Two heckle combs for hand preparing flax, France.

The first process in obtaining a linen yarn from the flax plant consists in soaking the stalks in water for about three weeks to dissolve the adhering material that binds the long fibres together. After drying, the stalks are passed between fluted rolls which crimp them and so loosen the contained pithy matter; they are then hung vertically and beaten with a wooden blade till the waste material is removed. The prepared flax is now ready for the heckling process, by which the long fibres are separated and straightened, while the coarse ones are split so as to secure greater uniformity, and the short fibres and some impurities, constituting together about one-half of the total quantity, are removed. Heckling by hand is performed by taking a bunch of prepared flax and whipping it down upon the upstanding teeth of a fixed comb, drawing it through them repeatedly, and then reversing the bunch or strick, so as to treat the other end. The heckles shown are of French make, and are to be secured on a horizontal bench, when the teeth will slope away from the operator at an angle of 70 deg. with the horizontal. There are 32 long tapered teeth in each of the three rows, the length giving great flexibility, and they are secured in two stout plates of horn which also prevent the wooden base from splitting. At the back of the bench is a sloping board (not shown) by which the flax is confined to the upper extremities of the teeth. The long flax, or line, is by this treatment left in a fit state for hand spinning, while the short fibres removed are afterwards worked up into an inferior linen yarn.