Iμ- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Poole, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, for the Invention of "Iμ-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKERS.-A
communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th September 1853.
I, MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKERS " to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the production of paper pulp from the
leaves of the dwarf palm, straw, and other similar substances by
combing the same to divide the fibre, then cutting the fibre into short

page_text: lengths, then passing the fibres together with water through a metal
mill having teeth which reduce the fibres. The water is now separated
from the fibre by a sieve of wire cloth placed at an angle (below the
mill), and which sieve is rapidly shaken to cause the fibre to descend
into a receptacle below. The pulp thus prepared is boiled in water
containing an alkaline sulphuret, and is afterwards treated with acidu-
lated water, which causes sulphuretted hydrogen to be liberated in the
pulp, which is then washed in water and squeezed dry to remove the
acid. The pulp is next placed in a bath containing one of the hypo-
chlorites which is undergoing decomposition by the action of an oxide
of a metal, or by other substance that acts in a similar manner to
liberate oxygen in its allotropic form, by the agency of which the
bleaching is effected. When this process is complete the pulp is ready
for the paper maker.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th March 1854.
ΤΟ
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in
the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses Poole, Her special
licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses Poole, 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

page_text: IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKERS," communicated to me
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Moses Poole, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moses Poole, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists in the production of paper pulp from the
leaves of the dwarf palm, straw, and other similar substances, by
combing the same to divide the fibre, then cutting the fibre into short
lengths, then passing the fibres together with water through a metal
mill having teeth which reduce the fibres. The water is now separated
from the fibre by a sieve of wire cloth placed at an angle (below the
mill), and which sieve is rapidly shaken to cause the fibre to descend
into a receptacle below. The pulp thus prepared is boiled in water
containing an alkaline sulphuret, and is afterwards treated with acidu-
lated water, which causes sulphuretted hydrogen to be liberated in the
pulp, which is then washed in water, and squeezed dry to remove the
acid. The pulp is next placed in a bath containing one of the hypo-
chlorites which is undergoing decomposition by the action of an oxide
of a metal, or by other substance that acts in a similar manner to
liberate oxygen in its allotropic form, by the agency of which the
bleaching is effected. When this process is complete the pulp is ready
for the paper maker.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
The leaves are first
to describe the manner of performing the same.
combed by known means in order to divide the parts which are close
to the stem; about cighteen or twenty leaves are then placed together,
and cut to about one inch in length by means of a cutter. These cut-
tings are then fed into a mill into which water is allowed to flow, and
the same are ground or reduced to the desired extent.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
:
Figure 1; is a plan of the machiné. Figure 2, is a side view; and
Figure 3, a front elevation in section. The following are the prin
cipal driving parts. a, is the main driving shaft, which receives motion
from a steam engine or other suitable power. On the axis a, is fixed
a bevilled toothed wheel a', which gives motion to the pinion b, on the
axis 6', on which axis is fixed the cog wheel 62, which takes into and
drives the pinion c, on the axis d. The leaves being, as above said;
put in small bundles, are subjected to the effect of the cutter ut, which
is put in motion by means of the excentric v, being driven by the
wheel w, which is connected with a drum or main shaft a, by a strap
or band w'. The cuttings are then thrown into a vessel S, similar to
that used in flour mills; from thence it falls into an inclined shallow
trough t, that is attached to a fixed piece t', to which it is loosely
bolted, the said trough t, receiving at its other end a continuous shaking
motion from a shaker o, such as used in flour mills, placed on the axis
d. The leaf thus gradually descends inside the said trough (the
bottom of which it is preferred to make of metal), and falls between
two conical grinders e, f, as shewn in the Drawing. In the lower
end of the axis d, is inserted the upper end of a shaft d, the lower end
of which bears in a socket in the centre of the bottom piece l. The
said shaft receives its motion from the upper axis d, and drives the
part e, of the grinder, which part is carried by the said shaft. The
part f, is fixed to the framing, and when it is required to bring the
two parts together for the purpose of working this is done by screwing
up by means of 8, 8, the bolts m, m, which bolts being fixed to the
bottom piece l, draw up the shaft d', and with it the part e, of the
grinder. In order to ensure a perfectly regular motion and accurate
centrage of the shaft d', slides k, k, are placed, that regulate the up
and down motion of the bottom piece l; and I also place two
collars, one of which h, is set in a cross framing placed between the
slides k, k, and the other 9, is fixed to another cross framing i, i,
above the grinder, the said collars being fitted with proper pressing
screws.

