IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jasper Wetter, of the Firm of Herbert and Company,
Solicitors of Patents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER." A
communication from abroad by Pierre Hermann Hubert Neuman, of Brussels,
in the Kingdom of Belgium.
Sealed the 27th February 1880, and dated the 3rd January 1880.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Jasper Wetter at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd January 1880.
JASPER WETTER, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Solicitors of Patents, of 67,
Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER." A communication from abroad by Pierre Hermann
Hubert Neaman, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium..
The Invention has for its object to give to paper, especially to parchment paper
or vegetable parchment, greater opacity and pliability. It is especially deemed
desirable to give a certain degree of opacity to parchment paper in order to render
it fit to be used for printed or written documents, for which its transparency would
otherwise render it inapplicable. Opacity is obtained by the following processes,
described as a and b-a, by mixing with the paper pulp used for the manufacture
of the water leaf, which is subsequently to be converted into parchment paper, any
suitable white substance, such as baric sulphate or calcic sulphate; the quantity of
these white substances varies according to the degree of opacity desired, the nature
of the substances employed, and the degree of strength which the paper is to retain.
b, by dipping parchment paper before its manufacture is completed, that is to say,
when the paper is not yet completely washed and therefore contains a certain
quantity of sulphuric acid, into a solution of one or more salts, such as baric
chloride, baric hydrate, baric acetate, baric sulfide, calcic chloride, or other salts
which form with the residue of sulphuric acid a white precipitate in the body of
the parchment paper. The strength of these solutions varies from 1 to 80 degrees
Beaumé, and depends also upon the degree of opacity desired and the nature of the
substances employed. Paper, and especially parchment paper, has hitherto been
made pliable by means of glycerine. This liquid, unless it is very pure (and there-

page_text: fore very expensive), has the inconvenience of possessing a rather disagreeable colour
and smell. A part of this Invention consists in replacing the said liquid by a
scentless limpid substance, which has no injurious effect, costs but very little,
and may be applied by the following two processes:-a, by mixing with the paper
pulp, or with the size which serves for sizing the paper, a solution of a very
hygroscopic substance, for instance, calcic chloride, or any other hygroscopic substance,
which by constantly absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, imparts to the paper
the desired pliability; the strength of the solution varies according to the degree
of pliability desired, from 1 to 80 degrees Beaumé; b, by passing parchment paper or
ordinary sized or unsized paper through the same solution. In both cases the
hygroscopic substance gives to the paper after the latter has been dried, the desired
pliability by attracting moisture from the air. Claims:-1. The mode of rendering
parchment paper opaque by mixing with the paper pulp used for the manufacture
of unsized paper, or by producing as a precipitate in the body of the said pulp, an
opaque substance, such as baric sulphate or calcic sulphate, and in retaining for this
purpose some of the acid used in the manufacture. 2. The mode of increasing the
pliability of parchment paper or of any other paper, either by mixing with the
pulp used for the manufacture of such paper, or with the size used for sizing it,
a hygroscopic substance, such as calcic chloride, or by passing the parchment
paper or ordinary sized or unsized paper through a solution of the same (hygroscopic)
substance; the whole substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jasper Wetter, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this Second day of January. A.D. 1880.