194 



DICKSON ON FRENCH FLAX, PREPARED IN 



soap, and pre vented injury to the fibre — which article I did not 

 patent. 



The following remarks by the editor of the Morning Herald 

 (London), who visited my factory to witness the working of 

 my first patent machine for preparing Flax and hemp, on 

 Tuesday, the 2nd of July, 1852, may deserve notice : — 



" New Flax Mill. — The great obstacle to the cultivation 

 of Flax, and the many difficulties that have attended its 

 preparation, have greatly retarded its growth in Great 

 Britain, and any machine calculated to remove such ob- 

 jections, and to economize in. the tedious and difficult 

 processes of breaking, scutching, and hackling, must be 

 hailed as a great boon by all who are interested in its 

 cultivation. Mr. J. Hill Dickson, of Grove Street, Deptford, 

 has recently patented a portable mill, on which all the above 

 processes can be carried on. It is very compact, standing on 

 a frame 6 J feet long by 4| broad. It will supersede the 

 use of the skilled hands termed scutchers, and reduce the 

 cost of this process to about sixpence per stone. It is 

 said to be the first machine ever invented that will break, 

 scutch, and hackle the Flax as it is taken from the field 

 without undergoing the tedious process of retting or steeping. 

 We had an opportunity of seeing the mill in operation 

 yesterday. It was worked by hand instead of by steam 

 power, and making allowance for this drawback, appears 

 well calculated to realize the anticipations of the patentee. 

 The construction is ingenious, and it does not appear likely 

 to get out of order." 



This was the first of my improved breaking machines, 

 combining scutching and hackling, but having made further 

 improvements I requested Lord Lovaine and a number of 

 gentlemen, including the editor of Bell's Weekly Messenger, 

 to see my machines worked, and I had two lots of Flax-straw 

 weighed in the green state, 14lbs. of each, and the result was 



