Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 7, ETM-GOA

FLA [ 291 ] FLA
die, prevents it from lying down and rotting; infallible
confequences of fowing thick upon rich ground. ,It
likewife keeps it ftraight, moiil, and foft at the roots;
and by keeping it warm, and (haded from the fun,
greatly promotes its length. The keeping it from
rain, heating, taking proper care of your water, pre-
ferves the colour, and prevents thofe bars in cloth fo
much complained of by bleachers.
FiAx-Dreffing. For many ages it was the practice
to feparate the boon or core from the flax, which is the
bark of the plant, by the following Ample hand me¬
thods. Firft, for breaking the boon, the (talks in fmall
parcels were beat with a mallet; or, more dexteroufly,
the break (Plate CXCIV. fig. 1. and 2.) was ufedthus:
The flax being held in the left-hand acrofs the three
under-teeth or fwords of the break (^, fig. 1. and a,
fig. 2.), the upper-teeth (B, fig. 1. and b, fig. 2.) were
with the right-hand quickly and often forced down
upon the flax, which was artfully drifted and turned
with the left hand. Next, for clearing the flax of the
broken boon : the workman with his left-hand held
the flax over the Jlock (fig. 3. and 4.), while with his
right-hand he (truck or threflred the flax with the
fcutcher (fig. 5.)
Thefe methods of breaking and fcutching the flax
being flow and very laborious, a water-mill was invent¬
ed in Scotland about 40 years ago; which, with fome
late improvements, makes great difpatch, and in (kil-
ful and careful hands gives fatisfadtion. It has been
generally conftrudted to break the boon by three dent¬
ed rollers, placed one above the other. The middle
one of which, being forced quickly round, takes the
other two along with it, and one end of the handfuls of
the flax being by the workmen diredted in between
the upper and middle rollers, the flax is immediately
draw n in by the rollers; a curved board or plate of
tin behind the rollers diredts the flax to return again
between the middle and undermoft roikys;—and thus
the operation is repeated until the boon be fufficiently
broke. Great weights of timber or (tone at the ends
of levers, prefs the upper and under rollers towards
the middle one.
The fcutching is next carried on by the mill in the
following manne r: Four arms, fomething like the
hand-fcutchers before defcribed, projedt from a per¬
pendicular axle ; a box around the axle inclofes thefe
projedting fcutchers; and this box is divided among
the workmen, each having fufificient room to (land and
handle his flax, which, through flits in the upper part
and fides of the box, they hold in to the ftroke of the
fcutchers ; which, moving round horizontally, (trike
the flax acrofs or at right angles, and fo threfli out
or clear it of the boon.
The breaking of the flax by rollers is fcarcely fub-
jedt ro any objedtion, but that it is dangerous to work¬
men not fufficiently on their guard, who fometimes
allow the rollers to take hold of their fingers, and
thereby their whole arm is inftantly drawn in : thus
many have loft their arms. To avoid this danger, a
break, upon the general principles of the hand-break
before defcribed, has been lately adapted to water-
machinery, and ufed in place of rollers. The hori-
xontal ftroke of the fcutchers was long thought too
fevere, and wafteful of the flax ^ but very careful ex¬
periments have difcovered that the wafte complained
of muft be charged to the unflcilfulnefs or negligence
of the workmen, as in good hands the mill carries
away nothing but what, if not fo fcutched off, muff
be taken off in the heckling with more lofs both of
time and flax. But to obviate this objedtion of the
violence of the horizontal fcutchers, an imitation of
hand-fctitching has lately been applied to water. The
fcutchers then projedt from an horizontal axle, and
move like the arms of a check reel, ftriking the flax
neither acrofs nor perpendicularly down, but (loping
in upon the parcel exadtly as the flax is (truck by the
hand-fcutcher. This (loping ftroke is got by raifing
the fcutching-ftock fome inches higher than the centre
of the axle; and by raifing or lowering the (lock, over
w'hich the flax is held, or fcrewing it nearer to or far¬
ther from the fcutchers, the workman can temper or
humour the ftroke almoft as he pleafes.
A lint-mill, with horizontal fcutchers upon a per¬
pendicular axle, requires a houfe of two (lories, the
rollers or break being placed in the ground ftory, and
the fcutchers in the loft above ; but a mill with verti¬
cal fcutchers on an horizontal axle, requires but one
ground ftory for all the machinery.
Another method of breaking and fcutching flax,
more expeditious than the old hand-methods, and
more gentle than water-mills, has alfo been lately in¬
vented in Scotland. It is much like the break and
fcutcher giving the (loping ftroke laft defcribed, moved
by the foot. The treadle is remarkably long, and
the fcutchers are fixed upon the rim of a fly-wheel.
The foot-break is alfo affifted in its motion by a fly.
Thefe foot-machines are very ufeful where there are no
water-mills, but they are far inferior to the mills in
point of expedition.
The next operation that flax undergoes after fcutch¬
ing is heckling. The heckle (fig. 6.) is firmly fixed
to a bench before the workman, who (trikes the flax
upon the teeth of the heckle, and draws it through the
teeth. To perfons unacquainted with that kind of
work this may feem a very fimple operation ; but, in
fa£t, it requires as much practice to acquire the (light
of heckling well, and without wafting the flax, as any
other operation in the whole manufacture of linen.
They ufe coarfer and wider teethed heckles, or finer,
according to the quality of the flax; generally putting
the flax through two heckles, a coarfer one firft, and
next a fine one.
Flax for cambric and fine lawn, thread, and lace,
is dreffed in a manner fomewhat different. It is not
(kutched fo thoroughly as common flax; which from
the (kutch proceeds to the heckle, and from that to
the (pinner: whereas, this tine flax, after a rough
(kutching, is fcraped and cleanfed with a blunt knife
upon the workman’s knee covered with his leather-
apron; from the knife it proceeds to the fpinner, who,
with abruflr made for the purpofe, ftraights and dreffes
each parcel juft before (he begins to fpin it.
The following obfervations, firft publiftied in the
Gentleman’s Magazine for June 1787, feem worthy of
very particular attention, and may not therefore be
improperly fubjoined as a fupplement to the prefent
article.
O o 2
Of