Flax Dressing Machinery.

Manawatu Herald, 3 October 1893, Page 3

Flax Dressing Machinery.

Mr.i. Knight, an expert df the Victorian Agricultural Department, has furnished the secretary of that department with a report on machines made by Messrs. Cliff and Bunting, of North Melbourne, for the treatment of fibre plants. The first one inspected was a " breaker," ; which consisted of three iron fluted rollers fitted to a wooden frame, and so arranged that the flax is fed on the top roller, and passing round them returned to the feeder's hand, to be again subjected to a similar; breaking process. This is repeated until the flax is sufficiently broken to render the separation of the fibre from the waste easily accomplished. The second was a " scutching " machine. It is so mado that the crushed material is passed on by hand and subjected to the operation of the revolving bearers, which brush out the waste material from the fibre. Some flax was treated by these machines in Mr Knight's presence, and he -reported that they appeared to answer the purpose for which they were made very well. They can be worked by hand, horse, or steam power. Some hemp was put through the machines, but the report stated it was not successfully treated, being so long, and it was evident that alterations would require to be made in the machines to be dealt with successfully by them. So far as treating flax was concerned he regarded the machines as an improvement on any that had yet come under his notice in this colony. The plant was manufactured for Mr F. Doran, of Franklin River, Gippsland, who intends entering into the cultivation of fibre plants.