The moveable tappets, studs, or teeth a, a, a, are suitably arranged upon their bars or rails, (as in the former instance,) to work the pattern or device required, and are alternately caused to raise or depress the treadles d, d, successively, by acting upon the rollers e, e, with which they are provided. Thus the simple action of these risers and fallers is transmitted directly to the heddles, by means of the connecting wire f, f, actuating the top jacks g, and bottom jacks h, which are connected by stringing to the harness, as usual, the whole being put in motion by means of the spur-pinion i, upon the end of the ordinary crank-shaft, driving the spur-wheels k, and 7, upon the axles of the grooved rollers b, b.

Fig. 8, represents the detached pieces of which this endless belt or rack of tappets is composed. 1, is the foundationbar or rail, upon which the moveable tappets, studs, or teeth 2, are slidden longitudinally; and 3, represents blanks or pieces, to slide over the bar, where the teeth, studs, or tappets, are not required by the pattern.

These bars or rails of tappets are connected or linked together, at suitable distances, into an endless length or chain, by being confined or strung together by the chain 4, at each side, or by any other suitable means; thus it will be seen, that these studs or teeth, and their intervening blanks or spaces, may be so arranged, upon any bar, or system of bars, that the necessary raising and depressing of the treadles d, d, may be varied or adjusted, to suit the pattern or device required to be woven; which arrangement, adjustment, or " reading on" of the tappets or teeth, in both the above descriptions of racks, belts, or chains, will be readily under stood, and applied by the practical weaver.-[Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, July, 1840.] Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

TO PETER FAIRBAIRN, of Leeds, in the county of York, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for heckling, combing, preparing, or dressing hemp, flax, and such other textile or fibrous materials,-being a communication.-[Sealed 13th July, 1840.]

THESE improvements in machinery, for heckling, combing, preparing, and dressing hemp, &c., consist in the novel construction and arrangement of certain apparatus called heckles or heckle-bars, in conjunction with other mechanical agents; by which construction and arrangement, (constituting a machine,) the said heckles are made to operate upon the fibres of hemp, flax, and other kinds of textile materials, with better effect than has been obtained by any of the machinery heretofore employed for the same purpose.

In the accompanying drawing, this improved machine is represented in different figures, which shew the forms and positions of the several parts, and their modes of operating.

In Plate XI., fig. 1, is an elevation of the complete machine, as it would appear when viewed on one side; fig. 2, is a similar elevation, taken in front; fig. 3, is a longitudinal section, through about the middle of the machine; and fig. 4, represents a section of the machine, taken horizontally through the frame, the casing, and the drum, about the level of the axle. The two last-mentioned figures exhibit the internal arrangement of the springs connected to the heckle-bars, and to the sliding-guards or strippers.

Fig. 5, represents one of the heckle-bars, detached from the machine. It is formed of a hollow cylinder or tube of brass, having a row of small holes perforated along it, into which the pins or heckle-points are to be inserted; these pins are made fast in the bar, by filling up the interior of the tube with melted cement. Cap-pieces are then affixed to the ends of the tube, having studs or pivots, by which the heckle-bar is to be held, when mounted upon the drum. Fig. 6, represents one of the guards or sliding-strippers,

formed of a narrow piece of wood; one of which strippers is to be placed between every two heckle-bars, round the periphery of the drum, as shewn in fig. 3.

The large cylinder or drum, which carries the heckle-bars and guides or strippers, is formed of two wooden circular ends a, a, connected and held fast by an iron axle b; the periphery of the drum being formed by a thin plate of zinc c, c, c, (seen best in fig. 3,) which is bent round, and attached, at its edges, to the circular wooden ends. Upon the outer edge of each wooden end of the drum, a series of segmental pieces, forming a rim or flange of iron d, d, d, are affixed, having a circle of small round holes, perforated through the flange, in which the pivots of the heckle-bars e, are to be inserted, as seen in fig. 4; and there are also radial slots, cut through these rims or flanges, for the ends of the sliding-guard or strippers h, to work in, as shewn in the sections, figs. 3 and 4.

A small cord is attached to the heckle-bar e, near each of its ends, and passed over it on one side. These cords are carried through holes in the periphery of the drum c, c, and connected to helical springs f, f, affixed to the blocks g, within. Similar cords are also attached to the guards or strippers h, h, near each of their ends; which cords are in like manner passed through small holes in the periphery of the drum c, c, c, and connected to springs i, i, affixed to the blocks g, g.

