US24264A - Improved hemp-brake - Google Patents

Description

No. 24,264. Patented May 31, 1859.

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H. I. MANN.

I MACHINE FOR BREAKING HEMP AND FLAX.

No. 24,264. Patented May 31, 1859.;

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ln'vcntor' UNITED STATES PATENT Y OFFICE.

HENRY E'HANN, OF LA POR'IE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AXDXYM. I. \VAL'KER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVED HEMP-BRAKE.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 24.261. dated May 31, 1559.

I0 all whom, it may concern/.-

of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of ahemp and flax breaking machine embracing my improvement; Fig. 2, a top view ol the same; Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical section. justable arms detached from the machine.

In this class of machines it is an object of great practical importance so to construct them as that the operator can atwill readily change the rapidity and intensity or height of the stroke of the breakers, so as to suit the different kinds of flax or hemp that is to be sub jected to its action, and also to suit the diifer ent stages of the operation; but as such machines are intended to be used as well on farms or plantations as in iiax-mil1s, it is also important that they should be simple in their construction, strong, and little liable to get out of repair. To supply such a machine is the object of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, the frame of the machine is represented as consisting of two side beams, A, firmly secured and connected together at their ends by frame-standards C. At or about the middle of the machine the sides are also connected by a cross-beam, B, in which are secured the ends of a series of ribs, a, the other ends of which are framed into the end piece, (3.

The upper sides of these ribs are beveled off to an edge. Immediately in the rear of these ribs and cross-beam B, and on the upper side of the beams A, are arranged two boxes, D, in which are formed bearings for the pivotal shaft 1) of the brake E, the swinging brake E for this purpose being firmly bolted to a bed-plate, F, and which is so made as to be cast on or otherwise secured to the shaft 1), the rear end of the bed-plate being provided with aprojection, f, for apurpose to be presently described. As the swingbrake E is made in the usual manner, it is scarcely necessary further to describe it than by stating that it also is provided with edged Fig. 4 represents the disk with its adribs 0, arranged at suitable distances apart, Be it known that I, HENRY F. MANN, of the I city and county of La Porte, and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Breaking Hemp or Flax,

and so, that they will, on the brake being the open spaces formed between the ribs (1,

which are secured to the main frame oi', the

machine.

Immediately in rear of the projection f on the bed-plate is arranged a wheel, G, armed with a. series of radial cams, c, and -mounted on a shaft, g, having its bearings also on the sides of the frame, but slightly raised above the bearings of the pivotal axis 1), the object of which is to bring the lower or beveled edge ot' the cams c in a-line with the upper side of the projection f on the bed-plate F, when the latter is in a horizontal position. These cams are made adjustable in radial slots .r, cut in the wheel G, so as to enable the operator to lengthen or shorten them at will, in order to give a greater or less fall to the breaker E by simply inserting astrip of metal between them and the bottom of the slot, and then key- .ing them fast. This adjustment alsocnables the operator, as the cams wear, to adjust them to the required projection beyond the face oi the wheel to give the necessary fall to the breaker. On the shaft 1 of the wheel is mountend the driving-pulley I.

In order to give greater-force to the fall of the breaker E, a beam, K, is arranged on the under side of thewheel G and projection f, on which is secured one end of a spring, h, of any suitable form, the other end of which is made to bear against the under side of the projectionf, so that when the latter-is depressed by the action of the cams, thus raising the breakers by turning it upon its pivot, and the cams then passing the projection, the recoil of the spring on the projection will cause the breaker to descend with a force proportionate to the strength of the spring upon the flax to break the boon or woody fibery but as different kinds of hemp require different degrees of force to be exerted upon it in order to break it, the beam K is made adjustable, so as to reg is hinged at one-end to the center cross-beam and suitably connected at theother end to a screw-rod, L, passing through a cross-bean1,

M, bolted in the upper side and rear end of brought into a horizontal position, take into ed at one end aflywheel, H, and at the other I ulate the tension. of the spring, to which endit the frame of the machine, it being there held in place by a thumb-screw, I, by means of which that end of the beam can either be raised or lowered, so as to increase or diminish the tension of the spring, as required.

As the operation of the breaker on ,the hemp orflax isthe same as in that of other machines of this class, it is deemed unnecessary to describe it; but it may be remarked thatwhen (in this machine) it is deemed advisable to diminish the speed of the breaker without changing the motion of the wheel it maybe effected by withdrawing every alternate cam, so that at each'revolution instead of four there will be but two strokes of the breaker; or, when six cams'a're' used instead of four, it can then be made to strike either two, three, or six strikes at regular intervals apart, as may be desired.

Having thus described my'invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. (The combination of the adjustable cams or arms a with the breaker, as constructed, the whole being arranged and operated substantially as described. 1

2. The adjustable spring h, as arranged and operated for'the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand to this specification.

H, r; MANN,

Witnesses: v

JOHN S; HOLLINGSHEAD, P. HANNAY.

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