textile fibres are of a brighter colour, softer and more delicate to the touch.Mixed retting.—This may be fairly regarded as the preferable plan, the retting being begun in the water, and finished in the air. The flax should be taken out of the steep whenever the acetous fermentation is complete, before the putrid begins, and exposed, for 2 or 3 weeks, on the grass.II.The breakingis performed by an instrument called a brake. In order to give the wood or boon such a degree of brittleness as to make it part readily from the harl, whereby the execution of this process is rendered easy, the flax should be well dried in the sun, or what is more suitable to the late period of the year, in a stove. Such is often attached to the bakers’ ovens in Germany, and other flax-growing countries. The drying temperature should never exceed 120° F., for a higher heat makes it brittle, easy to tear, and apt to run into tow. Before subjecting the flax to the brake, the stems should be equalized and laid parallel by the hand, and the entangled portions should be straightened with a coarse heckle. The brake has one general construction, and consists of two principal parts, the frame or case, and the sword or beater. In the simplest brakes, the framee,fig.412., is a piece of wood cleft lengthwise in the middle, supported by the legsaandc. The swordf, also of hard wood, is formed with an edge beneath, and turns round the centre of motion atq, when seized by the handleh, and moved up and down. As it descends, the sword enters the cleft of the frame, and breaks the flax stalks laid transversely upon it, scattering the boon in fragments.Flax brakeBut those hand brakes are more convenient which are provided with a double cleft, or triple row of oblong teeth; with a double sword. This construction will be understood by inspectingfigs.412,413,414.Fig.412.is the section of that side at which the operative sits;fig.413.is a section in the lineA,B, offig.412; andfig.414., the ground plan. The whole machine is made of hard wood, commonly red beech. Two planks,aandc, form the legs of the implement.ais mortised in a heavy block, to give the brake a solid bearing; two stretchersd, bindaandc, firmly together. The frameeconsists of three thin boards, which are placed edgewise, and have their ends secured inaandc. The swordfis a piece of wood, so chamfered fromitok, that it appears forklike, and embraces the middle piece of the frame; its centre of motion is the wooden pinq; in front is the handleh, which the operative seizes with the right hand. Both the lathes of the frame, and those of the sword are sharpened, fromlto the front end, as is best shown infig.413.; but the edges must not be too sharp, for fear of injuring the flax; and, for the same reason, the sword should not sink too far between the lathes of the frame. Such hand-brakes are laborious in use, and often tear the harl into tow. The operative, usually a female, in working the brake, seizes with her left hand a bundle of flax, lays it transversely across the frame, and strikes it smartly with repeated blows of the sword, pushing forwards continually new portions of the flax into the machine. She begins with the roots, turns next round the tips, then goes on through the length of the stalks. Flax is frequently exposed twice to the brake, with a stove drying between the two applications.Flax brakeFig. 415, 416, 417 enlarged(127 kB)The brake machines afford a far preferable means of cleaning flax than the above hand tools. The essential part of such a machine, consists in several deeply fluted rollers of wood or iron, whose teeth work into each other, and while they stretch out the flaxen stalks betwixt them, they break the wood or boon, without doing that violence to the harl which hand mechanisms are apt to do. The following may be regarded asone of the best constructions hitherto contrived for breaking flax.Fig.415.is a view of the right side of this machine.Fig.416., the view from behind, where the broken flax issues from between the rollers. The frame is formed by the two side pillars or wallsa,a, which are mortised into the bottomb,b; and are firmly fixed to it by braces. Two transverse rodsd,d, secure the base, two othersd′d′′, the sides. In each of these a lateral arme, is mortised in an oblique direction; a cross barf, unites both arms.Fig.417.shows the inside of the left side of the frame, with the subsidiary parts. The three rollersg,i,k, may be made of red beech, with iron gudgeons, and fluted in their length, each of the flutes being5⁄12of an inch broad, and4⁄12ths deep. The large rollerg, bears upon the right side, a handleh, which on being turned, sets the whole train in motion. The side partitionsa,a, are furnished with brasses in whose round holesl,g,fig.417., the gudgeonsgwork. For the extremities of the two smaller rollers, there are ataande, slots in brasses, as may be seen infig.415.Within the partitiona, there are movable brassesl, for the pivots ofiandk, shewn infig.417.Each brass slides in a groove, between two ledges. A strong cord made fast atmto the partitiona, runs over the brass ofi, next over that ofk, then descends perpendicularly, and passes over the cross barn,fig.415.and416.This construction being repeated at both ends of the rollers, the rodn, binds both cords. Against the cross bard′of the frame, a leverois sustained, which lies upon the rodn, and carries a weightp. The farther or nearer this weight hangs towards the end of the lever, it stretches the cord more or less, and presses by means of the brassesl, the rollersi,k, towards the main rollerg. A tableq, serves for spreading out the flax to be broken, and a second oner, for the reception of the stalks at their issuing from between the rollers. Both tables hang by means of iron hooks to rings of the frames,t,fig.415.and417., and are supported by the movable legsu,u,u,fig.415.and416.In using the machine the operative lays an evenly spread handful of flax upon the tableq, introduces their root ends with his left hand between the rollersgandi, and turns round the handleh, with the right. The stems are first broken betwixtgandi, then betweengandk, and come out upon the tabler. The handle is moved alternately forwards and backwards, in order that the flax may be rolled alternately in the same directions, and be more perfectly broken. The boon falls down in very small pieces, and the harl remains expanded in parallel bands. This should be drawn over the points of a heckle, then laid for a couple of days in a cellar to absorb some moisture, and afterwards worked once more through the machine, whereby the flax acquires a peculiar softness.The advantages of this brake machine are chiefly the following:—It takes up little room, and from its simplicity is easily and cheaply constructed; it requires no more power to work, than the ordinary hand-brake; it tears none of the filaments, and grinds nothing except the boon, in consequence of the flutings of the rollers going much less deep into each other, than the sword of the hand-brake; it prevents all entanglements of the flax, whence in the subsequent heckling the quantity of short fibres or tow is diminished; and it accomplishes the cleaning of even the shortest flax, which cannot be well done by hand machines.The comminution of the boon of the stems, which is the object of the breaking process, can however be performed by threshing or beating, although in this way the separation of the woody matter from the textile fibres is much less completely effected.Bott-hammerIt is the practice in Great Britain, instead of breaking, to employ a water-driven wooden mallet, between which and a smooth stone the flax is laid. In that part of Belgium where the preparation of flax has been studied, the brake is not used, but beating by means of theBott-hammer, to the great improvement, it is said, of the flax. TheBott-hammer,fig.418., is a wooden block, having on its under face, channels or flutings, 5 or 6 lines deep, and it is fixed to a long bent helve or handle. In using it, a bundle of the dried flax stalks is spread evenly upon the floor, then powerfully beaten with the hammer, first at the roots, next at the points, and lastly in the middle. When the upper surface has been well beat in this way, it is turned over, that the under surface may get its turn. The flax is then removed, and well shaken to free it from the boon.Ribbe-knifeBy the brake or the hammer the whole wood is never separated from the textile fibres, but a certain quantity of chaffy stuff adheres to them, which is removed by another operation. This consists either in rubbing or shaking. The rubbing is much practised in Westphalia, and the neighbouring districts. In this process, the operative lays the rubbing apron on a piece of dressed leather, one foot square, upon her knee; then seizes a bundle of flax in the middle with her left hand, and scrapes it strongly with theRibbe-knifeheld in her right,fig.419.This tool, which consists of a wooden handles, and a thin iron blader, with a blunt and somewhat bent edge, acts admirably in cleaning and also in parting the filaments, without causing needless waste in flax previously well broken.The winnowing, which has the very same object as the rubbing, is, however, much more generally adopted than the latter. Two distinct pieces of apparatus belong to it, namely, theswing-stockand theswing-knife. The first consists of an upright board with a groove in its side, into which a handful of flax is so placed that it hangs down over half the surface of the board. While the left hand holds the flax fast above, the right carries the swing-knife, a sabre-shaped piece of wood from 11⁄2to 2 feet long, planed to an edge on the convex side, and provided with a handle. With this knife the flax is struck parallel to the board, with perpendicular blows, so as to scrape off its woody asperities. The breadth of the swing-knife is an important circumstance; when too narrow it easily causes the flax to twist round it, and thereby tears away a portion of the fibres. When 8 or 10 inches broad, it is found to act best. Knives made of iron will not answer, for they injure the filaments.Swing-stockFigs.420,421.show the best construction of the swing-stock. The boardahas for its base a heavy block of woodb, upon which two upright pinse e, are fixed. The bandf, which is stretched between the pins, serves to guide the swing-knife in its movements, and prevent the operative from wounding his feet. The under edge of the groovec, upon which the flax comes to be laid, is cut obliquely and rounded off (seedinfig.420.); thus we perceive that the swing-knife can never strike against that edge, so as to injure the flax.Belgian alternative for swing-knifeFig.422.exhibits the form of a very convenient implement which is employed in Belgium instead of the swing-knife. It is a sort of wooden hatchet, which is not above