IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PREPARATION OF FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES POWNALL, of Addison Road, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of
July, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
Charles James Pownall, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles James
Pownall, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
Charles James Pownall, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PREPARATION OF
FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR FIBROUS VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, during the term of fourteen years thence next
ensuing; in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, requiring
that I, the said Charles James Pownall, shall particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles James Pownall, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the present Specification or instrument in
writing as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of a mode or modes of preparing or treating
flax and other similar fibrous vegetable substances for the purpose of depriving
them more effectually of their resinous and gummy matters, and, when required,
for the purpose of resolving them or the ordinary filaments of those substances
into their ultimate fibres. For this purpose I adopt a mode or modes of
treating those substances, not only for the purpose of more effectually
removing such resinous or gummy matters as aforesaid, but also for the
purpose of separating the more minute fibres of which they are composed
from each other without the aid of any injurious chemical agent, and without
cutting, tearing, or in any way injuring those minute fibres, and thus obtaining
a fibrous material of great fineness. When I apply my process to flax, I take
the retted straw, and subject it to the process which I am about to describe;
I prefer, however, that the flax upon which I operate should be scutched, so
as to remove the boon or wood from it before it is retted, for the purpose,
not only of getting rid of the boon or wood more effectually, but also
diminishing the bulk of the material to be operated upon, and causing the
mechanical action, herein-after mentioned, to be effectually applied to the
filaments of the flax to be operated upon. The flax may be retted or fermented
according to any of the known methods; but I must observe that the more
perfectly the retting process is performed, the more easily will the minute
fibres of the plant be separated from each other; and in performing the
retting process upon the straw of flax intended to be submitted to my
process, I deem it desirable to conduct it in such a manner as to prevent
the acetous fermentation of that process passing into such a stage as will
cause it to injure or discolor the fibrous matters of the vegetable; and for this
purpose from time to time during the progress of the retting or fermentation,
as the resinous, glutinous, and other matters separated from the vegetable rise
to the top of the tank, vessel, or pit in the state of scum, I remove such
scum, and also change or partially change the water, for the purpose of pre-
venting or checking any tendency of the flax, or the matters extracted from
it, to pass into the putrid or destructive fermentation. When the retting
process has been effectually performed upon the straw of flax, the lint or
ordinary filaments of the flax may be casily separated from the boon or wood
with which it is mixed by any of the ordinary means used for that purpose.

page_text: Instead of drying the retted material immediately, after.it has been retted, as
now usually done, I adopt the following mode of treatment for more effectually
removing the residue of its resinous or gummy matters-For this purpose I
place the retted flax in a suitable machine or vessel, through which I.cause
a stream of water to flow, and in which the flax is subjected to a powerful
mechanical action, and is repeatedly beaten, pressed, or squeezed until all the
resinous or gummy matters are as much as possible removed from it; instead of
losing only 15 to 20 per cent. of the weight, as when treated in the ordinary
way, the flax will be deprived of the whole or nearly the whole of its resinous or
gummy matters, amounting to about 40 per cent. by the retting and the process
just mentioned. The machine which I prefer to use for this purpose is made
upon the well-known principle of the tuck or fulling mill, and I prefer to
cause the beaters to strike the flax. in a horizontal position in preference to
pressing or squeezing it, taking care that there shall be a sufficient supply of
water running through the flax to wash away the resinous or gummy matters,
as they are detached from the flax by the operation of the machinery. If the
flax has not been scutched before it was retted, I now proceed to dry it in a
chamber, heated with steam pipes or other convenient means, for the purpose
of enabling me to get rid of the boon or wood; and, when thoroughly dry, I
pass the flax through heavy rollers, as at present, so as to break or crush the
whole of the wood or boon, and detach it from the filaments of the flax; and
then I scutch it by any convenient machinery, so as to remove the woody
parts, and obtain the filaments of the flax in a separate state. If the flax has
been scutched before retting, it may, if desired, be bleached by any ordinary
means before it is dried. I then cause the scutched or dried material to be
passed through a machine, usually called a "wool willow," or some similar
machine, for the purpose of "opening out" the material, and dividing the
lumps or masses in such a manner as to make it more fit for combing or
carding, or other process, according to the use to which it may be intended to
be applied. If I desire to separate the filaments of the flax into their ultimate
or finer fibres, I then proceed to card it, and (the resinousor gummy matters
having been removed by the process already described), the filaments of
the flax will separate into the ultimate or finer fibres of which they are com-
posed, and the fibrous matter thus obtained may be spun upon any suitable
machinery. The fibres into which filaments of flax may be thus separated
are very fine, and I have ascertained that the fibres contained in a plant are
nearly uniform in length, (such lengths varying from about ths of an inch
to about 2 inches, according to the growth of the flax plant,) that they have
tapering ends, and are in every way fitted for being spun into threads; and by

page_text: pursuing this mode of obtaining the finer or ultimate fibres I avoid cutting or
tearing them, and am thus enabled to obtain them in a better state for spinning
into threads, which may be used in the manufacture of many textile fabrics
and for other purposes. The mode of treating hemp and other fibrous
vegetable matters is precisely similar to that which I have described with
reference to flax, and the vegetable matters operated upon in this way may in
addition be bleached by any ordinary process applicable for that purpose.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I hereby declare that I claim as of my Invention, the
mode of subjecting fibrous vegetable substances to repeated mechanical pres-
sure and the action of a stream of water, for the purpose of depriving them
of resinous or gummy matters, and also resolving them into their ultimate or
finer fibres, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Pownall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January, in the Lord One
.
(L.B.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid Charles James Pownall came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.