A SUBSTI- TUTE FOR FLAX OR HEMP, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME FOR ALL PURPOSES FOR WHICH FLAX OR HEMP ARE USED
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
SHOOBRIDGE, of Houndsditch, in the City of London, Woollen Draper, and
WILLIAM SHOOBRIDGE, of Marden, in the County of Kent, Farmer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of
February, in the first year of His reign, give and grant unto us, the said
George Shoobridge and William Shoobridge, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that we, the said George Shoobridge and William Shoobridge, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, 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, our Invention of "A SUBSTI-
TUTE FOR FLAX OR HEMP, AND FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME FOR ALL PURPOSES
FOR WHICH FLAX OR HEMP ARE USED;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging us, or one of us, the said George Shoobridge
and William Shoobridge, by an instrument in writing under our hand and
seal, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to cause a particular description
of the nature of our. said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: said proviso, we, the said
hereby declare that the
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the
George Shoobridge and William Shoobridge, do
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are particularly described and ascertained as follows (that is to
say):
Our said substitute for flax or hemp is the fibrous substance which Nature
produces between the pith or core and the outer bark or rind of the hop-bind,
and the said fibrous substance is separated from the said pith or core, and
from the said bark or rind, and is manufactured or made fit for the purposes
to which flax or hemp are applied, in the following manner :-
r
First, we take the hop-binds in their green state, immediately after the hops
have been gathered, and we cut them into lengths of about four feet (or more
or less), and when so cut into lengths -we-tie them up in bundles, of any size
convenient to be handled, and not too large for the depth of the water into
which they are to be immersed, as hereafter described. The sooner this is
done after the hops are gathered, the better, as the difficulty of afterwards
separating the fibrous part is increased if the hop-binds be suffered to dry
before the process commences..
Second, the said bundles, without suffering them to dry, are to be immersed in
hot or boiling water, in vessels of sufficient capacity, and kept in hot or boiling
water till on trial the fibrous or flaxy part is found to separate easily from the
pith or core. Or, which is a more economical method, and that which we
usually follow, the said bundles of hop-binds, cut into lengths as aforesaid, are
immersed in running or in. standing water,-the softer the. water is the better
it answers, and are kept under the same by stones or weights laid upon
them, till trial it, is found that the fibrous or flaxy part can be easily
stripped from the pith or core. This, is seldom effected in less than eight
days, and sometimes it requires two or three weeks,; according as the hops
have been suffered to..remain ungathered for a longer or shorter time by
favorable or unfavorable weather, and depending also on the quality of the
water in which the bundles are kept immersed...
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Third, when the steeped hop-binds are found ready for the process, the
fibrous or flaxy.substance is, along with the outer bark or rind, separated from
the pith or core in the following manner: Posts or benches, of heights
convenient for the men, women, and children employed, are, provided. Into.
these are driven iron nails in, pairs, or pieces of iron in pairs, presenting
angular edges, in such a manner that the tops of the said nails, or pieces of
iron shall stand, a few inches above, the posts or benches in which they are
fastened, and be close at the bottom and a little open at the top of each pair,

page_text: something like the letter V, but not so wide in proportion in the upper open-
ing. To these pairs of nails or of pieces of iron we give the name of strippers,
and they are used as follows:-The workpeople take the pieces of hop-bind
by one end, one or two pieces at a time, and placing them in the strippers,
which they enter to a greater or less depth, according to their respective sizes
or diameters, the workpeople draw them through the strippers more or less
often, till the fibre and bark is stripped from the pith or core, drawn up in
balls or lumps at the back of the strippers.
Fourth, the said balls or lumps of fibre and bark are taken off from the
back of the strippers as quickly as they are produced, by women or children,
whose business it is to draw them out again into length with their fingers, and
to lay them down in order that they may, when dried, as hereafter directed,
be in a fit state for the subsequent manipulations.
Fifth, when the fibre and bark have been disentangled. from the lumpy
state in which they are found at the back of the strippers, and brought into
longitudinal arrangement, they should be taken up in convenient handfuls,
and rinced in water, to separate, as much as can in this way be separated, of
the vegetable gluten or mucilage which adheres to the fibre.
Sixth, the fibrous or flaxy material thus separated from the pith or core,
and rinced or washed as has been directed, is to be spread out to dry in the
sun and air, or, if the weather be unfavorable, on hurdles or any kind of
shelves, under sheds, or it may be dried by stoves or on kilns. The sooner this
is done the better.
Seventh, when thoroughly dry, the fibrous material is beaten by the hand
with mallets, batons, or rods, or by any other means, for the purpose of
breaking and reducing the-bark or rind that still adheres to it to a state of
powder, a great part of which may then be shaken from the flaxy fibre, which
is then to be dressed by heckling, or, all or any of the usual means employed
to dress and prepare hemp or flax for the different purposes of manufacture.
Eighth, when we wish to obtain the fibrous substance in its longest state,
which is more useful for some purposes of manufacture, then, instead of
drawing the steeped hop-binds through the strippers, as before directed, we
cause the workpeople to peel off by hand the fibrous substance, with its rind,
which is then to be dried, and afterwards beaten and dressed, as before
directed.
We have only further to remark, that we do not by any thing before stated
mean to claim as our Invention or discovery that Nature produces a fibrous
flaxy substance around the pith or core of the hop-bind, that fact having been
long known, and the hop-bind having, in consequence, been applied to the

page_text: purpose of making coarse paper, and perhaps to other uses, but only and
exclusively that the said fibrous or flaxy matter, when properly separated
from the pith, and properly dressed, may be brought to that state of fineness
and purity which shall render it a fit substitute for flax or hemp, and that this
may be effected by the means before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Shoobridge and William Shoo-
bridge, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Second day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twenty
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of August, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid George Shoobridge and William
Shoobridge came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Second day of August, in the year above written.