The object to be obtained from this mode of constructing and mounting the heckle-bars e, and attaching cords and springs f, to them, is, that the heckle-bars may not be rigidly fixed to the drum, but possess a slight degree of elasticity, in order, that when the points of the heckles meet with obstruction, in passing through the strick of flax, the bar may be enabled to give way, by turning upon its pivots; by this means the points of the heckles will be drawn out of the flax, instead of being forced through the strick, to the manifest danger of breaking the fibres, the springs and cords being the agents by which the heckles are brought back again to their proper positions, which are determined by a small stud, on the side of the heckle-bar, coming against a stop fixed in the drum.

The guards or strippers h, h, are for the two-fold purpose of regulating the depth to which the points of the heckles shall be allowed to penetrate into the strick of flax, whilst under the operation of heckling, and for stripping off or removing the tow from the points of the heckles, at the lower part of the revolution of the drum.

These guards or strippers h, h, are made to slide in the radial slots of the flanges d, d, d, by excentric wheels k, k, (seen in the section, fig. 4, and shewn by a dotted circle, in fig. 3); the peripheries of which excentric wheels act against the ends of all the strippers or guards, forcing them out to the extremities of the slots at some part of the rotation of the drum, and the springs drawing them inward again, at the opposite part of the rotation of the drum, keeping their ends continually bearing against the outer edges or peripheries of the excentric wheels.

The construction of the drum having been now fully described, and the mode of attaching thereto the hecklebars and guards or strippers, it is necessary next to state, that this drum, when working, must be enclosed within a casing, of a cylindrical form. This casing consists of two circular wooden ends or discs, mounted upon the main axle or shaft b, on which they turn loosely, as shewn at 7, 7, in the horizontal section, fig. 4; and these circular ends or discs are held together by transverse bars, screwed thereto, the periphery or cylindrical part of the casing being partly formed by plates of zinc m, m, bent round, and attached to the edges of the discs; but some considerable portions of the periphery of the casing are left open, to admit the strick of flax, when submitted to the operation of the revolving heckles, and also to discharge the tow from the points of the heckle, as the heckling operation goes on. The open parts of the casing will be seen in the section, fig. 3.

Between the drum and the casing, on each side, one of the excentric wheels k, k, is placed, as shewn in the vertical and horizontal sections, figs. 3 and 4. These excentric wheels have each a circular aperture in their centre, lined with a collar or bush of steel, which enables the wheel to

turn freely upon a hollow stud or boss, n, n, fixed to the inside of the disc or end of the casing 1, 7. The hollow studs or bosses n, n, are so affixed to the discs or ends of the casing, as to allow of the main axle b, passing through them, in an excentric position, the consequence of which must be, that the peripheries of these excentric wheels will not run parallel with the periphery of the drum, but from their excentric positions will, at the lower part of the drum, force the guards or strippers (against which they are acting) along the slots toward the outer edges of the flanges d, d. By these means the whole depth of the heckle-points, when in the act of combing, will be allowed to operate upon the strick of flax, at the upper part of the machine, whilst, as the drum goes round in the lower part of its rotation, the strippers will be projected outwards, and cause the tow, upon the heckles, to be pushed toward their points, whence it is effectually stripped off, by a strong current of wind, produced by a rotary blower p, seen in fig. 3, which carries the tow away from the heckle-points, and deposits it in the box q, below, or projects it into a receptacle, placed for that purpose, at the back of the machine.

The manner in which the strick of flax is introduced into the machine, and progressively brought under the operation of the heckles, is as follows:

The strick of flax is first spread out, as usual, and placed between the jaws of a pair of clams, as a holder, the construction of which holder is shewn in two positions at fig. 7. The upper jaws a, a, of the holder being thrown open, by turning back on their hinge-joints, the strick of flax is spread equally upon the rail b, b, and the jaws being then shut down, and held fast by a spring-catch c, the flax will be confined securely between the clams, ready to be operated upon by the rotary heckles.

At each end of the holder is a small rib or flange d, d, intended to be inserted into the nicks of two brackets 1, affixed to the front part of the machine, as shewn at v, in fig. 2, and in the section, fig. 3.

The holder, with the strick of flax, being attached to the front part of the machine, as described and shewn in the