IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PLANTS OF THE NETTLE SPECIES OR URTICEE, IN PARTICULAR THE RAMIE, LAPORTEA, BOEHMERIA, AND URTICA DIOICA, FOR THE SEPARATION OF THE FIBRE THEREFROM, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF SUCH FIBRE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LINEN, WOOL, AND SILK
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of Southampton Buildings, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF PLANTS OF THE NETTLE SPECIES OR URTICEE, IN PARTICULAR
THE RAMIE, LAPORTEA, BOEHMERIA, AND URTICA DIOICA, FOR THE SEPARATION
OF THE FIBRE THEREFROM, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF SUCH FIBRE AS A
SUBSTITUTE FOR LINEN, WOOL, AND SILK." A communication from abroad by
Anton Eduard Neumann, of Penzing, near Vienna, in the Austrian Empire.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd September 1879.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PLANTS OF THE
NETTLE SPECIES OR URTICEE, IN PARTICULAR THE RAMIÉ, LAPORTEA, BOEHMERIA,
AND URTICA DIOICA, FOR THE SEPARATION OF THE FIBRE THEREFROM, AND IN THE
PREPARATION OF SUCH FIBRE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LINEN, WOOL, AND SILK." [A
communication from abroad by Anton. Eduard Neumann, of Penzing, near Vienna,
in the Austrian Empire.]
This Invention relates to the treatment of plants of the nettle species or urticeæ,
such as are known in commerce under the name of ramié, and occuring in India,
China, Japan, South America, and generally in southern latitudes, as also the
common European nettle species and the boehmeria and laportea, for the purpose of
separating by chemical and mechanical processes the fibre from the woody particles
and freeing the former from the resinous and glutinous constituents, and rendering
it soft, white, and pliable, so as to render it applicable for spinning into threads or
yarns.
The process can be applied to the plants either when fresbly taken from the field
or in the dried condition as they occur in commerce, and renders the fibre applicable
by rapid, cheap, and simple operations to the various branches of textile manu-
facture.
For this purpose about 110 lbs. of the plant are boiled in a bath of about 33
gallons of water containing about 9 lbs. of caustic soda at 0.5° Beaumé for about

page_text: half an hour at 95° centigrade, so that the lye just simmers. The substance is then
placed in a second bath containing in the same quantity of water 4.4 lbs. of calcined
soda and 2.2 lbs. of soap, and is boiled therein at 95° centigrade for half an hour,
after which the fibres, after rinsing in luke warm water, are spread out to dry at a
temperature of 45° centigrade. The fibre is by this means detached from the wood,
which, together with the remaining resinous matter, is removed by the ordinary
scutching and heckling processes, whereby at the same time the fibres are separated
from each other. The fibre so prepared is ready for the market as raw fibre, and is
subjected in its subsequent application to textile manufactures to the following
further processes:-110 lbs. of fibre are washed in a bath of water acidulated to
0.5° Beaumé with nitric acid, and are then allowed to remain for half an hour in a
second bath at 45° centigrade containing 44 lbs. of chloride of lime. After this
they are treated, firstly, for 15 minutes in a solution of one part of super manganate
of potash in two parts of water at a temperature of 25° centigrade, then for half
an hour in a bath of 2-6 lbs. of salts of tin in solution at 50° cent., and lastly,
the fibres are washed in water containing one part of sulphurous acid to one
hundred parts of water. The fibre having been treated with ordinary washing
blue and dried is then applicable for spinning purposes as a substitute for other
fibres.
The last described process can be modified as follows:-About 110 lbs. of fibre
are boiled in a solution of 9 lbs. of alkali with 33 gallons of water at 95° centigrade
and 0.5° Beaumé for an hour; they are then placed in a bath containing 9 lbs. soda
and 2.2 lbs. soap, then washed in luke warm water, and again in a nitric acid
solution at 0.5° Beaumé. After this the fibres are steeped for an hour in water at
45° centigrade containing 9 lbs. chloride of lime in solution, and are, lastly, again
washed in a nitric acid solution at 0.5° Beaumé, treated with washing blue, and
dried.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
January 1880.
CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF PLANTS OF THE
NETTLE SPECIES OR URTICEE, IN PARTICULAR THE RAMIÉ, LAPORTEA, BOEHMERIA,
AND URTICA DIOICA, FOR THE SEPARATION OF THE FIBRE THEREFROM, AND IN THE
PREPARATION OF SUCH FIBRE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LINEN, WOOL, AND SILK." A
communication from abroad by Anton Eduard Neumann, of Penzing, near Vienna
in the Austrian Empire.