two lines thick, and at the edgeg his reduced to the thickness of the back of a knife. The flykgives force to the blow, and preserves the tool in an upright position. The short flat-pressed helveiis glued to that side of the leaf which in working is turned from the swing-stock; and is, moreover, fastened with a wooden pin.The rubbing and swinging throw off the coarsest sort of tow, by separating and shaking out the shortest fibres and those that happen to get torn. That tow is used for the inferior qualities of sacking, being mixed with many woody fibres.We may in general estimate that 100 pounds of the stalks of retted flax, taken in the dry state, afford from 45 to 48 pounds of broken flax, of which, in the swinging or scutching, about 24 pounds of flax, with 9 or 10 pounds of scutch tow are obtained. The rest is boon-waste. The breaking of 100 pounds of stalks requires, in the ordinary routine of a double process by hand, about 20 hours; and with the above described machine, from 17 to 18 hours. To scutch 100 pounds of broken flax clean, 130 hours of labour are required by the German swinging method.Bundy's machineMr. Bundy obtained a patent in 1819, for certain machinery for breaking and preparing flax, which merits description here.Fig.423.A A A A, is the frame made either of wood or metal, which supports the two conical rollersBandC. These revolve independently of each other in proper brass bearings. A third conical rollerDis similarly supported under the top pieceEof the machine. All these rollers arefrustaof cones, made of cast iron. Whatever form of tooth be adopted, they must be so shaped and disposed with regard to each other as to have considerable play between them, in order to admit the quantity of flax stem which is intended to be broken and prepared. The upper pieceEof the machine which carries the upper conical rollerD, is fixed or attached to the main frameA A A Aby strong hinges or any other moveable joint atG, and rods of iron or other sufficiently strong material;H His attached at its upper end by a joint to the top pieceE, through a hole nearI, and is fixed at its lower end by another jointKto the treadle or leverK L, which turns upon the joint or hingesM. A spring or weight (but the former is preferable for many reasons) is applied to the machine in such manner, that its action will always keep the upper pieceE, and consequently the upper rollerD, in an elevated or raised position above the rollersBandC, when the machine is not in action; and of course the endLof the treadle will also be raised, which admits of the flax to be worked being introduced between the rollers, viz. over the two lower rollersB,C, and under the upper rollerD; such a spring may be applied in a variety of ways, as between the top pieceE, and the top or platform of the machine atN; or itmay be a strong spiral wire spring, having its upper end fastened to the platform while its lower extremity is fixed to the rodH H, round which it coils as shown atO, or it may be placed under the endLof the treadle; but in every case its strength must be no more than will be just sufficient to raise the upper rollerDabout two inches from the lower rollers, otherwise it will occasion unnecessary fatigue to the person working the machine.The manner of using it is as follows: the upper and lower rollers being separated as aforesaid, a small handful of dried flax or hemp stems is to be introduced between them, and held extended by the two hands, while the rollers are brought together by the pressure of the foot upon the treadleL. This pressure being continued, the flax or hemp is to be drawn backwards and forwards by the hands between the rollers, in a direction at right angles to their axes, and eventually withdrawn by pulling with one hand only. The foot is now to be removed until the flax or hemp is again replaced, and each end is this way to be drawn several times through the machine, until such ends are respectively finished.By a succession of these operations, using the pressure of the foot uponL, each time that the flax or hemp is introduced between the rollers, and regulating such pressure according to the progress of the work, the flax or hemp will soon be sufficiently worked, and the fibre brought into a clean and divided state fit for bleaching; or if it be required to spin it in the yellow state, it may be made sufficiently fine by a longer continuation of the same process, particularly if worked between the smaller ends of the rollers.RollersIndeed, the operation may be commenced and continued for some time, with the larger part of the rollers, and finished with their smaller ends; and, in this point of view, the invention of conical rollers will be found both convenient and useful; for as the flutes, grooves, or teeth, vary in their distance from each other at all points between the large and small ends, so it becomes almost impossible for the workman to draw the flax or hemp through such rollers in the same track; and thus the breaking of the boon must be much more irregular, and the fibre will be much more effectually cleansed than it can be by the flutes, grooves, or teeth of cylinders, or other such contrivances formerly employed; because they would probably fall frequently upon the same points of the fibres. If it is intended that the flax shall be bleached before it is spun, then the second part of Mr. Bundy’s invention may be had recourse to, which consists in moving certain trays or cradles in the water, or other fluid used for bleaching the flax or hemp, in the manner following, viz.: The flax or hemp, after having been broken and worked in the machine, should be divided into small quantities of about one ounce each, and these should be tied loosely in the middle with a string, and in this state laid in the trays or cradles, and then be soaked in cold soft water for a day or two, when each parcel should be worked separately, while wet, through a machine, precisely similar to that already described, except only that the rollers should be cylindrical, and made entirely of wood with metal axles, and the teeth, which will be parallel, should be similar in form to those shown in section atQ,fig.423*.Such operation will loosen the gluten and colouring matter, for the rinsing and wringing which must follow. The flax must then be again disposed in a flat and smooth manner, in such trays or cradles, and once more set to soak in sufficient soft water to cover it, in which a small quantity of soap, in the proportion of about seven pounds of soap to each hundred weight of flax, has been previously dissolved, and in this state it should remain for two or three days longer, and then be finally worked through the machine, rinsed with clear water, and wrung; which will render it sufficiently white for most purposes.III.The Heckling.—We have already stated that, by the operation of heckling, a three-fold object is proposed: 1. the parting of the filaments into their finest fibrils; 2. the separation of the short fibres which are unfit for spinning; 3. the equable and parallel arrangements of the long filaments. The instrument of accomplishing these objects is a comb-fashioned tool, called theheckleorhackle; a surface studded more or less thickly with metal points, called heckle teeth; over which the flax is drawn in such a way that the above three required operations may be properly accomplished.HeckleThe common construction of the heckle is the following: (seefig.424.)Fig.424.is the ground plan, andfig.425.is the section. Upon an oblong planka b, two circular or square blocks of woodcanddare fixed, in which the heckle teeth stand upright. To give these a firmer hold they are stuck into holes in a brass or iron plate,with which the upper surface ofcanddis covered. Both heckles may be either associated upon one board or separated; and of different finenesses; that is, the teeth of the one may be thinner, and stand closer together; because the complete preparation of the flax requires for its proper treatment, a two-fold heckling; one upon the coarse, and one upon the fine heckle; nay, sometimes 3 or 4 heckles are employed of progressive fineness. The heckle teeth are usually made of iron, occasionally of steel, and from 1 to 2 inches long. Their points must be very sharp and smooth, all at an equal level, and must all graduate very evenly into a cylindrical stem, like that of a sewing needle, without any irregularity. The face of the heckle block must be uniformly beset with teeth, which is done by different arrangements, some persons setting them in a circle, and others in parallel rows; the former being practised in Germany, the latter in England. The coarse heckle is furnished with teeth about one tenth of an inch thick, one and a quarter of an inch long, and tapering from the middle into a very fine point. In the centre of the circular heckle is a tooth planted; the rest are regularly set in 12 similar concentric circles, of which the outermost is 53⁄4inches in diameter. The fine heckles contain no fewer than 1109 teeth. Instead of making the points of the teeth round, it is better to make them quadrangular, in a rhombus form, in which case the edges serve to separate or dissect the fibres.The operation of heckling is simple in principle, although it requires much experience to acquire dexterity. The operative seizes a flock of flax by the middle with the right hand, throws it upon the points of the coarse heckle, and draws it towards him, while he holds the left hand upon the other side of the heckle, in order to spread the flax, and to prevent it from sinking too deeply among the teeth. From time to time the short fibres or tow sticking to the teeth are removed. Whenever one half of the length of the strake of flax is heckled, it is turned round to heckle the other half. This process is repeated upon the fine heckle. From 100 pounds of well-cleaned flax, about 45 or 50 pounds of heckled flax may be obtained by the hand labour of 50 hours; the rest being tow, with a small waste in boony particles and dust. The process is continued, till by careful handling little more tow is formed.Many contrivances have been made to heckle by machinery, but it may be doubted whether any of them as yet make such good work with so little loss as hand labour. In heckling by the hand, the operative feels at once the degree of resistance, and can accommodate the traction to it, or throw the flax more or less deep among the teeth, according to circumstances, and draw it with suitable force and velocity. To aid the heckle in splitting the filaments, three methods have been had recourse to; beating, brushing, and boiling with soap-water, or an alkaline lye.Beating flax either after it is completely heckled, or between the first and second heckling, is practised in Bohemia and Silesia. Each heckled tress of flax is folded in the middle, twisted once round, its ends being wound about with flaxen threads; and this head, as it is called, is then beat by a wooden mallet upon a block, and repeatedly turned round till it has become hot. It is next loosened out, and rubbed well between the hands. The brushing is no less a very proper operation for parting the flax into fine filaments, softening and strengthening it without risk of tearing the fibres. This process requires in tools, merely a stiff brush made of swines’ bristles, and a smooth board, 3 feet long and one foot broad, in which a wooden pin is made fast. The end of the flax is twisted two or three times round this pin to hold it, and then brushed through its whole length. Well heckled flax suffers no loss in this operation; unheckled, only a little tow; which is of no consequence, as the waste is thereby diminished in the following process. A cylindrical brush turned by machinery might be employed here to advantage.The boiling of flax with potash lye alone, or with lye and soap, dissolves that portion of the glutinous cement which had resisted the retting, completes the separation of the fibres, and is therefore a good practical means of improving flax. When it is performed upon the heckled fibres, a supplementary brushing is requisite to free it from the dust, soapy particles, &c.Can flax be prepared without retting?