A METHOD BY WHICH IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER RAGS KNOWN BY THE NAME OF GRAYS AND ROPES CAN BE MADE INTO TEA CROWN PAPER, AND BAGS KNOWN BY THE NAMES OF TEA CROWN AND BIBLE CROWN RAGS AND THIRDS, CAN BE MADE INTO PAPER CALLED POT, SMALL POST, DEMY, ROYAL INFERIOR, OR PAPERS OF SIMILAR QUALITIES, AND RAGS DENOMINATED SECONDS INTO PAPER CALLED FINE IMPERIAL, ROYAL, SUPER ROYAL, WRITING ROYAL, AND MEDIUM, WRITING DEMY, THICK POST, THIN POST, FINE FOOLSCAP, AND ALL OTHER PAPERS WHICH HAVE BEEN HITHERTO RECKON
Year: 1794

page_text: CUNNINGHAM'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, WILLIAM
CUNNINGHAM, of the City of Edinburgh, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the thirty-fifth year
of His reign, upon the petition of me, the said William Cunningham, has
given and granted unto me, and my executors and assigns, His Majesty's
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of
them, by myself or themselves, or by mine or their deputy or deputies, servants,
or agents, or such others as I, the said William Cunningham, my excentors,
administrators, or assigns, should agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein specified, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of His
Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD BY WHICH IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER RAGS KNOWN BY THE NAME OF GRAYS AND ROPES
CAN BE MADE INTO TEA CROWN PAPER, AND BAGS KNOWN BY THE NAMES OF TEA
CROWN AND BIBLE CROWN RAGS AND THIRDS, CAN BE MADE INTO PAPER CALLED POT,
SMALL POST, DEMY, ROYAL INFERIOR, OR PAPERS OF SIMILAR QUALITIES, AND RAGS
DENOMINATED SECONDS INTO PAPER CALLED FINE IMPERIAL, ROYAL, SUPER ROYAL,
WRITING ROYAL, AND MEDIUM, WRITING DEMY, THICK POST, THIN POST, FINE
FOOLSCAP, AND ALL OTHER PAPERS WHICH HAVE BEEN HITHERTO RECKONED OF THE
FINEST QUALITIES, AND BY WHICH PAPER CAN BE MADE FROM FINE RAGS OF A PINER
AND MORE BEAUTIFUL QUALITY AND COLOUR THAN WAS EVER BEFORE MANUFACTURED,"
in such manner as to me, the said William Cunningham, my executors,

page_text: years
administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in our discretion seem meet,
and that 1, the said William Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, henefit, com-
modity, and advantage, from time to time coming, growing, and arising by reason
of the said Invention, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, power,
privileges, and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned to be granted
nuto me, the said William Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, for and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen from
the date of the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and to be
compleat and ended according to the Statute in such case made and provided:
in which said recited Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said William Cunningham, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to cause.n particular description of the nature of my said Invention.
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as by the same
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said, provisoe, !, the said
William Cunningham, do hereby declare that my said Invention is, and is
performed, as follows, that is to say:
"
I make a particular alkaline ley of the proportion of materials as follows,
vizake eight pounds of pearl-ashes and sixty-eight pounds of quick
lime, and put them into a vessel, with one hundred and twenty gallons of pure
water. This mixture I stir six times a day for eight days, and then allow it to
subside, and when the water is clear I run, thirty English gallons through
a flannel bag, to prevent any of the particles of the lime that may remain in
the water from injuring the pulp or rag when it is boiled with the ley in the
copper. This proportion, of this particular ley 'is sufficient to boil five stones
of fron weight of pulp or rag, with the addition of as much water as will make
it boil easily. But before the pulp or rug & water is put into the copper
there must be a false bottom made of 'wood, bored full of small holes, and fixed
to the bottom of the copper to prevent the stuff from settling down upon the
bottom of the copper, which would burn it. The boiling must be continued
for three hours and a half; but if the shews or parts of the stems of the lint
sire very strong, the boiling ought to be continued double that time, or even
3
"
ore, and during the time of boiling it must be frequently stirred. After the
boiling operation is over, the contents of the copper must be run into a drainer,
and as soon as it can be lifted, it must be put into a washing engine for half an
hour. It is after this put again into a drainer, and allowed to remain until
the water, without pressure, is drained 'out of it; but if the rag or pulp is very

