IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Collins, of the Milton Paper Mills, Bowling, in the
County of Dumbarton, North Britain, Paper Maker, for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING, AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Collins at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th February 1881.
JOHN COLLINS, of the Milton Paper Mills, Bowling, in the County of
Dumbarton, North Britain, Paper Maker. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
This Invention comprises improvements on or modifications of the process and
apparatus described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to the present
applicant, and dated 20 January 1880 (No. 239), the object being the same, namely,
to dispense with the whole or a large part of the labor and expence formerly
generally incurred by paper makers in "picking" or cleaning esparto, wood, straw,
and other paper making materials for the purpose of separating roots and other
objectionable substances.
As the
The present Invention consists in the employment of one or more settling tables
at one or more early stages of the preparation of the paper making materials.
The settling table is a shallow tank over the bottom of which the water with the
paper making materials suspended in it is made to flow slowly in a broad shallow
stream, and the bottom has spars or strips of wood or other suitable material fixed
upon it at intervals and at right angles to the direction of the current.
stuff flows over the table the heavier impurities sink to the bottom, and their
forward movement is arrested by the spars, whilst the lighter materials remain
suspended and are carried onwards by the water. The bottom of the table may be
formed of or covered with any suitable material of a king to arrest the movement
of the deposited matters. The depth of the water and the rate of flow are carefully
regulated to suit the materials under treatment in each case, and in preparing
מח

page_text: esparto, for example, a depth of about four inches and a rate of flow of about sixty
feet per minute will generally answer, but the depth and rate may require to be
varied in different cases.
In general it is believed that it will be preferable to combine the settling process
described in the Specification hereinbefore referred to, as each process will act on
and separate impurities and objectionable matters against which the other process
will be more or less inoperative. It may be better for the materials to be subjected
first to the straining process in some cases and in others to the settling process.
With some materials the settling process may be found sufficient for the end in
view without the straining process being required, and with other materials the
straining process may be sufficient without the settling process.
The general arrangement of the combined apparatus otherwise than as herein-
before described will be the same as described in the earlier Specification herein-
before referred to.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Collins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd August
1881.
JOHN COLLINS, of the Milton Paper Mills, Bowling, in the County of
Dumbarton, North Britain, Paper Maker. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
MATERIALS FOR PAPER MAKING, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
My said Invention comprises improvements on or modifications of the process and
apparatus described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and dated
20 January 1880 (No. 239), the object being the same, namely, to dispense with
the whole or a large part of the labor and expence formerly generally incurred by
paper makers in "picking" or cleaning esparto, wood, straw, and other paper
inaking materials for the purpose of separating roots and other objectionable
substances.
My present Invention consists in the employment of one or more settling tables
at one or more early stages of the preparation of the paper making materials. The
settling table, which is a well known piece of apparatus, is a shallow tank over
the bottom of which the water with the paper making material suspended in it is
made to flow slowly in a broad shallow stream, and the botton has spars or strips
of wood or other suitable material fixed upon it at intervals and at right angles to
the direction of the current. As the stuff flows over the table the heavier
impurities sink to the bottom and their forward movement is arrested by the spars,
whilst the lighter materials remain suspended and are carried onwards by the
water. The bottom of the table may be formed of or covered with any suitable
material of a kind to arrest the movement of the deposited matters. In practice
the depth of the water and the rate of flow are carefully regulated to suit the
particular materials under treatment, in each case, and in preparing esparto, for
example, a depth of about four inches and a rate of flow of about sixty feet per
minute will generally answer, but the depth and rate may require to be varied in
different cases or with different paper making materials.
In general I believe it will be preferable to combine the settling process with the
straining process described in my earlier Specification herein before referred to, as
each process will act on and separate impurities and objectionable matters against
which the other process will be more or less inoperative. It may be better for the
materials to be subjected first to the straining process in some cases, and in others
to the settling process. With some materials the settling process may be found
sufficient for the end in view without the straining process being required, and
with other materials the straining process may be sufficient without the settling
process.
The general arrangement of the combined apparatus otherwise than as hercin-
before described, will be substantially the same as described in my earlier
Specification hereinbefore referred to.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
to be hereinafter referred to, and representing by way of example one mode of
combining a settling table with the other apparatus, the latter as herein shown
being the same as that delineated and described in my earlier Specification
herein before referred to.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a general plan, and Figure 2
is a vertical section of the settling table. In these Figures the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
From the first or breaking engine 3, one end of which is shown at the upper
part of Figure 1, the materials are led by a pipe 4 fitted with a stopcock 5 into a

page_text: mixing box or tank 6, wherein a large quantity of water is added to render the
mixture extremely fluid. From the tank 6 the materials pass by a pipe to a
centrifugal or other pump, by means of which they are forced up the pipe 9, the
craned upper end of which is over a duct or channel 23 leading to a settling
table 24 or "sand table" as it is termed. This settling table 24 is a broad shallow
tank fitted with a partition 25 along the middle, but stopping short at the end
furthest from the inlet duct 23, and the stuff flows along one side of the partition 25,
and returns along the other side thereof in a stream about three feet wide and four
inches deep, at the rate of about sixty feet per minute (when the material is
esparto). On the bottom of the settling table, cross bars 20 of wood or other
suitable material are placed at intervals of about three feet each, and serve to catch
the heavy impurities as they settle, and to prevent its further progress. The
bottom of the settling table 24 is also by preference covered with coarse flannel or
felt, whose rough surface serves to retain the heavy impurities. The matters
which settle and are retained in this way, are removed periodically accordingly as
they accumulate.
.
From the settling table 24 the stuff flows onwards along a duct or channel 27 to
the strainer 10, and is thence passed through other apparatus as described in my
carlier Specification herein before referred to. Or, if the materials are such as not
to require treatment by the strainer 10, the duct 27 may be arranged to lead them
directly from the settling table 24 to the sieve 18.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original, and
claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The improved system of preparing paper making materials, wherein impurities
and objectionable matters formerly generally removed by laborious picking are
separated by a settling process, alone or combined with a straining process, and
substantially in the manner hereinbefore described.
2. The combination of settling apparatus with the breaking and beating or
pulping engines ordinarily employed in paper making, substantially in the manner
and for the purposes herein before described.
3. The combination of settling apparatus and straining apparatus with the
breaking and beating or pulping engines ordinarily employed in paper making,
substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
-
In witness whereof, I, the said John Collins, have hereunto set my hand
and seal; this First day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty-one.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN COLLINS. (L.S.)