—The waste of time and labour in the steeping of flax; the dyeing of the fibres consequent thereon, which must be undone by bleaching; the danger of injuring the staple by the action of putrescent water; and, lastly, the diminished value of flax which is much water-retted, are all circumstances which have of late years suggested the propriety of superseding that process entirely by mechanical operations. It was long hoped, that by the employment of breaking machines, the flax merely dried could be freed from its woody particles, while the textile filaments might be sufficiently separated by a subsequent heckling. Experience has, however, proved the contrary. The machines, which consisted for the most part of fluted rollers of iron or wood, though expensive, might have been expected to separate the ligneous matter from the fibres; but, in the further working of the flax no advantage was gained over the water-retting process.1. Unretted flax requires a considerably longer time for breaking than retted, under the employment of the same manipulations.2. Unretted stalks deliver in the breaking and heckling a somewhat greater product than the same weight of flax which has been retted; but there is no real advantage in this, as the greater weight of the unretted flax consists in the remainder of ligneous or glutinous matter, which being foreign to the real fibre, must be eventually removed. In the bleaching process, the water and the alkaline lyes take away that matter, so that the weight of the bleached fibre is not greater from the unretted than the retted flax.3. The parting of the fibres in the unretted stalks is imperfectly effected by the heckling, the flax either remains coarser as compared with the retted article, and affords a coarser thread, or if it be made to receive greater attenuation by a long continued heckling, it yields incomparably more torn filaments and tow.4. The yarn of unretted flax feels harder, less glossy, and rougher; and, on account of these qualities, turns out worse in the weaving than the retted flax. Nor is the yarn of unretted flax, whether unbleached or bleached, in any degree stouter than the yarn of the retted flax.5. Fabrics of unretted flax require for complete bleaching about a sixth less time and materials than those of the retted. This is the sole advantage, but it is more than counterbalanced by the other drawbacks above specified.In Mr. Wordsworth’s improved apparatus for heckling flax and hemp, a succession of stricks is subjected to the operation of several series of revolving heckles of different degrees of fineness, for the purpose of gradually separating or combing the long fibres, and dressing them smooth; while at the same time, the tow or entangled refuse portions of the material taken off from the stricks by the heckle points are removed from the heckles by rotatory brushes and rollers covered with wire cards, and discharged into suitable receivers, whence it may be taken to a carding engine, to be worked in the ordinary way.Heckling machineFig. 426 enlarged(103 kB)The accompanying figures represent in plan and section, the heckling machine which is made double, for the purpose of allowing two series of stricks of flax to be acted upon at one time.Fig.426.is a horizontal view of the machine;fig.427.is an end view, the whole being represented in working order, and the respective letters of reference pointing out corresponding parts of the machine.Heckling machineA Aare two large barrels or drums, upon the surfaces of which are fixed longitudinally several series of brass ribsa,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i, holding heckle points. These ribs are placed at small distances apart round the barrels, all the heckle points standing radially from the axes, and the barrels are mounted upon axles supported by pedestals, with plummer blocks bearing on the rails of the end frames.B B, are two horizontal wheels or pulleys turning upon vertical shafts, which pulleys conduct an endless chainC C C C, carrying the holders, whereon the stricks of flax or other material intended to be heckled are suspended.At one end of the axle of each of the barrels a toothed wheelD D, is made fast, and theseare connected by a similar wheelE, and a pinionF,fig.427., the latter being fixed upon the axle of the driving riggerG.The power of a steam engine, or any other first mover, being applied by a band and rigger, or otherwise to the axle ofG, the pinionF, is driven round, which, being in geering with the toothed wheelsEandD D, causes the heckle barrelsA Ato revolve simultaneously in opposite directions, as shown by the arrows infig.427.The stricks of flax intended to be operated upon are severally confined between pairs of clampsk, fastened together, which clamps, with the stricks, are then suspended in their respective holdersH H, attached to the endless chainC: the lower portion of the flax hanging down for the purpose of being acted upon by the rotatory heckles, while the upper portions are turned up in loops and confined by spring levers attached to each carrier.The respective holders of the clamps consist of a forked frame, with hooks at the lower parts of their arms, which receive the ends of the clampsk, that confine the strick of flax. From the upper part of each forked frame, a perpendicular pin extends, which pins when inserted into the socketsl l l, in front of the chain, form axles for the frames to turn upon at certain periods of the operation.On the upper end of each pin, a small arm or tappet piecem,fig.427., is fixed, standing at right angles to the face of the forked frame of the holderH. Those tappets as the endless chain conducts the holders along at certain periods, come in contact with stationary pins or wipersn n, fixed to the guide railso, on which the chainCslides; and these wipers acting against the tappets as they pass, cause the holders to be turned round at those periods for the purpose of bringing the reverse side of the strick of flax on to the heckle points.Let it now be supposed, that all the holders connected to the endless chain have been furnished with stricks of flax, or other material to be heckled, and that the barrelsA A, are put in motion in the way described, revolving in the direction of the arrows shown infig.427.A pinion on the end of the axles of one of the barrelsA, will drive a train of toothed geerJ K L MandN, on the axle of the latter, of which there is a bevelled pinion taking into a bevelled wheel, turning horizontally at the lower end of the perpendicular shaft of one of the chain pulleys. It will hence be perceived that as the barrels go round, such rotatory motion will be communicated to the pulleyB, as will cause it to drive the chainCforward, and by that means conduct the several stricks of flax progressively along the barrel.When each successive holder, with its strick of flax or other material, is brought to the partz,fig.426., the fibres come in contact with the rotatory barrel, and first strike upon the series of coarse hecklesa a, placed upon an inclined or conical surface of the barrel, by which means the lower ends of the flax in each strick are first acted upon; and as it advances, the upper part, and ultimately the whole length of the long fibres of the suspended strick are gradually brought on to the heckles, which progressive operation prevents the long fibres from being broken, and causes a smaller quantity of tow to be produced than is usually taken off in any of the ordinary modes of heckling.After the strick of flax or other material has been carried by the travelling chain past the first inclined or conical surfacea, of the heckling barrel, it then comes upon the cylindrical partb, of the barrel, which is also furnished with coarse heckles that penetrate and comb down the whole pendant lengths of the fibres. But in order that both sides of the strick of flax may be equally operated upon, the holder is now to be turned round upon its pin or pivot, which movement is effected by one arm of the lever or tappetm, (as the carrying chain moves onward), coming against the stationary pin or wipern, which changes the position of the holder, as shown atp, in the horizontal viewfig.426.The under part of the guide railo, upon which the chain slides, is at this part cut away, for the purpose of allowing the holder to turn round horizontally; and a pin or projection at the under side of the guide rail, as the chain continues moving, acts againstthe side of the carrier frame, and forces it into a position parallel with the chain. The other side of the strick of flax is by these means brought on to the heckles of the second inclined or conical surface of the barrel atc; and the travelling chain proceeding onward, the fibres of the material are in succession passed over and combed by the heckles of increasing fineness,d,e, andf, on the cylindrical part of the revolving barrel, until the strick having arrived at the second wipern, the frame or holder is atq, turned round as before, and the reverse side of the strick, or that first operated upon by the hecklesaandb, is brought progressively on to the heckles of increasing fineness,g,h, andi; and having passed the last series of rotatory heckles, the holders are in succession to be removed from the machine, the material having been sufficiently dressed.The clamps of the holders are now opened by the attendant, and the stricks of flax or other material are taken out, and again placed between the clamps in reversed positions, in order that the other ends of the fibres may be