424 



FLAX 



ILJtJIJWi, 



TT tr- rr IT TT rr tt 



A A (fiff. 934), sheet of hackles ; n, support for holders ; c c, carrier pulleys for tho 

 Bheet of hackles. Fiff. 935, a larger viow of tho hacklo bar oo, in order butter 

 to show the faller DDD, in tho staples or grooves EK, at tho end of tho hai-kh- 

 bar OG; FF, pins of the hackles, between the rows of which tho fuller UDD acts to 



push the tow off tho pins. 



934 There is a clearing 1'alkT 



D to each hackle, whu-h 

 is kept to tho bottom of 

 tho hackles at that part 

 of their course where 

 they are in contact with 

 tho flax, but at tho turn 

 F D fly beyond the points, 

 as shown by the effect of 

 the centrifugal force. 



All these machines, 

 possessing groat simi- 

 larity of features in re- 

 gard to tho personal 

 attention required, never 

 came into such p 

 operation as to supersede 

 entirely hand -dressing, 

 either from their own 

 defects, or prejudices 



against their employment. About the year 1830, in consequence of the new mode of 

 spinning being carried on with considerable energy, it was found advantageous to cut 

 the flax into two, three, or more lengths previously to hackling, which rendered it 

 necessary to have machines peculiarly adapted for this now short description of 

 material. This machine, known as tho excentric or circular machine, deserves con- 

 siderable attention for its own inherent merits, and tho extensive utility it has proved 

 to be of in suggesting the principal parts of those by which it has been supplanted. 

 In its original form it was made of a breadth suitable for only one strick, and consisted 

 of a cylinder 3 fb. diameter, upon the whole circumference of which at intervals of 3 or 

 4 inches were fixed the hackles. As each machine could only carry one description of 

 hackle, it was necessary to employ a series of these machines, called a ' class,' when 

 the flax required to be drossed over a succession of finer tools, each succeeding machine 

 carrying a finer tool than its predecessor. The hackles were cleared of tow by coining 

 in contact at one part of their revolution with a brush roller, which also revolved in 



937 



contact with a cylinder covered with card clothing, tho points of the pin bring in such 

 a direction as to clear the brush from tow, and allow itsvlf to be in its turn cK:iml by 