page_text: The use of the grinder being the chief part of the present mechanical
combination, it is necessary to say, that the two parts e, f, which it is
composed of, lave both teeth cut in opposite directions, as in coffee
mills, the said teeth being larger and more apart from each other in
the top part, and becoming gradually closer and sharper as they reach
the lower part, the last finishing portion being made of cast steel.
Above the opening of the grinder is a cock o*, which gives out water
from a pipe n, connected with proper water tanks; the water falls
from o*, into a funnel, which guides it between the two parts of the
grinder, so that the motion of the part e, carries it out equally over the
whole of the grinding surface, and mixes the water with the ground
matter in a suitable proportion to allow a free working of the apparatus.
When the ground matter has got through the grinder, it passes
through a drum made of zinc or other suitable metal p, p, p, p, through
which it passes into an inclined shaking sieve q, one end of which is
loosely attached to the fixed piece q', while the other end is rapidly and
continuously acted upon by a shaker r³, on an axis r, which axis is put
in motion by means of a drum 1³, connected by a band r, with another
drum, on the axis b¹.
The shaking sieve q, is made with a double zinc bottom q³, into
which the liquid part of the pulp contained in the sieve is caused by
the shaking to fall, and from whence it runs off' into a pipe q², that
takes it away into a drain. At the same time the thicker pulp remain-
ing on the sieve is by the shaking driven down to the lower end of it
and when arrived there, being thoroughly reduced to its fibrous parts,
falls through a pipe q', into a vessel a, whence it is made into lumps;
pressed and dried, or it may be submitted to the following bleaching
and other processes, which will be hereafter described.
It should be observed, that the shaking sieve q, should be caused
to be shaken at a much more rapid rate than the trough t. This is
done by giving a greater speed to the shaker, which it would be well
to cause to give as much as 1500 blows in a minute, the conse-
quence of the more active shaking being to sift more or less thoroughly
the pulp.
.

page_text: After passing from the machine just described the pulp is caused to
boil for five or six hours with water, to which one or two per cent. of
the sulphuret of an alkali, such as potassa, soda, or lime, has been
previously added. The pulp is then washed, and it is afterwards acted
on during about twenty-four hours by water containing one or two per
cent. of an acid that may decompose the sulphuret contained in the
pulp, and allow escape of the sulphur in the state of sulphuretted
hydrogen, which passing through the pulp as it is formed acts in some
measure on the coloring matter. The chief object of the present part
of the process is to destroy the adhesion of the fibres, and divide them
thoroughly.
The pulp is now submitted to the bleaching process. I prefer doing
this by subjecting the pulp to the action of allotropic oxygen. It may
be effected by plunging the pulp into a bath composed of hypochlorite
of lime, potash, soda, or magnesia, in which bath is also placed small
bags containing small pieces of peroxide of manganese or other metallic
oxide, or other substance capable of decomposing the hypochlorites
into chlorides and oxygen, which being thus brought in contact
with the pulp in its allotropic forin acts as a most thorough bleaching
agent.
I would remark that this mode of bleaching is not new generally,
but the same has never before been employed in preparing and bleach-
ing pulp.
When the pulp has undergone a first time the above bleaching
process, it is boiled in a closed vessel during five or six hours in an
alkaline solution, such as of lime, or a solution of lime and of an
alkaline carbonate. This is done in order to dissolve all coloring
matters that have been modified by the action of the oxygen. The
bleaching is then resumed, and the same alterate bleaching and boiling
processes are repeated two, three, or four times or more, according
to the result obtained; till the pulp be as pure and white as may be
desired.
Having thus described the Invention, and the best means of working
it, I wish it to be understood that I make no claim to the separate

page_text: mechanical parts, but I claim the mode herein described of manu-
facturing paper pulp from certain vegetable substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square,
Lincoln's Inn.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)