operated upon. The clamps, with the stricks, are then suspended again in the holders, the uncombed ends of the fibres hanging down upon the heckle barrel.In order to avoid interrupting the continual operation of the machine, it is proposed that the strick, on its second introduction, shall be placed in the holders on the opposite side aty, which is one of the reasons for constructing a double machine, and the strick being thence carried along by the travelling endless chain in the way already described, the fibres will be first brought under the operation of the coarse heckles on the inclined or conical surface of the second revolving barrel, and then of the other heckles increasing in fineness on the cylindrical part of the barrel, until having reached the end, as in the former instance, the fibres of the flax may be considered to be sufficiently dressed, and may then be withdrawn.It may be necessary here to remark, that as different kinds and qualities of material will require different degrees of working by the heckles, this can be effected by varying the comparative speeds of the travelling holders and the heckle barrels. These comparative speeds, it will be perceived, depend upon the diameters of the wheels and pinions by which the pulleyBis driven from the rotation of the heckle barrel. These wheels and pinions are therefore intended to be removed and changed for others of different diameters, as circumstances may require. It will be perceived that the faster the stricks travel through the machine compared to the rotatory speed of the heckle barrels, so much the less will the material be acted upon by the rotatory heckles; but as different qualities of material must be differently operated upon, according to circumstances, it is impossible to set out any definite speeds or proportions of speed: that will, however, be readily perceived by competent workmen when working at the machine.In the process of opening the fibres of the material by the rotatory heckles, a quantity of short or loose fibres, as tow, will be taken off the stricks by the heckle points, and will remain adhering to the barrel between the points of the heckles: in order, therefore, to remove this tow, or other loose entangled materials from the heckles, several series of brushes, or blocks, with bristles, are affixed longitudinally to rotatory barrelsQ Q.These brush barrels are mounted parallel to the heckle barrels upon axles, supported in plummer blocks affixed to brackets extending from the end frames of the machine. Those parts of the brush barrels which are opposite to the cylindrical portions of the heckle barrel are cylindrical, and those parts which are opposite to the bevels are contra-bevelled, or made as frustums of cones reversed, or in an opposite angle, asr,s, so as to run parallel to the inclined surfaces of the heckle barrelsaandc.Upon the periphery of these barrelsQ Q, ribs or blocks, with bristles or brushes, are fixed longitudinally, at suitable distances apart, the bristles all standing radially from the axle, and taking into the points of the heckles.Rotatory motions are given to the brush barrelsQ Q, by bands passing from the riggers atG, over pulleysR R, fixed at the end of each of the axles of the brush barrels. Hence, it will be perceived, that the barrelsQ Qwill revolve in opposite directions to the heckle barrels, and with sufficient speed to enable the brushes to pass through between the points of the heckles, and in so doing, to remove the tow or other loose matter therefrom.The tow or other loose fibrous material collected upon the brushes is transferred thence on to wire cards placed round the periphery of the barrelsS S, which barrels are mounted upon axles parallel to the brush rollers, and turn in plummer blocks upon brackets, extending from the end frames of the machine.These barrels are cylindrical, and covered with sheets of wire cards at those parts which are opposite to the cylindrical portions of the brush barrels, but those portions of the barrelS, which are opposite to the bevelled pointsrands, of the brush barrels, are bevelled or made conical att u, to fit or correspond with the inclined surfacesrands; these are covered with sheets of wire card also.Rotatory motions are communicated to the card barrelsS S, by bands from the pulleyT, fixed on to the side of the toothed wheelM, (seefig.427.) which band drives similar pulleysV V, mounted upon studs fixed in the end frame. Upon the side of each of these pulleysV V, a piniontis fixed, which pinion takes into the teeth of the wheelW, on the end of the axle of each of the card barrelsS S; by which means such slow motions are given to the barrelsS, as will allow the brushes of the barrelsQto comb off, and deposit the tow or other fibrous material upon the wire cards as they revolve, and from whence it is to be removed by a doffing comb, and let fall into any convenient receptacle below, in the same way as in ordinary carding engines.The doffing combs,X X X, are formed to the shape of the card barrels, and are attached to straight bars extending along the machine on both sides, which are supported at their extremities by leversY Y, vibrating upon fulcrum pivots atw w. To these levers perpendicular rodsZ Zare connected by joints, and the lower end of each of these rods is attached to an eccentric disk, roller or crankx x, on the axle of the brush barrel; whence it will be perceived that by the rotation of the eccentricsx, the leversYwill be made to vibrate and strike off, or doff the tow or other material from the card barrels, in a similar manner to the operations of the doffing comb of an ordinary carding engine.Mr. Evans’ patent improvements in machinery for preparing and dressing flax and hemp apply, first, to the operation of scutching, swingling, or beating away the boom or woody particles of the rind which covers the flax, or hemp, in its rough state; and, secondly, to the subsequent operation of heckling, combing, or opening of the fibres of the material preparatory to spinning it into yarns.
FLAX. By this term we understand thebastor inner bark of theLinum usitatissimum,which is spun into yarn for weaving linen webs. This plant blossoms in June or July, and commonly ripens its seeds in September. As varieties, we distinguish thespringflax, with short knotty stems, whose seed capsules at the period of maturity, spring open with a perceptible sound; and thecloseflax, with longer smoother stems, whose capsules give out their seeds only when threshed. The Germans, who have bestowed much attention upon the culture of flax, call the formerKlangleinorSpringlein, and the latterDreschlein. This is the kind most commonly grown, but from the difference of climate, soil, and culture, it affords flax of very different qualities. The best ground for this plant is an open, somewhat friable clay, mingled with sand and mould. The early flax is usually sown in the end of April or beginning of May, the late, in June. The seeds ought to be sown thick, whereby the stalks are forced to grow more slender, and the fibres of the bast or harl are not only smoother and finer, but more uniform in length. If the raising of seed be the principal object, the flax must be more thinly sown, whereby it will produce stronger stalks, but more knotty, with shorter fibres, and more productive of tow.
Whenever the flax is ripe, which is shown by the bottom of the stalk becoming yellow, and the leaves beginning to drop off, it must be immediately reaped by pulling it up by the roots. The seeds are still immature, fit merely for the oil press, and not for sowing. When the seed crop is the object, the plant must be suffered to acquire its full maturity; in which case the fibres are less fine and soft.
The flax is carried off the field in bundles to be rippled, or stripped of its seeds, which is done by drawing it by handfuls, through an iron comb with teeth eight inches long, fixed upright in a horizontal beam. When the seeds are more fully ripened, they may be separated by the threshing mill.
The operations next performed upon the flax, will be understood by attending to the structure of the stem. In it, two principal parts are to be distinguished; the woody heart or boon, and theharl(covered outwardly with a fine cuticle), which encloses the former like a tube, consisting of parallel lines. In the natural state, the fibres of the harl are attached firmly not only to the boon, but to each other by means of a green or yellowish substance. The rough stems of the flax after being stripped of their seeds, lose in moisture by drying in warm air, from 55 to 65 per cent. of their weight; but somewhat less when they are quite ripe and woody. In this dry state, they consist in 100 parts of from 20 to 23 per cent. ofharl, and from 80 to 77 per cent. of boon. The latter is composed upon the average of 69 per cent. of a peculiar woody substance, 12 per cent. of a matter soluble in water, and 19 per cent. of a body not soluble in water, but in alkaline lyes. Theharlcontains at a mean 58 per cent. of pure flaxen fibres, 25 parts soluble in water (apparently extractive and albumen), and 17 parts insoluble in water, being chiefly gluten. By treating the harl with either cold or hot water, the latter substance is dyed brown by the soluble matter, while the fibres retain their coherence to one another. Alkaline lyes, and also, though less readily, soap water, dissolve the gluten, which seems to be the cement of the textile fibres, and thus set them free.
The cohesion of the fibres in the rough harl is so considerable that by mechanical means, as by beating, rubbing, &c., a complete separation of them cannot be effected, unless with great loss of time, and rupture of the filaments. This circumstanceshows the necessity of having recourse to some chemical method of decomposing the gluten. The process employed with this view is a species of fermentation, to which the flax stalks are exposed; it is calledretting, a corruption of rotting, since a certain degree of putrefaction takes place. The German term isrusting. This is the first important step in the preparation of flax. After the retting is completed, the boon of the stalks must be removed by the second operation calledbreaking, and other subordinate processes. The harl freed from the woody parts contains still a multitude of fibres, more or less coherent, or entangled, and of variable lengths, so as to be ill adapted for spinning. These are removed by theheckle, which separates the connected fibres into their finest filaments, removes those that are too short, and disentangles the longer ones.
I.Of retting.—The fermentation of this process may be either rendered rapid by steeping the flax in water, or slow by using merely the ordinary influence of the atmospheric damp, dews, and rain. Hence the distinction of water-retting and dew-retting. Both may also be combined.
