AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION, TO BE USED PRINCI- PALLY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD OR OTHER MATERIALS WHERE STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simpson, Paper Maker, and John
Shelton Isaac, Saddler, both of Maidstone, in the County of Kent,
for the Invention of," AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION, TO BE USED PRINCI-
PALLY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD OR OTHER MATERIALS WHERE
STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
VARIOUS ARTICLES."
Sealed the 28th March 1853, and dated the 2nd October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simpson
and John Shelton Isaac at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd October 1852.
We, WILLIAM SIMPSON and JOHN SHELTON ISAAC, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION, TO BE
USED PRINCIPALLY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD OR OTHER MATERIALS WHERE
STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in making thin boards or sheets, applicable
to various purposes for which wood and veneer are now employed, from
pulp made from straw, hop-bines, or other similar material. The

page_text: vegetable fibre having been reduced to pulp by means of a solution of
hydrate of soda, or potash, or some other suitable chemical process, a
sufficient quantity of the pulp, according to the size and thickness of the
intended sheet, is taken, and poured into a mould of the required shape
and dimensions. A certain quantity of the water having been drawn
out, the pulp is pressed in the mould for the purpose of reducing the
thickness of the mass, after which it is removed from the mould on to a
felt sheet, when it is submitted to a very heavy pressure in order to
bring it to the required thickness, after which it is dried, oiled, and
baked in the ordinary manner of making papier mâché from sheets of
paper, and a thin but very strong and firm board or sheet is produced,
and may be used for various purposes where great strength and lightness
are required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Simpson and John Shelton Isaac in the
Great Seal Patent Office, on the 2nd April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
WILLIAM SIMPSON, Paper Maker, and JOHN SHELTON ISAAC, Saddler,
both of Maidstone, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Simpson and John Shelton
Isaac, Her especial licence that we, the said William Simpson and
John Shelton Isaac, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Simpson and John Shelton Isaac, our
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 "AN IMPROVED
COMPOSITION, TO BE USED PRINCIPALLY AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD-OR OTHER

page_text: MATERIALS WHERE STRENGTH AND LIGHTNESS ARE REQUIRED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said William Simpson and John Shelton Isaac, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, 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
seven calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Simpson and John.
Shelton Isaac, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
.
The object of our Invention is to manufacture boards or sheets of
great strength and lightness, for various purposes for which wood and
veneers are now employed. By means of the improved composition
which we apply to the above purpose, great strength and toughness are
obtained, and therefore much thinner boards than are usually employed
may be used for the various purposes to which they are intended to be.
applied. The material which we employ in the manufacture of our '
improved composition is either straw, hopbine, or other similar vegetable
fibres.
The first process to which the straw or other material is subjected
consists in cutting the straw or similar vegetable matter into short
The material
pieces by a chaff machine, or other convenient means.
so cut up is then subjected to the action of a boiling solution of hydrate
of soda or potash, of from seven to ten degrees Beaumé, in order to
remove the silex and colouring matter. This boiling process is best.
effected by means of high pressure steam, conveyed through a worm in
a small vessel placed underneath the tub or pan in which the straw or
other vegetable matter is contained, and which small vessel is connected
by means of two pipes with the tub or pan containing the straw or other
vegetable matter, the one being the ingress and the other the egress
pipe; by this means a constant circulation of the solution of the potash

page_text: .
or soda is kept up. When the boiling process is completed, and tlie.
straw 'has been thoroughly washed, it is put into a common beating:
engine, in order to be reduced to the state of pulp. If it be desired to
give the boards any particular colour, colouring matter may be introduced
into the vat or the engine, so as to dye or colour the whole of the pulp.
The colouring of the pulp may be effected either by means of dye woods,
such as logwood, camwood, or other vegetable substances containing:
colouring matter, or by the introduction of earths, such as ochres;
umbers, and the like, according to the purpose and to suit the colour
required; or, should it be considered desirable to bleach the pulp before
any of the dyes are used, a solution of chloride of lime can be made use
of in the engine. The pulp thus prepared is then run off into a chest,
and from thence into a vat as required. Moulds of any convenient size.
liaving. been previously prepared, a given quantity of the prepared pulp,
according to the size and thickness of the sheet or board intended to be
made, is then placed in the mould and submitted to pressure, in order
to express a considerable portion of the water,. and render the board.
partially solid. A number of boards so prepared may
then be couched,
with one or more.felts between each board; after whicli. the boards must
be submitted to a very heavy pressure, in order to press out the remain-
ing water, and. still further solidify the board and prepare it for the
drying process, which is best performed in a stove. After being dried,
the boards are passed between glazing rollers in order to give them a
smooth surface, and also to flatten them. They are then oiled, and
baked in the usual way, when they may be again. pressed, and then
polished or japanned, and finished. as may be required.
"
Having now described our Invention, and the best means with which
we are at present acquainted for carrying. the same into effect, we would
observe in conclusion that we are aware that boards commonly called
papier-mâché boards have been heretofore made from pulp made of rags;
we are also aware that paper had been made from straw, hop-bines, and
other similar vegetable fibres... We do not, therefore, intend to claim any
such matters as forming part of our improvements;..but that which we.
consider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured

page_text: to us by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, is the manufacture of an improved
composition (to be used as above set forth) from straw, hop bine, and
other similar vegetable fibres.
We claim also colouring the same during the process of manufacture
by the application and use of dyeing or colouring matters to the pulp,
whereby a more durable colour will be obtained than if the composition
were merely coloured or painted on the surface.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Simpson and John
Shelton Isaac, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
THOS FARRANDS.
W SIMPSON.
(L.S.).
JOHN S. ISAAC. (L.S.)