This Invention relates to the treatment of plants of the nettle species or urticcæ,
such as are known in commerce under the name of ramié, and occuring in India,
China, Japan, South America, and generally in southern latitudes, as also the
common European nettle species and the boehmeria and laportea, for the purpose of
separating by chemical and mechanical processes the fibre from the woody particles
and freeing the former from the resinous and glutinous constituents, and rendering
it soft, white, and pliable, so as to render it applicable for spinning into threads or
yarns.
The process can be applied to the plants either when freshly taken from the field
or in the dried condition as they occur in commerce, and renders the fibre applicable
by rapid, cheap, and simple- operations to the various branches of textile manu-
facture.
For this purpose about 110 lbs. of the plant are boiled in a bath of about 33
gallons of water containing about 9 lbs. of caustic soda at 0.5° Beaumé for about
half an hour at 95° centigrade (203° Fahr.), so that the lye just simmers. The
substance is then placed in a second bath containing in the same quantity of water
44 lbs. of calcined soda and 2.2 lbs. of soap, and is boiled therein at 95° centigrade
(203° Fahr) for half an hour, after which the fibres, after careful rinsing in luke
warm water, are spread out to dry at a temperature of 45° centigrade (113° Fahr.).
The fibre is by this means detached from the wood, which, together with the
remaining resinous matter, is removed by the ordinary scutching and heckling
processes, whereby at the same time the fibres are separated from each other. The
fibre so prepared is ready for the market as raw fibre, and is subjected in its
subsequent application to textile manufactures to the following further processes:―
110 lbs. of fibre are washed in a bath of water acidulated to 0.5° Beaumé with
muriatic acid, and are then allowed to remain for half an hour in a second bath at
45° centigrade (113° Fahr.) containing 4.4 lbs. of chloride of lime. After this they
are treated, firstly, for 15 minutes in a solution of 1 lb. of super manganate of
potash in two parts of water at a temperature of 25° centigrade (77° Fahr.), then
for half an hour in a bath of 2-6 lbs. of salts of tin in solution at 50° cent.
(122° Fahr.), and, lastly, the fibres are washed in 22 gallons of water containing
2.2 lbs. of sulphurous acid. The fibre having been treated with ordinary washing
blue and dried is then applicable for spinning purposes as a substitute for other
fibres. The last described process for treating the raw fibre can be modified as
follows: About 110.lbs. of fibre are boiled in a solution of 9 lbs. of alkali with
33 gallons of water at 95° centigrade (203° Fahr.) and 0.5° Beaumé for an hour;
they are then placed for 30 minutes in a bath containing 9 lbs. soda and 2.2 lbs.
Боар, then washed in luke warm water, and again in a muriatic acid solution of
0.5° Beaumé. After this the fibres are steeped for an hour in water at 45° centi-
grade (113° Fahr.) containing 9 lbs. chloride of lime in solution, and are, lastly,
again washed in a muriatic acid solution at 0.5° Beaumé, treated with washing
blue, and dried,

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
I claim,―
First. The herein described treatment of plants of the nettle species, urtice,
laportea, boehmeria, and in particular the ramié and common nettle, whereby these
are first subjected to the action of alkaline solutions and mechanical treatment for
the production fibre, which is then subjected to further processes for the produc-
tion of pure white soft fibre as a substitute for linen, wool, and silk.
Second, The herein described treatment of the raw fibre produced, substantially
as set forth, by first washing the same in a bath of water diluted with muriatic
acid, then steeping in a bath containing chloride of lime, then treating consecutively
in super-manganate of potash solution and in salts of tin solution, and lastly,
washing in water acidulated with sulphurous acid, for the production of pure white
soft fibre applicable as a substitute for linen, silk, or woollen fibre.
Third. The herein described treatinent of the raw fibre produced, substantially
as set forth, by first boiling the same in an alkaline solution, then steeping in a
bath of soda and soap solution, then washing consecutively in water and muriatic
acid solution, then steeping in chloride of lime solution, and lastly, again washing
in muriatic acid solution, for the production of pure white soft fibre applicable as a
substitute for linen, silk, or woollen fibre.
Fourth. The use of fibre produced from plants of the nettle species, urtice,
laportea boehmeria, and in particular the ramié and common nettle, by the processes
herein set forth as a substitute for linen, silk, and woollen fibre.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.