Prior to being retted, the flax should be sorted according to the length and thickness of its stalks, and its state of maturity; the riper the plant, the longer must the retting last. The due length of the process is a point too little studied.
Water-retting.—When flax stalks are macerated in water, at a temperature not too low, fermentation soon begins, evinced in the dingy infusion, by disengagement of carbonic acid gas, and the production of vinegar. If the flax be taken out at the end of a few days, dried, and rubbed, the textile filaments are found to be easily separable from each other. By longer continuance of the steep, the water ceases to be acid, it becomes to a certain degree alkaline, from the production of ammonia, diffuses a fetid odour, from the disengagement of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, along with the carbonic acid; the acetous fermentation being in fact now changed into the putrid. The filaments become yellowish brown, afterwards dark brown and lose much of their tenacity, if the process be carried further.
When the operation is conducted with discernment, the water-retting may be completed by the acetous fermentation alone, as the putrefaction should never be suffered to proceed to any length; because when over-retted, flax is partially rotten, gets a bad colour, and yields a large proportion of tow.
For water-retting, the flax must be bound up in sheaves, placed in layers over each other in the water, or sometimes upright, with the roots undermost. Straw may be put below to keep it from touching the ground, and boards may be laid upon the top, with weights to hold it immersed about a foot beneath the surface, especially when the fermentative gases make it buoyant. As soon as it sinks at the end of the fermentation, it must be inspected at least twice a day, and samples must be taken out to see that no over-retting ensues. A single day too long often injures the flax not a little. We may judge that the retting is sufficient when the harl separates easily from the boon by the fingers, when the boon breaks across without bending, and when several stalks knotted together sink to the bottom upon being thrown into the water. For this completion, a shorter or longer time is required according to the quality of the flax, the temperature, &c., so that the term may vary from five to fourteen days. It may be done either in running or in stagnant water. For the latter purpose, tanks five feet deep are dug in the ground. In stagnant water, the process is sooner finished, but it is more hazardous, and gives a deeper stain to the fibres, than in a stream, which carries off much of the colour. The best place for steeping flax is a pond with springs of water at its bottom; or a tank into which a rivulet of water can be occasionally admitted, while the foul water is let off. For every fresh quantity of flax, the pond should be emptied, and supplied with clear water. Water impregnated with iron, stains flax a permanent colour, and should therefore never be used. After retting, the flax should be taken out without delay, rinsed in clean water, and exposed in an airy situation to dry by the sun.
Rough rippled flax stalks, well seasoned before being retted, and dried afterwards, show a loss of weight, amounting to 20 or 30 per cent., affecting both the boon and the harl. This loss is greater the finer the stems, and the longer the retting. The harl contains, beside the textile filaments, a certain portion of a glutinous cement; but nothing soluble in water. The destruction of the gluten cannot be pushed to the last point by steeping, without doing an essential injury to the filaments.
Dew-retting.—The fetid and noxious exhalations which the water-retting diffuses over an extensive district of country, and the danger of over-retting in that way, especially with stagnant water, are far from recommending that process to general adoption. Dew-retting accomplishes the same purpose, by the agency of the air, dews, and rain, in a much more convenient, though far slower manner. The flax, with this view, should be spread out thin upon meadow or grass lands, but never upon the bare ground, and turned over, from time to time, till the stems, on being rubbed between the fingers, show that the harl and the boon are ready to part. The duration of dew-retting is, of course, very various, from 2 to 6, or 8 weeks, as it depends upon the stateof the weather; a moist air being favourable, and dry sunshine the reverse. The loss of weight by dew-retting is somewhat less than by water-retting; and the textile fibres are of a brighter colour, softer and more delicate to the touch.
Mixed retting.—This may be fairly regarded as the preferable plan, the retting being begun in the water, and finished in the air. The flax should be taken out of the steep whenever the acetous fermentation is complete, before the putrid begins, and exposed, for 2 or 3 weeks, on the grass.
II.The breakingis performed by an instrument called a brake. In order to give the wood or boon such a degree of brittleness as to make it part readily from the harl, whereby the execution of this process is rendered easy, the flax should be well dried in the sun, or what is more suitable to the late period of the year, in a stove. Such is often attached to the bakers’ ovens in Germany, and other flax-growing countries. The drying temperature should never exceed 120° F., for a higher heat makes it brittle, easy to tear, and apt to run into tow. Before subjecting the flax to the brake, the stems should be equalized and laid parallel by the hand, and the entangled portions should be straightened with a coarse heckle. The brake has one general construction, and consists of two principal parts, the frame or case, and the sword or beater. In the simplest brakes, the framee,fig.412., is a piece of wood cleft lengthwise in the middle, supported by the legsaandc. The swordf, also of hard wood, is formed with an edge beneath, and turns round the centre of motion atq, when seized by the handleh, and moved up and down. As it descends, the sword enters the cleft of the frame, and breaks the flax stalks laid transversely upon it, scattering the boon in fragments.
Flax brake
But those hand brakes are more convenient which are provided with a double cleft, or triple row of oblong teeth; with a double sword. This construction will be understood by inspectingfigs.412,413,414.Fig.412.is the section of that side at which the operative sits;fig.413.is a section in the lineA,B, offig.412; andfig.414., the ground plan. The whole machine is made of hard wood, commonly red beech. Two planks,aandc, form the legs of the implement.ais mortised in a heavy block, to give the brake a solid bearing; two stretchersd, bindaandc, firmly together. The frameeconsists of three thin boards, which are placed edgewise, and have their ends secured inaandc. The swordfis a piece of wood, so chamfered fromitok, that it appears forklike, and embraces the middle piece of the frame; its centre of motion is the wooden pinq; in front is the handleh, which the operative seizes with the right hand. Both the lathes of the frame, and those of the sword are sharpened, fromlto the front end, as is best shown infig.413.; but the edges must not be too sharp, for fear of injuring the flax; and, for the same reason, the sword should not sink too far between the lathes of the frame. Such hand-brakes are laborious in use, and often tear the harl into tow. The operative, usually a female, in working the brake, seizes with her left hand a bundle of flax, lays it transversely across the frame, and strikes it smartly with repeated blows of the sword, pushing forwards continually new portions of the flax into the machine. She begins with the roots, turns next round the tips, then goes on through the length of the stalks. Flax is frequently exposed twice to the brake, with a stove drying between the two applications.
Flax brakeFig. 415, 416, 417 enlarged(127 kB)
Fig. 415, 416, 417 enlarged(127 kB)
The brake machines afford a far preferable means of cleaning flax than the above hand tools. The essential part of such a machine, consists in several deeply fluted rollers of wood or iron, whose teeth work into each other, and while they stretch out the flaxen stalks betwixt them, they break the wood or boon, without doing that violence to the harl which hand mechanisms are apt to do. The following may be regarded asone of the best constructions hitherto contrived for breaking flax.Fig.415.is a view of the right side of this machine.Fig.416., the view from behind, where the broken flax issues from between the rollers. The frame is formed by the two side pillars or wallsa,a, which are mortised into the bottomb,b; and are firmly fixed to it by braces. Two transverse rodsd,d, secure the base, two othersd′d′′, the sides. In each of these a lateral arme, is mortised in an oblique direction; a cross barf, unites both arms.Fig.417.shows the inside of the left side of the frame, with the subsidiary parts. The three rollersg,i,k, may be made of red beech, with iron gudgeons, and fluted in their length, each of the flutes being5⁄12of an inch broad, and4⁄12ths deep. The large rollerg, bears upon the right side, a handleh, which on being turned, sets the whole train in motion. The side partitionsa,a, are furnished with brasses in whose round holesl,g,fig.417., the gudgeonsgwork. For the extremities of the two smaller rollers, there are ataande, slots in brasses, as may be seen infig.415.Within the partitiona, there are movable brassesl, for the pivots ofiandk, shewn infig.417.Each brass slides in a groove, between two ledges. A strong cord made fast atmto the partitiona, runs over the brass ofi, next over that ofk, then descends perpendicularly, and passes over the cross barn,fig.415.and416.This construction being repeated at both ends of the rollers, the rodn, binds both cords. Against the cross bard′of the frame, a leverois sustained, which lies upon the rodn, and carries a weightp. The farther or nearer this weight hangs towards the end of the lever, it stretches the cord more or less, and presses by means of the brassesl, the rollersi,k, towards the main rollerg. A tableq, serves for spreading out the flax to be broken, and a second oner, for the reception of the stalks at their issuing from between the rollers. Both tables hang by means of iron hooks to rings of the frames,t,fig.415.and417., and are supported by the movable legsu,u,u,fig.415.and416.In using the machine the operative lays an evenly spread handful of flax upon the tableq, introduces their root ends with his left hand between the rollersgandi, and turns round the handleh, with the right. The stems are first broken betwixtgandi, then betweengandk, and come out upon the tabler. The handle is moved alternately forwards and backwards, in order that the flax may be rolled alternately in the same directions, and be more perfectly broken. The boon falls down in very small pieces, and the harl remains expanded in parallel bands. This should be drawn over the points of a heckle, then laid for a couple of days in a cellar to absorb some moisture, and afterwards worked once more through the machine, whereby the flax acquires a peculiar softness.
