1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



209 



ter whicli disiingiiislios it from all 

 other things before known, and of 

 ihe manner of making, construct- 

 ing, and using the same, reference 

 being had to tlio accompanyiiig 

 tiravvings, waking pan of ihis spec- 

 ification, in whieii Hg. 4o is a per- 

 spective view, and figure 49 a ver- 

 ticle section of the machine. The 

 same letters indicate like parts in 

 all the figures. 



In machinery heretofore employ- 

 ed for breaking and cleaning hemp, 

 (kc. at one operation, by revolving 

 brakes, the hemp has been aeteil 

 on during a large portion of the 

 circle of revolution, the hemp be- 

 ing broken by passing it between 

 a pair of rollers or revolving breaks 

 and scutchers, that mesh into each 

 other, and break the hemp by bend- 

 ing it short between them. This 

 method is highly objectionable, in 

 censequence of the great length of 

 the fibre over which it is scraping, 

 which is found to wear the hemp 

 in practice so as to render it un- 

 merchantable; it has also been at- 

 tempted to break and clean the 



FLax Gin. 



hemp between a revolving break and a stationary concave, bur this method is liable to the sam« objections. In fact, 

 the hemp never can be bnjken and cleaned by the same roller that breaks it, without subjecting it to injurious wear'. 

 Consequently, the machines have been abandoned as useless ; for if the hemp is broken by a stationary break, against 

 which the revolving break acts, and thence passes to anotJicr wheel, placed in contact with said revolving break, to 

 be scutched, the break scrapes over 

 the hemp the whole distance from 

 the bed-brake to the point where 

 the scutcher acts, and wears the 

 surface int« tow. 



My invention is for the purpose of 

 obviating these ditficulties, and is of 

 the follow iag nature: I employ a 

 large revolving break, with the 

 swords set at a tangent (this is nec- 

 essary to the well working of the ma- 

 chine, as a small one would present 

 the swords at too great an angle.) 

 which acts against a stationary bed- 

 plate, and there breaks ihe hemp a.s 

 it is presented by the hand. The 

 ends of the hemp, as soon as they 

 pass down below the edge where 

 they are broken, are thrown o^' by 

 tie ( entrifugal action of tlie revolv- 

 ing blades, and they do not come in 

 contact with it any more, but.as the 

 hemp is fed in, the onds aforesaid 

 pass down and are caught between 

 the scutchers at the angle of their 

 jtiBction, witliout laying against 

 either so as to be' rubbed, and is 

 thus cleaned. The scutchers are 

 very snnll cylinders, with blades 

 projecting from them radially, that 

 only mesh slightly (if at all) past 

 their pitch-lines ; these only set on 

 liiat pan of the hemp immediately 



betvveen them, or at the junction of their curves to clean it. 

 and it passes through them without injury— which is not the 

 case where the breaking and cleaning are done by the same 

 wheel or roller on the diiilerent parts of its circumfirence. 



The construetion of my apparatus is as follows: On the 

 cap-pieces of a suitable frame (m) I suspend a shaft (a) in 

 suitable bearings, on which I aftix two cylinder heiids {b), 

 to which I attach any suitable number of slats or beaters 

 (c); these are placed diagonally, and are made to act on a 

 straight, horizonla!. stationary bed piece (rf), whicli is arm- 

 ed with iron and attached to the frame (m)\ back of this 

 bed-piece, and a little below its surface, there is a feed- 

 board (o), over wliich the hemp is fed into the machine; 

 just below the bed-piece, two small scutcher cylinders (/) 

 are so placed as to receive the hemp between them witliout 

 wrapping on either, tiie blades (g) of which rnay work in- 

 to each other more or less, according to the material to be 

 acted on. The hemp is held in the hand of -the workman 



to be cleaned, and is presented over the bed-piece [d), (e 



clearly shown in figure 49,) where it is gradually broken as 

 it is pushed in. and the ends are thrown down in between 

 the scutchers, where the shieves or hiirds are thrown out. 

 The hemp in this way is fed in. cleaned lialf its length, and 

 thfn turned and lii'e other half finished, and the hemp comes 

 from the maoliine in a perfect and merchantable state. 



Having thus fully described my machine, what I claim 

 as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is 

 the combination of the stationary bed brake and thc.rolary 

 break, and small scutchers arranged in the Dianncr de- 

 scribed, so ihtt the hemp can be fed in by Land, nroken 

 and cleaned with but one handling and at one operation — 

 the breaki.ag and cleaning being done on separate cylinders, 

 but the parts so arranged as that they are brought doss to- 

 gether, and so adjusted as to only aHow the machine to 

 touch that part of the fibre that is to be acted on, thereby 

 preventing its wear in the machine. F. t*. Holcomb, 



,,r.. C A. P. Browne, 