page_text: coarse, such as the brown Hamburgh, as much water must be allowed to
remain as one fourth of its own weight, or perhaps less if the stuff sticks
too closely together. The said quantity must be put into a steam chest or any
vessell that will contain gass; but the most convenient for the above quantity
I have found to be a square box, three feet three inches by twenty-seven
inches deep, in which there must be four or five moveable wooden grates, at
equal distances, to keep the layers of the stuff separate. The top of the box
must be tightly luted down, to prevent the gass from flying off. Into this
chest or box there is a lead pipe fixed, to be connected with the neck of a
retort, which retort may be made of lead, glass, or any other material fit for
the purpose. Into this retort I put the following materials, viz³, two pounds
of manganese and three and a half pounds sea salt, which must be well mixed
together with the hands, so as to make the particles adhere to one another as
close as possible. The retort I put into a sand bath, the retort being tubulated,
I then lute the end of the aforesaid pipe to the neck of the retort, and also the
bead. Previous to these materials being put into the retort, I take four pounds
of vitriol or sulpharic acid and an English quart of water, which I mix gently
together, and allow it to stand till it is cool. This cool mixture I pour into
the retort, and stir it well with a small stick to mix the acid and materials
together, and then I lute the stopper quite close. From this moment the
bleaching power begins to operate, and in this situation the retort is allowed to
stand for an hour, after which a gentle heat is applied for three hours, and
then encrensed till the contents are brought to boil. In this situation the reto:t
remains till all the gass is wrought off, which may be in ten or twelve hours.
This can be easily ascertained by taking out the stopper, and if there is no
smell when you bring your head close to the hole of the stopper, the gass is all
evaporated, and the retort may then be taken off and the contents poured
out, care being taken that the current of air do not carry the smell of the
residuum against the person employed. The lid of the steam chest is now
taken off, and the chest run full of water, in order to destroy the said smell of
the gass in the stuff, which it will effectually do in about ten minutes. The
water is then run off by a plug at the bottom, and the stuff allowed to drain
for a little. It is then again put into the washing machine or engine, where
it continues three quarters of an hour, and is then run into the drainer, after
which it is again put into the copper with the same proportion of the ley and
water, and boil and stir it as before. After said boiling operation is over, the con-
tents are again run into a drainer and managed in the same manner as already
described. after which it is again put into the steam chest and the retort set
agoing. with the materials as before mentioned, or with the following materials,
as the nature of the rag or stuff may require, viz' :-Two pounds of sulpharic

page_text: acid mixed with an English quart of water (more or less, but this I have found.
to be the best proportion). five pounds of muriate of lime, and two pounds of man-
ganese. The muriate of lime must be finely pounded, sifted, and well mixed with
the manganese before it is put into the retort, and when the retort is wrought off
the steam chest is again filled with water to destroy the smell of the gass as
before, and the pulp, rag, or half stuff is then put into the beating engine, and
finished off for paper. If, from the coarseness of the rag and fineness of the paper
wanted, it appears that the pulp, rag, or half stuff is not sufficiently whitened,
and the shows destroyed, the last operation must be again repeated, with either
the first preparation of materials for the retort, or with the last, as may appear
most advantageous in the opinion of the operator. But if the shews, pobs, or
parts of the stem of hemp or flax still remain strong, this third operation must
be conducted in the following manner, viz:-Put the stuff again into the
copper with the proportions of the same ley and water as before, and the boiling
must be continued until they are destroyed; then prepare the stuff for the
steam chest as formerly, and charge the retorts with the following proportions
of materials. Take four pounds of sulphuric acid, diluted with an English
quart and fourth part of water, two pounds of sea salt, three pounds of the
muriate of lime, two pounds of manganese; mix all these well together, and
set the retorts agoing as before. When they are wrought off, the stuff must
be managed as in the second operation. If coloured or printed rags are to be
made into paper, the half stuff must be submitted to the action of a weak sour,
made of sulphuric acid and water, for four hours, and then washed before it is
put into the copper to be boiled with the ley. This sour destroys the particles
of iron contained in printed cloths, which, if allowed to remain, render the
bleaching process imperfect.
As this and all chemical processes may be varied much, and to advantage,
by the judgment of the operator, and as I may still, from experience, make
further improvements, that the public may reap the advantage of them, my
operations may be seen at all times at the places where they are carried on.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cunningham, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the thirty-fifth
year of His Majesty's reign, and in the year of our Lord Christ Ono
thousand seven hundred and ninety-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being first
duly stamped), in the presence of us,
W. (L.s.) CUNNINGHAM.
CRAUFAUBD TAIT.
Tuo, YOUNG..

page_text: Craufurd Tait, of the City of Edinburgh, Esquire, one of the Clerks to His
Majesty's Signet in Scotland, maketh oath and sayeth that he, this deponent,
was present, and did see William Cunninghame, of the City of Edinburgh,
Chemist, sign, seal, and as his act and deed deliver the deed pole or instrument
hereunto annexed, purporting to be a Specification or description of a new
Invention for which he has obtained His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, intended to be enrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery; and that Thomas Young, of the Parish of Cuth-
berts, in the County of Edinburgh, Esquire, was also present, and did see the
said William Cunninghame sign, seal, and deliver the said deed pole or
instrument; and that the name William Cunninghame set and subscribed to
the said deed pole or instrument is the proper handwriting of the said William
Cunninghame, the Patentee; and the name Thomas Young, set and
subscribed on the
the said deed pole as one of the witnesses to the
said William Cunninghame's signing, sealing, and delivering the same, is the
proper handwriting of the said Thomas Young; and that the name Craufurd
Tait, set and subscribed as another of the witnesses thereto, is the proper hand-
writing of this deponent,
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of December, in the year above mentioned.