GB167962A - Improvements in apparatus for deseeding flax - Google Patents

Abstract

167,962. Allen, F. L. van. Aug. 13, 1920. Rippling - apparatus; grip-chain and like arrangements for feeding, holding, and conveying fibrous materials.-The seeds are removed from flax straws, whether harvested in sheaves, or raked and forked as hay, by a large conveying-drum co-operating with a number of independently movable rollers yieldingly held against its surface. A machine for dealing with flax taken from sheaves comprises a drum B, deseeding-rollers C, and holding and conveying belts D, E. The root end of the flax is laid on the belt E and supported by a table 26. It is gripped between the belts, which run over part of the drum 13 and over suitable guide-pulleys 17 and tightening-pulleys 20, 22. The seed ends are carried over the surface of the drum B and are acted upon by the rollers C carried by arms 11 pivoted on rods 12 and pressed against the drum by springs. There are a number of rollers arranged on each rod, and they are mounted in staggered relationship with the adjacent sets. The flax is then delivered on to a table 40<a> and beaten bv rods 41. The seed is finally shaken out of the flax by passing it between two sets of beaters 44, 45, 46, 47, adjacent beaters in one set moving in opposite directions but parallel to the corresponding beaters in the other sets. The seed falls on to a reciprocating sieve 48 and through it into a hopper 54. Seed &c. from the first of the deseeding rollers falls into a shoot 52 and is passed between spaced apart spring-pressed rollers 50 on to a reciprocating deck 49 which passes it on to the sieve 48. In a machine for deseeding flax which has not been arranged in sheaves, the travelling belts are dispensed with and the deseeding rollers are arranged across the full width of the drum B. The deseeded stalks are delivered on to decks or racks, where they are shaken to release the seeds.