The advantages of this brake machine are chiefly the following:—
It takes up little room, and from its simplicity is easily and cheaply constructed; it requires no more power to work, than the ordinary hand-brake; it tears none of the filaments, and grinds nothing except the boon, in consequence of the flutings of the rollers going much less deep into each other, than the sword of the hand-brake; it prevents all entanglements of the flax, whence in the subsequent heckling the quantity of short fibres or tow is diminished; and it accomplishes the cleaning of even the shortest flax, which cannot be well done by hand machines.
The comminution of the boon of the stems, which is the object of the breaking process, can however be performed by threshing or beating, although in this way the separation of the woody matter from the textile fibres is much less completely effected.
Bott-hammer
It is the practice in Great Britain, instead of breaking, to employ a water-driven wooden mallet, between which and a smooth stone the flax is laid. In that part of Belgium where the preparation of flax has been studied, the brake is not used, but beating by means of theBott-hammer, to the great improvement, it is said, of the flax. TheBott-hammer,fig.418., is a wooden block, having on its under face, channels or flutings, 5 or 6 lines deep, and it is fixed to a long bent helve or handle. In using it, a bundle of the dried flax stalks is spread evenly upon the floor, then powerfully beaten with the hammer, first at the roots, next at the points, and lastly in the middle. When the upper surface has been well beat in this way, it is turned over, that the under surface may get its turn. The flax is then removed, and well shaken to free it from the boon.
Ribbe-knife
By the brake or the hammer the whole wood is never separated from the textile fibres, but a certain quantity of chaffy stuff adheres to them, which is removed by another operation. This consists either in rubbing or shaking. The rubbing is much practised in Westphalia, and the neighbouring districts. In this process, the operative lays the rubbing apron on a piece of dressed leather, one foot square, upon her knee; then seizes a bundle of flax in the middle with her left hand, and scrapes it strongly with theRibbe-knifeheld in her right,fig.419.This tool, which consists of a wooden handles, and a thin iron blader, with a blunt and somewhat bent edge, acts admirably in cleaning and also in parting the filaments, without causing needless waste in flax previously well broken.
The winnowing, which has the very same object as the rubbing, is, however, much more generally adopted than the latter. Two distinct pieces of apparatus belong to it, namely, theswing-stockand theswing-knife. The first consists of an upright board with a groove in its side, into which a handful of flax is so placed that it hangs down over half the surface of the board. While the left hand holds the flax fast above, the right carries the swing-knife, a sabre-shaped piece of wood from 11⁄2to 2 feet long, planed to an edge on the convex side, and provided with a handle. With this knife the flax is struck parallel to the board, with perpendicular blows, so as to scrape off its woody asperities. The breadth of the swing-knife is an important circumstance; when too narrow it easily causes the flax to twist round it, and thereby tears away a portion of the fibres. When 8 or 10 inches broad, it is found to act best. Knives made of iron will not answer, for they injure the filaments.
Swing-stock
Figs.420,421.show the best construction of the swing-stock. The boardahas for its base a heavy block of woodb, upon which two upright pinse e, are fixed. The bandf, which is stretched between the pins, serves to guide the swing-knife in its movements, and prevent the operative from wounding his feet. The under edge of the groovec, upon which the flax comes to be laid, is cut obliquely and rounded off (seedinfig.420.); thus we perceive that the swing-knife can never strike against that edge, so as to injure the flax.
Belgian alternative for swing-knife
Fig.422.exhibits the form of a very convenient implement which is employed in Belgium instead of the swing-knife. It is a sort of wooden hatchet, which is not above two lines thick, and at the edgeg his reduced to the thickness of the back of a knife. The flykgives force to the blow, and preserves the tool in an upright position. The short flat-pressed helveiis glued to that side of the leaf which in working is turned from the swing-stock; and is, moreover, fastened with a wooden pin.
The rubbing and swinging throw off the coarsest sort of tow, by separating and shaking out the shortest fibres and those that happen to get torn. That tow is used for the inferior qualities of sacking, being mixed with many woody fibres.
We may in general estimate that 100 pounds of the stalks of retted flax, taken in the dry state, afford from 45 to 48 pounds of broken flax, of which, in the swinging or scutching, about 24 pounds of flax, with 9 or 10 pounds of scutch tow are obtained. The rest is boon-waste. The breaking of 100 pounds of stalks requires, in the ordinary routine of a double process by hand, about 20 hours; and with the above described machine, from 17 to 18 hours. To scutch 100 pounds of broken flax clean, 130 hours of labour are required by the German swinging method.
Bundy's machine
Mr. Bundy obtained a patent in 1819, for certain machinery for breaking and preparing flax, which merits description here.Fig.423.A A A A, is the frame made either of wood or metal, which supports the two conical rollersBandC. These revolve independently of each other in proper brass bearings. A third conical rollerDis similarly supported under the top pieceEof the machine. All these rollers arefrustaof cones, made of cast iron. Whatever form of tooth be adopted, they must be so shaped and disposed with regard to each other as to have considerable play between them, in order to admit the quantity of flax stem which is intended to be broken and prepared. The upper pieceEof the machine which carries the upper conical rollerD, is fixed or attached to the main frameA A A Aby strong hinges or any other moveable joint atG, and rods of iron or other sufficiently strong material;H His attached at its upper end by a joint to the top pieceE, through a hole nearI, and is fixed at its lower end by another jointKto the treadle or leverK L, which turns upon the joint or hingesM. A spring or weight (but the former is preferable for many reasons) is applied to the machine in such manner, that its action will always keep the upper pieceE, and consequently the upper rollerD, in an elevated or raised position above the rollersBandC, when the machine is not in action; and of course the endLof the treadle will also be raised, which admits of the flax to be worked being introduced between the rollers, viz. over the two lower rollersB,C, and under the upper rollerD; such a spring may be applied in a variety of ways, as between the top pieceE, and the top or platform of the machine atN; or itmay be a strong spiral wire spring, having its upper end fastened to the platform while its lower extremity is fixed to the rodH H, round which it coils as shown atO, or it may be placed under the endLof the treadle; but in every case its strength must be no more than will be just sufficient to raise the upper rollerDabout two inches from the lower rollers, otherwise it will occasion unnecessary fatigue to the person working the machine.
The manner of using it is as follows: the upper and lower rollers being separated as aforesaid, a small handful of dried flax or hemp stems is to be introduced between them, and held extended by the two hands, while the rollers are brought together by the pressure of the foot upon the treadleL. This pressure being continued, the flax or hemp is to be drawn backwards and forwards by the hands between the rollers, in a direction at right angles to their axes, and eventually withdrawn by pulling with one hand only. The foot is now to be removed until the flax or hemp is again replaced, and each end is this way to be drawn several times through the machine, until such ends are respectively finished.
By a succession of these operations, using the pressure of the foot uponL, each time that the flax or hemp is introduced between the rollers, and regulating such pressure according to the progress of the work, the flax or hemp will soon be sufficiently worked, and the fibre brought into a clean and divided state fit for bleaching; or if it be required to spin it in the yellow state, it may be made sufficiently fine by a longer continuation of the same process, particularly if worked between the smaller ends of the rollers.
Rollers
Indeed, the operation may be commenced and continued for some time, with the larger part of the rollers, and finished with their smaller ends; and, in this point of view, the invention of conical rollers will be found both convenient and useful; for as the flutes, grooves, or teeth, vary in their distance from each other at all points between the large and small ends, so it becomes almost impossible for the workman to draw the flax or hemp through such rollers in the same track; and thus the breaking of the boon must be much more irregular, and the fibre will be much more effectually cleansed than it can be by the flutes, grooves, or teeth of cylinders, or other such contrivances formerly employed; because they would probably fall frequently upon the same points of the fibres. If it is intended that the flax shall be bleached before it is spun, then the second part of Mr. Bundy’s invention may be had recourse to, which consists in moving certain trays or cradles in the water, or other fluid used for bleaching the flax or hemp, in the manner following, viz.: The flax or hemp, after having been broken and worked in the machine, should be divided into small quantities of about one ounce each, and these should be tied loosely in the middle with a string, and in this state laid in the trays or cradles, and then be soaked in cold soft water for a day or two, when each parcel should be worked separately, while wet, through a machine, precisely similar to that already described, except only that the rollers should be cylindrical, and made entirely of wood with metal axles, and the teeth, which will be parallel, should be similar in form to those shown in section atQ,fig.423*.Such operation will loosen the gluten and colouring matter, for the rinsing and wringing which must follow. The flax must then be again disposed in a flat and smooth manner, in such trays or cradles, and once more set to soak in sufficient soft water to cover it, in which a small quantity of soap, in the proportion of about seven pounds of soap to each hundred weight of flax, has been previously dissolved, and in this state it should remain for two or three days longer, and then be finally worked through the machine, rinsed with clear water, and wrung; which will render it sufficiently white for most purposes.
