CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING PAPER
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
AMIES, of Loose, in the County of Kent, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the third year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
said Joseph Amies, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Amies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Amies, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MAKING PAPER;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph Amies,
by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His 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 in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Amies, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, and the
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
My improvements in the construction of an apparatus to be employed in
making paper consists in a peculiar mode of constructing the bottom of a
strainer or sieve to be employed for arresting the knots and lumps in pulp pre-
pared for making paper, and in adapting the said sieves or strainers to that
purpose, small particles' of dirt, as well as knots, lumps, and other impurities
which are found accidentally mixed with paper pulp being greatly injurious to
the paper when finished. Strainers or sieves have been employed to prevent
those particles, knots, or lumps from passing with the fine fibres into the vat
or vessel from which the pulp is immediately taken to mould the sheets of
paper. The bottoms of these sieves or strainers have however been heretofore
so constructed by combining long bars or rods of metal fixed in the frames, or
held together near their extremities as to allow of very considerable vibration
when the sieves or strainers were applied to the intended purpose. This
vibration of the bars or rods cause them to bend and become loose, and conse-
quently to leave openings in the sieves between which the knots and lumps
were allowed to escape with the fine pulp into the making vat, thereby
defeating the object intended. My improvements are, therefore, designed to
correct this inconvenience, and are effected in the following manner :-I form
the bottoms of my improved sieves or strainers from plates of brass or other.
suitable metal, and produce the apertures for the fine fibres to pass through by
cutting short slits through such plates, taking care that sufficient space or
metal is left between the ends of each short slit, and the next following, as
will properly brace or strengthen the sieve or strainer; and I prefer that the
end of one slit shall be nearly opposite to the middle of the two slits next
adjoining it, which is commonly called blocking the joints. This is for the
purpose of giving stability to the bottom of the sieve or strainer, and constitutes
the main feature of improvement which I claim in the construction of sieves or
strainers applicable to the above purpose. In the accompanying Drawing,
Figures 1, 2, and 3, represent a portion of a sieve-bottom with short, slits, cut
in the way described. Figure 1 shews the face or upper surface of the plate;
Figure 2, the back or under surface of the same; Figure 3 is a transverse.
section of the plate. Having prepared a plate of brass or other suitable metal
of about half an inch in thickness, its surface being smooth, I draw a series of
parallel lines across the plate, at about a quarter of an inch. apart. In
the under surface of the plate, in the directions. of these lines, I then form
grooves by means of a ploughing tool or other convenient instrument, taking
**

page_text: care that the extremity of each alternate groove reaches to about the middle of
the next groove on each side; I then, by a circular saw or other suitable means,
cut narrow slits at the bottom of each groove of about the thirtieth of an inch
wide through the plate. By this means a sieve or strainer is formed with
narrow slits or elongated apertures, capable of allowing the fine fibrès of the
pulp to pass through, but stopping or arresting the knots and lumps. By the
parts of the plate at the ends of the slits being thus left solid, and those solid
portions intervening alternately between the middle parts of the two slits next
adjoining, the whole plate will be firmly held together, and subject to much less
vibration or liability of bending than long rods or bars, which are secured at
their extremities only, or of plates with long slits extending the whole length
or width of the sieves. In applying these sievės or strainers to the purpose of
separating the knots, lumps, and other impurities from paper pulp, I mount the
sieve in a frame, and subject it to a vibratory or jogging movement for the
purpose of assisting the progress of the fine fibres of the pulp through the slits
or. apertures.
In the accompany Drawings, Figure 4 is a horizontal or plan view of the sieve
suitably mounted, and Figure 5 a vertical section of the same. a, a, a, a, is a
rectangular frame of wood open at top and bottom; b, b, is the perforated metal
plate already described, extending horizontally across the wooden frame, about
two thirds from its top. This is secured by bolts c, c, c, passing perpendicularly
through the wood frame and through the metal plate. Pulp properly prepared
for making paper, is to be delivered into the sieve or strainer through a pipe, as d.
This sieve is placed in a trough or vessel e, e, e, and is supported by jointed
arms ff, and the piece 9; when the pulp is poured into the sieve, as shewn
in Figure 5, its liquid and fine fibres run through the slits in the sieve-bottom
into the lower part of the outer vessel e, e, from whence it flows over the top of
the funnel h, and through the pipe i into the vat or other receptacle from
which the paper is to be moulded. The level of the pulp in the vessel e is
regulated by turning the screw ring k upon the neck of the funnel h, which ring
is made conical at the outer part, and by resting in the aperture at bottom
of the vessel determines the height of the discharging level. In order to
facilitate the passage of the fine fibres of the pulp through the strainer, a vibra-
tory motion is given to the sieve with a slight degree of concussion. Various
contrivances may be adopted to effect this-object, but that shewn in Figures
4 and 5 I have found to answer the desired purpose. The sieve, as before
said, is suspended upon levers or jointed arms f,f, which are affixed to the
wood frame of the sieve, and turn on pivots in bearings secured to the back of
the vessel e. Across the middle part of the sieve an arm / extends, which is
secured thereto by bolts; and connected with this is another arm m or an
W.

page_text: elongation of the former, to which is attached the piece g, with its tooth or
bent extremity n. It will now be perceived that the pieces l, m, g, and n,
securely bolted together, and the sieve a form a lever by which the sieve may
be raised in the vessel e; a horizontal shaft o, o, driven by any convenient
power has a tappet or star wheel p fixed upon it, which, being made to revolve
under the tooth n, causes the lever, and with it the sieve, to be raised by every
point or tappet as the wheel passes round. The tooth n at the end of the lever,
in falling from each point or tappet, causes the part g to strike upon the top of
the post q, which being repeated in quick succession (say two hundred times
per minute) as the wheel goes round, produces the vibrations and slight con-
cussions that assist in passing the fibres through the sieve.
Having described the particular features of my improved sieve or strainer,
and the mode of applying the same for separating the knots or lumps from
the fine fibres of paper pulp, I desire it to be understood, that I do not intend
to confine myself to any precise length or width of the slits to be cut in the
plate forming the bottom of the sieve, nor to their distance apart, or to the
thickness of the plate from which the strainer is made, all of which will depend
upon the quality of the pulp to be operated upon, and the speed with which
the strainers are to be moved, and their dimensions, observing that the slits
must not be cut completely across the plate, as that would separate it into
bars, but that the slits must be cut in short lengths, leaving a portion of the
solid plate between the ends of each short slit; and I recommend that the slits
should be so cut that two short slits in one line may terminate near the middle
of the next parellel slit on each side, which will most effectually brace the
parts of the sieve together, and prevent the partial vibrations complained of;
but the slits may be made in rows in a line with each other, sufficient metal
being left between the ends of the slits to brace or strengthen the sieve
or strainer, which arrangement may be found to answer the purpose, but
I prefer making them as above particularly described. Lastly, in adopting
sieves or strainers made as above described to the separating of knots or
lumps from the fine fibres in paper pulp, I do not intend to limit myself
to the lever action and tappet wheel, by which the sieve is made to vibrate,
but employ, if it should be found more convenient, any other mechanical
contrivance capable of producing the required. vibratory action; and I adapt
these sieves to the straining of paper pulp, either for the use of hand-mould
vats, or of paper making machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Amies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
JOSEPH (L.S.) AMIES:

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of March, in
the third year of the reign of His present Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said Joseph Amies came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-three.