IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferrar Fenton, of Fishguard, in the County of Pem--
broke, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND TREATING
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 16th April 1862, and dated the 21st October 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferrar Fenton: at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
October 1861.
I, FERRAR FENTON, of Fishguard; in the County of Pembroke, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND
TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in treating all that class of plants known to botanists
as the endogene, and the leaf-stalks, leaves, and the bark of all the exogenous
tribe of vegetation by means of dilute solutions of acids, alkalis, and ammonia,
thus producing fibrous material of great commercial value. By this method
also the common flax plant will yield a much larger proportion of fibre than
by the old plan of rotting, and the New Zealand flax can be reduced to fibres
in a few hours at a very trifling cost. The ammoniacal preparation is only
applied to those substances which do not yield to the acids.
The stalks, when ripe, are to be steeped in a weak solution of muriatic acid,
either immediately after they are gathered or when they have been dried in
the sun, and when the mucilage is sufficiently acted upon, so that the stalks ог
leaves feel soft when pressed, they are to be removed from the acid bath and
plunged into one of common soda, to remain until chemical effervescence
ceases, when they are to be beaten and heckled like flax from the linseed

page_text: plant, except in the iris tribe, where scraping must first be used whilst they
are wet, & combing afterwards.
The leaves and leaf-stalks and bark of exogenous plants are to be treated in
a similar manner to produce textile fibre.
In stalks of endogenous plants which become of a hard woody nature when
ripe, or which contain a considerable quantity of lime in their composition, a
weak solution of ammonia will obtain a finer and greater quantity of textile
fibre.
By the action of the baths of dilute muriatic acid and soda, and manipulation,
as directed above for the iris tribe of plants, the New Zealand flax and the
aloe tribe are reduced to fibre in a few hours, and the yield of flax from the
fine stalk much increased. The refuse from the preparation of fibre from
the above unlimited sources, and by the above processes, is a pulp.which
might be advantageously used in the manufacture of paper.
By being treated according to the method patented by Chevallier Claussen,
No. 11,658, dated 15 April 1847, & No. 13,224, dated 16 August 1850,
the fibre obtained by the above processes may be rendered like cotton, and be
spun by the same machinery.
A bath of sulphuric acid and carbonate of soda is in some cases to be
employed in the above processes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ferrar Fenton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERRAR
FENTON, of Fishguard, in the County of Pembroke, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Ferrar Fenton, Her special licence that I, the said Ferrar Fenton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ferrar Fenton, 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 OBTAINING. AND TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Ferrar Fenton, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferrar Fenton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be.
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement:-
My Invention consists in treating all that class of plants known to botanists
as the endogene, and the leaf-stalks, leaves, and the bark of all the exogenous
tribe of vegetation, by means of dilute solutions of acids, alkalis, and ammonia,
thus producing fibrous material of great commercial value. By this method
also the common flax plant will yield a much larger proportion of fibre than by
the old plan of rotting, and the New Zealand flax can be reduced to fibres in
a few hours at a very trifling cost. The ammoniacal preparation is only applied
to those substances which do not yield to the acids.
The stalks, when ripe, are to be steeped in a weak solution of muriatic acid,
either immediately after they are gathered, or when they have been dried in
the sun, and when the mucilage is sufficiently acted upon, so that the stalks or
leaves feel soft when pressed, they are to be removed from the acid bath, and
plunged into one of common soda, to remain until chemical effervescence
ceases, when they are to be beaten and heckled like flax from the linseed
plant, except in the iris tribe, where scraping must first be used whilst they
are wet, and combing afterwards.
The leaves and leaf-stalks and bark of exogenous plants are to be treated
in a similar manner to produce textile fibre.
In stalks of endogenous plants which become of a hard woody nature when
ripe, a weak solution of ammonia will obtain a finer and greater quantity of
textile fibre.
By the action of the baths of dilute muriatic acid and soda (and manipula-
tion, as directed above for the iris tribe of plants), the New Zealand flax and
the aloe tribe are reduced to fibre in a few hours, and the yield of flax from the
fine stalk much increased. The refuse from the preparation of fibre from
the above unlimited sources, and by the above processes, is a pulp which might
be advantageously used in the manufacture of
paper.
By being treated according to the methods patented by Claussen, the fibre

page_text: obtained by the above processes may be rendered like cotton, and be spun. by
the same machinery.
A bath of sulphuric acid and carbonate of soda is in some cases to be
employed in the above processes.
A sulphuric acid bath is necessary to make the fibre of the New Zealand
flax fine and flexible, but it is not so strong as when treated by muriatic acid
alone. The fibres of the New Zealand flax and those of all the mallow tribe
are more easily separated if they are subjected to the influence of the atmo-
sphere after being in the chemical washes used to destroy the gum and muci-
lage. The rag-wort, nettle, and other plants are also improved by it. The
plants of the iris family and the American aloe are to be beaten and combed
immediately after being removed from the soda wash. After beating, these
latter plants require to be well washed in clean water, to carry away the slime
of the dissolved mucilage. The addition of a small portion of sulphuric acid to
'the muriatic wash is an improvement in treating the potatoe top, as the fibres
stick to each other with great tenacity. The time required for steeping the
plants, stalks, leaves, or bark, is from five hours to a week, according to the
hardness of the raw material.
By this Invention the bark and leaves of the paper mulberry or silk
mulberry of China and Japan, might be made to produce a fibre little inferior
to silk.
Having now described my said Invention and ascertained the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark, in conclusion, that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein mentioned, as the same may obvi-
ously be varied or modified without in any way departing from the principle of
my Invention; but what I claim as my Invention and desire to be secured to
me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, are the "Improvements in
Obtaining and Treating Fibrous Substances," as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferrar Fenton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty two
Witness,
JOSEPH ANNINGSON,
Cleethorps,
Gt. Grimsby.
FERRAR FENTON. (L.S.)