III.The Heckling.—We have already stated that, by the operation of heckling, a three-fold object is proposed: 1. the parting of the filaments into their finest fibrils; 2. the separation of the short fibres which are unfit for spinning; 3. the equable and parallel arrangements of the long filaments. The instrument of accomplishing these objects is a comb-fashioned tool, called theheckleorhackle; a surface studded more or less thickly with metal points, called heckle teeth; over which the flax is drawn in such a way that the above three required operations may be properly accomplished.
Heckle
The common construction of the heckle is the following: (seefig.424.)Fig.424.is the ground plan, andfig.425.is the section. Upon an oblong planka b, two circular or square blocks of woodcanddare fixed, in which the heckle teeth stand upright. To give these a firmer hold they are stuck into holes in a brass or iron plate,with which the upper surface ofcanddis covered. Both heckles may be either associated upon one board or separated; and of different finenesses; that is, the teeth of the one may be thinner, and stand closer together; because the complete preparation of the flax requires for its proper treatment, a two-fold heckling; one upon the coarse, and one upon the fine heckle; nay, sometimes 3 or 4 heckles are employed of progressive fineness. The heckle teeth are usually made of iron, occasionally of steel, and from 1 to 2 inches long. Their points must be very sharp and smooth, all at an equal level, and must all graduate very evenly into a cylindrical stem, like that of a sewing needle, without any irregularity. The face of the heckle block must be uniformly beset with teeth, which is done by different arrangements, some persons setting them in a circle, and others in parallel rows; the former being practised in Germany, the latter in England. The coarse heckle is furnished with teeth about one tenth of an inch thick, one and a quarter of an inch long, and tapering from the middle into a very fine point. In the centre of the circular heckle is a tooth planted; the rest are regularly set in 12 similar concentric circles, of which the outermost is 53⁄4inches in diameter. The fine heckles contain no fewer than 1109 teeth. Instead of making the points of the teeth round, it is better to make them quadrangular, in a rhombus form, in which case the edges serve to separate or dissect the fibres.
The operation of heckling is simple in principle, although it requires much experience to acquire dexterity. The operative seizes a flock of flax by the middle with the right hand, throws it upon the points of the coarse heckle, and draws it towards him, while he holds the left hand upon the other side of the heckle, in order to spread the flax, and to prevent it from sinking too deeply among the teeth. From time to time the short fibres or tow sticking to the teeth are removed. Whenever one half of the length of the strake of flax is heckled, it is turned round to heckle the other half. This process is repeated upon the fine heckle. From 100 pounds of well-cleaned flax, about 45 or 50 pounds of heckled flax may be obtained by the hand labour of 50 hours; the rest being tow, with a small waste in boony particles and dust. The process is continued, till by careful handling little more tow is formed.
Many contrivances have been made to heckle by machinery, but it may be doubted whether any of them as yet make such good work with so little loss as hand labour. In heckling by the hand, the operative feels at once the degree of resistance, and can accommodate the traction to it, or throw the flax more or less deep among the teeth, according to circumstances, and draw it with suitable force and velocity. To aid the heckle in splitting the filaments, three methods have been had recourse to; beating, brushing, and boiling with soap-water, or an alkaline lye.
Beating flax either after it is completely heckled, or between the first and second heckling, is practised in Bohemia and Silesia. Each heckled tress of flax is folded in the middle, twisted once round, its ends being wound about with flaxen threads; and this head, as it is called, is then beat by a wooden mallet upon a block, and repeatedly turned round till it has become hot. It is next loosened out, and rubbed well between the hands. The brushing is no less a very proper operation for parting the flax into fine filaments, softening and strengthening it without risk of tearing the fibres. This process requires in tools, merely a stiff brush made of swines’ bristles, and a smooth board, 3 feet long and one foot broad, in which a wooden pin is made fast. The end of the flax is twisted two or three times round this pin to hold it, and then brushed through its whole length. Well heckled flax suffers no loss in this operation; unheckled, only a little tow; which is of no consequence, as the waste is thereby diminished in the following process. A cylindrical brush turned by machinery might be employed here to advantage.
The boiling of flax with potash lye alone, or with lye and soap, dissolves that portion of the glutinous cement which had resisted the retting, completes the separation of the fibres, and is therefore a good practical means of improving flax. When it is performed upon the heckled fibres, a supplementary brushing is requisite to free it from the dust, soapy particles, &c.
Can flax be prepared without retting?—The waste of time and labour in the steeping of flax; the dyeing of the fibres consequent thereon, which must be undone by bleaching; the danger of injuring the staple by the action of putrescent water; and, lastly, the diminished value of flax which is much water-retted, are all circumstances which have of late years suggested the propriety of superseding that process entirely by mechanical operations. It was long hoped, that by the employment of breaking machines, the flax merely dried could be freed from its woody particles, while the textile filaments might be sufficiently separated by a subsequent heckling. Experience has, however, proved the contrary. The machines, which consisted for the most part of fluted rollers of iron or wood, though expensive, might have been expected to separate the ligneous matter from the fibres; but, in the further working of the flax no advantage was gained over the water-retting process.
1. Unretted flax requires a considerably longer time for breaking than retted, under the employment of the same manipulations.
2. Unretted stalks deliver in the breaking and heckling a somewhat greater product than the same weight of flax which has been retted; but there is no real advantage in this, as the greater weight of the unretted flax consists in the remainder of ligneous or glutinous matter, which being foreign to the real fibre, must be eventually removed. In the bleaching process, the water and the alkaline lyes take away that matter, so that the weight of the bleached fibre is not greater from the unretted than the retted flax.
3. The parting of the fibres in the unretted stalks is imperfectly effected by the heckling, the flax either remains coarser as compared with the retted article, and affords a coarser thread, or if it be made to receive greater attenuation by a long continued heckling, it yields incomparably more torn filaments and tow.
4. The yarn of unretted flax feels harder, less glossy, and rougher; and, on account of these qualities, turns out worse in the weaving than the retted flax. Nor is the yarn of unretted flax, whether unbleached or bleached, in any degree stouter than the yarn of the retted flax.
5. Fabrics of unretted flax require for complete bleaching about a sixth less time and materials than those of the retted. This is the sole advantage, but it is more than counterbalanced by the other drawbacks above specified.
In Mr. Wordsworth’s improved apparatus for heckling flax and hemp, a succession of stricks is subjected to the operation of several series of revolving heckles of different degrees of fineness, for the purpose of gradually separating or combing the long fibres, and dressing them smooth; while at the same time, the tow or entangled refuse portions of the material taken off from the stricks by the heckle points are removed from the heckles by rotatory brushes and rollers covered with wire cards, and discharged into suitable receivers, whence it may be taken to a carding engine, to be worked in the ordinary way.
Heckling machineFig. 426 enlarged(103 kB)
Fig. 426 enlarged(103 kB)
The accompanying figures represent in plan and section, the heckling machine which is made double, for the purpose of allowing two series of stricks of flax to be acted upon at one time.Fig.426.is a horizontal view of the machine;fig.427.is an end view, the whole being represented in working order, and the respective letters of reference pointing out corresponding parts of the machine.
Heckling machine
A Aare two large barrels or drums, upon the surfaces of which are fixed longitudinally several series of brass ribsa,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i, holding heckle points. These ribs are placed at small distances apart round the barrels, all the heckle points standing radially from the axes, and the barrels are mounted upon axles supported by pedestals, with plummer blocks bearing on the rails of the end frames.B B, are two horizontal wheels or pulleys turning upon vertical shafts, which pulleys conduct an endless chainC C C C, carrying the holders, whereon the stricks of flax or other material intended to be heckled are suspended.
At one end of the axle of each of the barrels a toothed wheelD D, is made fast, and theseare connected by a similar wheelE, and a pinionF,fig.427., the latter being fixed upon the axle of the driving riggerG.
The power of a steam engine, or any other first mover, being applied by a band and rigger, or otherwise to the axle ofG, the pinionF, is driven round, which, being in geering with the toothed wheelsEandD D, causes the heckle barrelsA Ato revolve simultaneously in opposite directions, as shown by the arrows infig.427.
