US1086270A - Process of preparing flax. - Google Patents

Description

To all whom it may concern:

ran snares 4 earner easier shorten H. CAMPBELL, or TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

rnocnss or rnnPAiuNG rLAx.

sesame.

No Drawing.

I CAMPBELL,

a citizen of Canada, and a resident of Toronto, in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Preparing Flax, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to the preparation of flax for the various purposes of the textile industry, and has in View a quicker and more economical treatment, and which will produce greater yield than previously ex isting processes, all as now will be explained;

Be it known that I, Gnoson H.

reference being had to the following specilication and claims.

In carrying out this process flax stalks,

or straw, in a dry state are passed through a breaking machine, which removes the larger portion of the various inc'rust-ing matters or shives, the diminution in weight of the straw treated beng about of the total original weight.

To render the stalks sutliciently dry, they may be either air dried or dried by the application of heat, the stalks being for this purpose placed on suitable shelves or frames, below which are placed pipes through which passes hot water or steam, heated to a mod erate temperature. For most uses and in most instances ordinary air drying will be sufficient, but when the flax stalks are out before the seeds are matured, to get flax of the highest grade, and if it is desired to break the stalks shortly after cutting, drying by heat will generally be preferable or necessary.

The dried stalks previous to breaking are lightly sprayed or tempered with water alone or water containing in solution a suitable chemical used in very small proportion such as ammonia, sodium carbonate or soap. A small percentage of a suitable oil such as cotton seed oil or parafiin oil may also be held in the alkaline solution in the form of an emulsion. The amount of liquid Specification of Letters Patent.

The stalks coming from the breaking'ma-, chines as above described and which still- Patent-ed Feb. 3, l9 lei-i; 7 Application filed I'Earch 11, 1910. Serial No. 54.85%.

use as binder twine, grocers twine and the i like; a I

I For use in the various forms of clot-her yarn the product coming from the breaking machine will have to be treated so as to more perfectly eliminate the incrusting or shive constituents. This is done by a process of rotting which will now be described, and which maybe applied either immediately after the stalks come fromthe breaking ma chines or after the fiber has been subjected to the various operations of scutching, hackling, spinning and weaving. In each of these various operations tending to convert the broken stalks into yarn or cloth the mas terial progressively loses a certain amount of the adhering incrusting material or shives but not all, the remaining port-ion being re moved by the process of fermentation, retting. There are several methods of fermentation retting that may be used for the purpose, the process of field retting or dew retting being here described in connection with the previous operation of breaking. For this purpose the broken flax straw is spread upon meadows or other forms ofopen fields and exposed until the residual incrusting matter adhering to the fiber has become sufliciently brittle to be readily removed by subsequent mechanioal manipulations such as passing the material through breaking machines, scutching and beating machines or subjecting them to the action of other forms of machines or to manual shive removing operations. The rotting may be performed in stages, a portion of the shives being removed after the first exposure and theirsmainder after the second exposure, which will also have a bleaching eifeet to a certain extent.

By the breaking of the dry stalks without rotting,- the greater portion of the shives is eliminated at once whereby the work to be done during the subsequent step of retting is very materially diminished and thus facilitated and shortened. The material on account of the less; percentage ot'incrust-ing matter contained will also be much lighter than when ordinary field retting withoutprevious breaking is used. The fact that the retting period is shortened has also the unretted flax stalks.

advantage of a very considerable increase in the yield of flax. In the ordinary process of field retting, the yield is only about 10% while by this process it is increased to 15% or even 25%.

After the exposure of the broken flax material for a suflicient length of time to make retting practically complete the flax stalks are passed through a breaking machine preferably with much finer grooves than. were used in the original breaking of the dry and If the fiber is retted in the form of yarn, the latter may consist of single strands. If the fiber is converted into cloth before retting this course has the advantage that the incrusting matters'are progressively eliminated from the fiber duringthe operations of twisting the strands and weaving, although the cloth requires more prolonged mechanical treatment after the retting to eliminate all particles of the separated and broken shi'ves. When unretted flax fiber has been converted into cloth or fabric the operation of field retting will be accompanied by bleaching to a greater extent than when more of the shive material is adhering to the fiber, rendering it in fact a simultaneous operation of rotting and bleaching.

lVhat I claim as new is:

1. In the art of preparing linen fibers, the improvement which consists in drying, spraying or tempering, and then'breaking flax stalks, and retting the resulting material.

2. In the art of preparing linen fibers, the improvement which consists in drying, spraying or tempering and then breaking flax stalks, and scutching and rotting the resulting material.

3. In the art of preparing linen fibers, the improvement which consists in drying, spraying or tempering fiaX stalks with an aqueous emulsion of anoil, then breaking the stalks, and retting the resulting material.

4. In the art of preparing linen fibers, the improvement which consists in drying, spraying or tempering and then. breaking flax stalks, converting the resulting material into yarn and retting the latter.

Signed at New York in the county of N. Y. and State of N. Y. this 18th day of May A. D. 1909.

GEORGE H. CAMPBELL.

Witnesses C. A. O. Rosnnn, MABELLE A. DAVIS.