FLAX, PREPARATION OF. 



Fl.1t ftwftrJ or scutclier. 



of breaking and sculcliing are tedious 

 and laborious vvlicn thus executed by 

 hand. A mill is now used (where 

 large quantities of flax are required 

 for manufactures), having three flu- 

 ted cylinders, one of which is made 

 to revolve by horse or water power, 

 and carries the other two round. Tlie 

 flax plants are passed between these 

 cylinders while thus revolving, and 

 the stalk, or hoon, as it is technically 

 called, is by this means completely 

 broken without injuring the fibres. 

 The scutching is accomplished in the 

 same mill by means of four arms pro- 

 jecting from a horizontal axle, ar- 

 ranged so as to strike the boon in a 

 slanting direction until the bark and 

 other useless parts of the plant are 

 beaten away. In the last process by 

 which flax is prepared for the spin- 

 ner, the hackling, the instrument em- 

 ployed, called the hackle, is a square 

 piece of wood, studded with rows of 

 iron teeth about four inches long, 

 and disposed in a quincunx order. 

 The fineness of the hackle is chosen 

 with reference to the quality of the 



flax, and hackles differing in this re- 

 spect from each other are used at 

 different stages of the dressing, the 

 coarsest first, and the finest to give 

 the last degree of smoothness and 

 finish to the flax. The operation of 

 hackling is performed by the work- 

 man grasping a handful of flax by the 

 middle, and drawing first one side or 

 end and then the other through the 

 teeth of the hackle, until every parti- 

 cle of extraneous matter is removed, 

 and the whole of the filaments are 

 arranged in distinct, even, and paral- 

 lel fibres." 



The following machine (see Fig.), 

 patented by Mr. Bundy, is of great 

 service in the domestic preparation 

 of flax, and is constructed on the 

 same principle as the implements 

 driven by power. The frame is of 

 wood, and sustains two conical roll- 

 ers, of which A is seen ; B is a beam 

 moving around a joint at C, and car- 

 rying an upper roller, D ; it is eleva- 

 ted by the spring E, and pulled down 

 by the treadle F, which is connected 

 to the upper piece by a metallic rod, G. 

 The rollers are commonly grooved, 

 each runs on its own pivot, and H is 

 an iron comb for rippling. When 

 used, a handful of the rotted flax is 

 passed between the rollers and held 

 in both hands ; the foot being now ap- 



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