The stricks of flax intended to be operated upon are severally confined between pairs of clampsk, fastened together, which clamps, with the stricks, are then suspended in their respective holdersH H, attached to the endless chainC: the lower portion of the flax hanging down for the purpose of being acted upon by the rotatory heckles, while the upper portions are turned up in loops and confined by spring levers attached to each carrier.
The respective holders of the clamps consist of a forked frame, with hooks at the lower parts of their arms, which receive the ends of the clampsk, that confine the strick of flax. From the upper part of each forked frame, a perpendicular pin extends, which pins when inserted into the socketsl l l, in front of the chain, form axles for the frames to turn upon at certain periods of the operation.
On the upper end of each pin, a small arm or tappet piecem,fig.427., is fixed, standing at right angles to the face of the forked frame of the holderH. Those tappets as the endless chain conducts the holders along at certain periods, come in contact with stationary pins or wipersn n, fixed to the guide railso, on which the chainCslides; and these wipers acting against the tappets as they pass, cause the holders to be turned round at those periods for the purpose of bringing the reverse side of the strick of flax on to the heckle points.
Let it now be supposed, that all the holders connected to the endless chain have been furnished with stricks of flax, or other material to be heckled, and that the barrelsA A, are put in motion in the way described, revolving in the direction of the arrows shown infig.427.A pinion on the end of the axles of one of the barrelsA, will drive a train of toothed geerJ K L MandN, on the axle of the latter, of which there is a bevelled pinion taking into a bevelled wheel, turning horizontally at the lower end of the perpendicular shaft of one of the chain pulleys. It will hence be perceived that as the barrels go round, such rotatory motion will be communicated to the pulleyB, as will cause it to drive the chainCforward, and by that means conduct the several stricks of flax progressively along the barrel.
When each successive holder, with its strick of flax or other material, is brought to the partz,fig.426., the fibres come in contact with the rotatory barrel, and first strike upon the series of coarse hecklesa a, placed upon an inclined or conical surface of the barrel, by which means the lower ends of the flax in each strick are first acted upon; and as it advances, the upper part, and ultimately the whole length of the long fibres of the suspended strick are gradually brought on to the heckles, which progressive operation prevents the long fibres from being broken, and causes a smaller quantity of tow to be produced than is usually taken off in any of the ordinary modes of heckling.
After the strick of flax or other material has been carried by the travelling chain past the first inclined or conical surfacea, of the heckling barrel, it then comes upon the cylindrical partb, of the barrel, which is also furnished with coarse heckles that penetrate and comb down the whole pendant lengths of the fibres. But in order that both sides of the strick of flax may be equally operated upon, the holder is now to be turned round upon its pin or pivot, which movement is effected by one arm of the lever or tappetm, (as the carrying chain moves onward), coming against the stationary pin or wipern, which changes the position of the holder, as shown atp, in the horizontal viewfig.426.
The under part of the guide railo, upon which the chain slides, is at this part cut away, for the purpose of allowing the holder to turn round horizontally; and a pin or projection at the under side of the guide rail, as the chain continues moving, acts againstthe side of the carrier frame, and forces it into a position parallel with the chain. The other side of the strick of flax is by these means brought on to the heckles of the second inclined or conical surface of the barrel atc; and the travelling chain proceeding onward, the fibres of the material are in succession passed over and combed by the heckles of increasing fineness,d,e, andf, on the cylindrical part of the revolving barrel, until the strick having arrived at the second wipern, the frame or holder is atq, turned round as before, and the reverse side of the strick, or that first operated upon by the hecklesaandb, is brought progressively on to the heckles of increasing fineness,g,h, andi; and having passed the last series of rotatory heckles, the holders are in succession to be removed from the machine, the material having been sufficiently dressed.
The clamps of the holders are now opened by the attendant, and the stricks of flax or other material are taken out, and again placed between the clamps in reversed positions, in order that the other ends of the fibres may be operated upon. The clamps, with the stricks, are then suspended again in the holders, the uncombed ends of the fibres hanging down upon the heckle barrel.
In order to avoid interrupting the continual operation of the machine, it is proposed that the strick, on its second introduction, shall be placed in the holders on the opposite side aty, which is one of the reasons for constructing a double machine, and the strick being thence carried along by the travelling endless chain in the way already described, the fibres will be first brought under the operation of the coarse heckles on the inclined or conical surface of the second revolving barrel, and then of the other heckles increasing in fineness on the cylindrical part of the barrel, until having reached the end, as in the former instance, the fibres of the flax may be considered to be sufficiently dressed, and may then be withdrawn.
It may be necessary here to remark, that as different kinds and qualities of material will require different degrees of working by the heckles, this can be effected by varying the comparative speeds of the travelling holders and the heckle barrels. These comparative speeds, it will be perceived, depend upon the diameters of the wheels and pinions by which the pulleyBis driven from the rotation of the heckle barrel. These wheels and pinions are therefore intended to be removed and changed for others of different diameters, as circumstances may require. It will be perceived that the faster the stricks travel through the machine compared to the rotatory speed of the heckle barrels, so much the less will the material be acted upon by the rotatory heckles; but as different qualities of material must be differently operated upon, according to circumstances, it is impossible to set out any definite speeds or proportions of speed: that will, however, be readily perceived by competent workmen when working at the machine.
In the process of opening the fibres of the material by the rotatory heckles, a quantity of short or loose fibres, as tow, will be taken off the stricks by the heckle points, and will remain adhering to the barrel between the points of the heckles: in order, therefore, to remove this tow, or other loose entangled materials from the heckles, several series of brushes, or blocks, with bristles, are affixed longitudinally to rotatory barrelsQ Q.
These brush barrels are mounted parallel to the heckle barrels upon axles, supported in plummer blocks affixed to brackets extending from the end frames of the machine. Those parts of the brush barrels which are opposite to the cylindrical portions of the heckle barrel are cylindrical, and those parts which are opposite to the bevels are contra-bevelled, or made as frustums of cones reversed, or in an opposite angle, asr,s, so as to run parallel to the inclined surfaces of the heckle barrelsaandc.
Upon the periphery of these barrelsQ Q, ribs or blocks, with bristles or brushes, are fixed longitudinally, at suitable distances apart, the bristles all standing radially from the axle, and taking into the points of the heckles.
Rotatory motions are given to the brush barrelsQ Q, by bands passing from the riggers atG, over pulleysR R, fixed at the end of each of the axles of the brush barrels. Hence, it will be perceived, that the barrelsQ Qwill revolve in opposite directions to the heckle barrels, and with sufficient speed to enable the brushes to pass through between the points of the heckles, and in so doing, to remove the tow or other loose matter therefrom.
The tow or other loose fibrous material collected upon the brushes is transferred thence on to wire cards placed round the periphery of the barrelsS S, which barrels are mounted upon axles parallel to the brush rollers, and turn in plummer blocks upon brackets, extending from the end frames of the machine.
These barrels are cylindrical, and covered with sheets of wire cards at those parts which are opposite to the cylindrical portions of the brush barrels, but those portions of the barrelS, which are opposite to the bevelled pointsrands, of the brush barrels, are bevelled or made conical att u, to fit or correspond with the inclined surfacesrands; these are covered with sheets of wire card also.
Rotatory motions are communicated to the card barrelsS S, by bands from the pulleyT, fixed on to the side of the toothed wheelM, (seefig.427.) which band drives similar pulleysV V, mounted upon studs fixed in the end frame. Upon the side of each of these pulleysV V, a piniontis fixed, which pinion takes into the teeth of the wheelW, on the end of the axle of each of the card barrelsS S; by which means such slow motions are given to the barrelsS, as will allow the brushes of the barrelsQto comb off, and deposit the tow or other fibrous material upon the wire cards as they revolve, and from whence it is to be removed by a doffing comb, and let fall into any convenient receptacle below, in the same way as in ordinary carding engines.
The doffing combs,X X X, are formed to the shape of the card barrels, and are attached to straight bars extending along the machine on both sides, which are supported at their extremities by leversY Y, vibrating upon fulcrum pivots atw w. To these levers perpendicular rodsZ Zare connected by joints, and the lower end of each of these rods is attached to an eccentric disk, roller or crankx x, on the axle of the brush barrel; whence it will be perceived that by the rotation of the eccentricsx, the leversYwill be made to vibrate and strike off, or doff the tow or other material from the card barrels, in a similar manner to the operations of the doffing comb of an ordinary carding engine.
Mr. Evans’ patent improvements in machinery for preparing and dressing flax and hemp apply, first, to the operation of scutching, swingling, or beating away the boom or woody particles of the rind which covers the flax, or hemp, in its rough state; and, secondly, to the subsequent operation of heckling, combing, or opening of the fibres of the material preparatory to spinning it into yarns.