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the coffer c, the gates may be opened, and the boat passed into the coffer; and having shut the gate of the chamber and the gate of the coffer, the stop may be removed, and the coffer with the boat be allowed to descend.

The same effect may be produced by letting coffer c, fig. 26, be made water-tight, to twice the depth of the lower canal, with gates to the same at each end; one pair to retain the water to about the depth of the canal, another pair above the same height, each pair opening independent of the other: the lower gates falling on the bottom of the coffer, the upper gates so hung as to draw to the top of the coffers, the boats being intended to pass between these gates.

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The action of the machine will then be to get a boat from the lower level to the upper level of the canal. Let the lower coffer c, be filled with water, so as to descend to the bottom of the canal, when the upper coffer must be stopped and retained by a trigger, or firm support; then the water must be let out of the lower coffer to the level of the lower canal, when the boat a, may be drawn into the coffer: the gate must be shut, and being then prepared, the man below rings a bell, the man above having put a boat into the upper coffer, er or having filled it with water to the height of the lower gates of the coffer, and being prepared with a friction wheel or band, to prevent the too rapid descent for the first two or three feet, may proceed to lower the coffer; used to lovel 19701 when the operation may be continued alternately, changing as it found necessary. It may be observed, that letting out water from the ascending coffer at times when the lower level of the canal may be a few inches higher than usual, will faci

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litate the operation.

VOL. VI.

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N.B. The first plan of having a chamber in the manner of small locks, at the head and foot of the lift, is safest and best; the latter, of doubling the capacity and depth of the coffers, though applicable in some instances, seems less desirable, on account of the great care requisite in lowering them through the first three feet of their descent. [Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, September, 1834.]

TO ALEXANDER SHANKS, Jun., flax-spinner, in Arbroath, in the county of Forfar, in North Britain, for his invention of certain improvements in machinery for preparing and dressing hemp, and other fibrous substances. [Sealed 15th January, 1835.]

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THESE improvements in machinery for preparing and dressing hemp, and other fibrous substances, consist, first, in an improved arrangement and construction of machinery or apparatus for separating or releasing the fibrous parts of hemp, flax, and other textile plants from the boom, bark, and other woody matters, in order that the textile fibres of such platns may be softened and prepared for the subsequent process of heckling. Secondly, in the adaptation of a set of rubbing surfaces to a bobbin and fly frame, or other spinning machinery, in order that the fibres of hemp, flax, or other materials, may undergo a second process of rubbing or preparing, by which the fibres may be softened, separated, or refined, previous to their being conducted to the spindle and flyer. Figs. 1, and 2, Plate XVI., represent the mechanism which constitutes the first of my imShanks', for Impts. in dressing Hemp.

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provements. Fig. 1, is an elevation of one side of the machine; fig. 2, is a horizontal view, exhibiting the top of the machine; fig. 3, is a front elevation; and fig. 4, is a longitudinal section, one of the side frames being removed to show the working parts: a, a, a, is the framework or standards of the machine; b, is the main shaft or axle, turning in proper bearings on the lower part of the framework, and receiving its rotary motion by a band passed from a steam-engine, or other first mover, to the fast and loose pulley mounted on its end; c, c, are two auxiliary shafts or axles, placed parallel to the main shaft, also turning in bearings in the framework; these receive rotary motion from the toothed wheel d, mounted on the main axle, which gears with two other similar wheels e, e, mounted on the ends of the auxiliary shafts c, c, whereby they all have a continuous and equal rotary motion. Upon each of these three shafts there are formed two cranks g, g, of small radii, connected in the usual way to vertical rods h, h, h, which are attached to the plates or rubbing pieces i, i, i, i, above. These plates are placed in pairs across the machine; one plate of each pair bears against the stops or guides k, k, fixed to the side frame, which are furnished with small anti-friction rollers (see fig. 4); the other plates are pressed towards, and kept in contact with, their fellow plates by springs 1, 1, 1, affixed to the side frames, which springs act against anti-friction rollers at the back of the other plates.

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Through the central part of the other plate a long slot or opening m, is formed (see fig. 3, and the detached face view of one of the plates at fig. 5); this slot is for the purpose of allowing the hemp, flax, or other fibrous material to be introduced between the rubbing surfaces, and also to allow it to pass through the machine.

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Four or more pairs of fluted or grooved rollers are mounted in the end frames, turning in bearings. The upper rollers of each pair bear upon the lower ones, and are kept down in contact with them by means of the horns 0, 0, 0, 0, which rest upon the ends of the axles of the rollers, and are pressed by levers p, p, having their fulcrums in slings or bridle pieces attached to the side frame. These levers are furnished with adjustable screws to regulate the pressure; and from the ends of these levers the rods q, q, are suspended, being connected at the lower ends to the weighted levers r,me by these means any required pressure can be given to... the upper fluted rollers. The lower fluted rollers receive their motion in the following manner:-Upon the end of the main shaft b, is mounted the pinion s, taking into the spur wheel t, which turns upon a pin or short axle projecting from the side frame. Upon the boss of this wheel t, is formed a pinion u, which takes into gear with another wheel u, also mounted upon a pro-... jecting pin or axle, and carrying another pinion w, gearing with the toothed wheels x, x, mounted on the end of the axles of the two middle lower fluted rollers (see fig. 1.).

By these means both the wheels x, x, and the two inner rollers, receive rotary motion in the same direc tion? The wheels 2, also take into gear with the other intermediate Spur wheels yy, mounted supσπή studs or axles, which spüre wheels take into gear with two other wheels z, z, mounted upon the ends of the.. axles of the two outer rollers. By these means all the rollers have a continuous rotary motion in the same direction, and cause them to draw or conduct through

the machine the stalks of flax, or other fibrous or textile substances placed between them, the indentation on the periphery of the rollers crushing or breaking and loosening the boom and bark.

The inner surfaces of the rubbing plates are grooved or roughed, as shown in fig. 5, for the purpose of producing a greater effect upon the hemp, flax, or other fibrous materials. It will be seen by the connexion of the plates with the crank shafts or axles b, and c, that, as they revolve, the cranks give to the plates i, i, reciprocating up and down movements; and as the stalks of the plants, in passing through the machine, conducted by the fluted rollers n, n, n, n, are gathered in between the plates, their reciprocating action produces that degree of rubbing which separates the boom and bark, and at the same time softens and loosens the fibres.

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The person attending the machine places upon the feeding table or endless cloth a proper quantity of the hemp, flax, or other fibrous material, to be operated upon, which is conducted between the first pair of fluted rollers n, n, where it becomes partially crushed, and the boom and bark broken and loosened; from the first pair of rollers the material is conducted through the openings or slots m, m, and is gathered between the

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plates or rubbing surfaces i, i, from whence it passes between the next pair of rollers, and from thence to the second pair of rubbing plates, and so on to the last or

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delivering rollers at the reverse end of the machine, when the prepared hemp, Max, or other textile mate rials may be taken to a beckling machine, where it mayu? be checkled band combed in the usual manner for the after processes of roving and spinningmoont aut lo zalt The second part of my improvements, (in which the fibres of the hemp, flax, or other textile plants, formed