IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LUCERN ROOT FOR PAPER-MAKING AND WEAVING PURPOSES AS WELL AS IN ABSTRACTING SODA SALTS AND COLOURING MATTERS THEREFROM
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, of 77, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LUCERN ROOT FOR PAPER-MAKING
AND WEAVING PURPOSES AS WELL AS IN ABSTRACTING SODA SALTS AND
COLOURING MATTERS THEREFROM."—A communication from abroad by
Jeane Pierre, Caminade, Merchant and Manufacturer, of 106, Rue
d'Illiers, Orleans, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 6th October 1866, and dated the 9th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Baldwin Fulford Weather-
don at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th April 1866.
I, BALDWIN FULFORD WEATHERDON, of 77, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LUCERN ROOT
FOR PAPER-MAKING AND WEAVING PURPOSES AS WELL AS IN ABSTRACTING SODA
SALTS AND COLORING MATTERS THEREPROM," (communicated to me from abroad
by Jeane Pierre Caminade, Merchant and Manufacturer, of 106, Rue d'Illiers,
Orleans, in the Empire of France,) to be as follows (that is to say):-
My Invention has reference to the employment and mode of treating
lucern root for the manufacture of paper, or for weaving purposes, as well as
for abstracting soda salts and coloring matters therefrom, and consists in
crushing the roots of lucern under two cylinders, and then drying the same,
they are next submitted to any retting or macerating process, just as hemp
[Price 8d.]

page_text: and flax, for the purpose of disintegrating heterogeneous substances. The
fibrous parts thus obtained are bleached in the usual way, and used for paper-
making, spinning, and weaving purposes as before-mentioned. By treating
the said roots and retting them in boiling water heated by steam, and by
successively evaporating the washing waters, I obtain soda salts or kelp, picric
acid, and a new coloring matter called luzerine, with which green and
yellow colours are produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BALDWIN
FULFORD WEATHERDON, of 77, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, Her special licence that I, the said
Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING LUCERN ROOT FOR PAPER-
MAKING AND WEAVING PURPOSES AS WELL AS IN ABSTRACTING SODA SALTS AND
COLORING MATTERS THEREFROM," a communication from abroad, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
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NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
i
The Invention has reference to the employment and mode of treating
lucern root for the manufacture of paper, or for weaving purposes, as well as
in abstracting soda salts and coloring matters therefrom, and consists in
crushing the roots of lucern under two cylinders, and then drying the same,
they are next submitted to any retting or macerating process in like manner
to hemp and flax for the purpose of disintegrating heretogeneous substances.
The fibrous parts thus obtained are bleached in the usual way, and used for
paper-making, spinning, and weaving purposes as before-mentioned. By
treating the said roots and retting them in boiling water heated by steam,
and by successively evaporating the washing waters, I obtain soda salts or
kelp, picric acid, and a new coloring matter called luzerine, from which green
and yellow colours are produced.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and
readily carried into effect I now proceed to describe in detail the mode of
performing the same (that is to say) :-
In the manufacture of paper I cause the said root to be first submitted to
pressure between two rollers, for the purpose of crushing the fibrous portions
thereof, so as to expel the sap therefrom, the said roots are then allowed to
dry, and next placed in a revolving cylinder or a retting pond or pit for the
space of about fifteen or twenty-one-days until sufficiently macerated and
washed, a constant flow of water being maintained for the above purpose, the
said materials are then bleached in the usual manner.
The pounding and pulping is performed by ordinary machinery or apparatus,
and with less labour than at present, but I prefer for the said object (viz. that
of pulping) the employment of vertical millstones by which the filaments or
fibrous portions thereof are more effectually preserved and rendered larger
and heavier.
The said operation of reducing the root from its natural state to the half.
stuff preparatory to being formed into pulp, is in passing it through the rollers
aforesaid by means of an endless chain and hopper direct to the root washer
which receives it down an incline plain, thereby allowing the same to be
cleansed or washed in its passage through the apparatus.
In conclusion to the foregoing description I would here briefly note that
the rollers may be made of iron, stone, wood, or otherwise, and arranged in
any suitable manner as may be found desirable, and worked by steam machinery
or otherwise.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried
into effect, I would have it clearly understood that I do not intend to confine
myself to the precise details herein-before described as the same may be
otherwise varied without departing from the general principle of this my
said Invention, nor do I claim as new and of my said Invention the exclusive
use of the several substances, combinations, and process herein-before de-
scribed except when the same are employed in and for the purposes of my
said Invention, which I hereby declare to consist in the employment of lucern
root and the mode of treating the same for the purposes of paper-making,
spinning, and obtaining soda salts, kelp, and coloring matters therefrom in
the manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Baldwin Fulford Weatherdon, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
BALDWIN FULFORD WEATHERDON. (L.S.)
Witness,
R. H. P. COOKE,
Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon & Co.
77, Chancery Lane.