NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8, 23 November 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Pamphlet by W. Wbytxaw. Printed and published by W. G. Wilson, Auckland. Any person who gives to his fellow men the benefit of his knowledge and experience on any subject of interest to the community, is a benefactor to his kind. Mr. Whitlaw deserves the thanks of his fellow-colonists for the information contained in his pamphlet; the more as that information has been obtained at considerable cost to himself of both time and money, and although others are protecting their'inventions by patent, Mr. Whitlaw generously disclaims availing himself of such right, and freely imparts his knowledge to the world. Probably no single product of these islands has been productive of so much speculation as to its proper manipulation as the Phormium Tenax; its peculiar qualities, and the advantage to be derived from its successful treatment, were recognised by the earliest settlers in this colony, and much research and capital have been expended at various times by sanguine speculators, but as yet without any immediate beneficial result. The difficulties this plant presents in its peculiar. resinous character, and the imperfect results formerly obtained, have damped the ardour of many experimentalists; bu it is to be hoped that before long those difficulties may be surmounted. Mr. Whytlaw, who is an old settler, from the earliest period of his location in the colony, devoted his attention to the Phormium Tenax, and at various periods made great efforts to establish factories for its manufacture. That these efforts were not crowned with success, was probably as much to be ascribed to the apathy of others less sanguine or less enterprising than him self j as to any failure in his peculiar process. We need not follow Mr. Whytlaw in the various experiments he made, but will furnish our readers with a description of his machine, as stated in his paragraph : — " Let the reader, then, take a common parallel ruler, and holding one of the leaves fixed, move the other one backwards and forwards, and he will produce precisely the motion given to the principal part 01 my machine, which consists of a traversing bar, hinged like the parallel ruler, and by a connecting rod joined to a crank, the necessary reciprocating movement is given ; the eccentricity of the crank being 1£ inches. This traversing bar rests upon its edge, and is Scinches wide, by 2 feet in length, and if made of wood, which answers very well, should be sufficiently thick to make it stiff: about 1J inch will be thick enough. On the face of this bar are screwed three grooved plates of cast metal (chilled iron being what I found to answer best, each of these being 5 inches long, by 3 inches wide, and f of an inch thick. The grooves are about four to the inch, and lie at an angle of about 15 ° from the perpendicular. This traversing bar, with its grooved surface, is hinged to, and works inside of, a frame of wood or iron, on the side of which, opposite to the bar, are three recesses, in each of which there is a block of hardwood fitting nicely, but freely, the recess in which it works. These blocks measure sxßx3, and to the face of them, opposite ( the traversing bar, are attached grooved iron ', plates, similar to those on the bar. It is evident that if these blocks were fixed, and wear enough to the traversing bar as it passed, the two opposing suriaces would jam; but these "blocks are each provided with a spring of vulcanised india-rubber behind them which allows the block to yield to the action of the traversing bar, and the two grooved surfaces to rub past each other. These blocks are further provided with stops, which retain them in their proper places, so as to cause a space of about half-an-inch to arise between the surfaces every time the traversing bar reaches the extremity of its movement : this being necessary to allow the leaf of flax to pass between them, as its surface is successively opposed to its action. Just above the opening between the piates alluded to, the feeding rollers are placed, which consist of a grooved iron roller, and one covered with vulcanised India rubber, which effectually hlod the flax and pass it down at the required speed to the action of the plates below. Above the feeding roller, a bar of wood is placed 18 inches x6 x 1 £.' This bar is supported on its edge, and three mortices are cut through it of a size just sufficient to admit a leaf of flax to pass freely through them, and these serve as guides to direct the leaf of flax to the feeding rollers,