Improvements in the Treatment of Rhea, Ramie, and China Grass.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Mar., 1896-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of Rhea, Ramie, and China Grass.
We RALPH WALDO EMERSON MACIVOR of No. 31 Fleet Street London
Professor of Chemistry and JOHN CHESTER of No. 1 Brick Court Temple
London Barrister at Law do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The rhea ramie or China grass in strips or ribbons is first digested in boiling
water containing dissolved borax. After a period of time which will vary with
the age and quality of the material (but not necessarily exceeding two hours) a
composition consisting of soft soap and mineral oil in which oil turpentine has been
dissolved is then added to the material and liquid and the digestion in the boiling
liquid continued until the bark is loosened and the fibre degummed.
The material so treated is then thoroughly washed in hot water.
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Improvements in the Treatment of Rhea, Ramie, and China Grass.
We, RALPH WALDO EMERSON MACIVOк, of No. 31 Fleet Street, London,
Professor of Chemistry and JOHN CHESTER of No. 1 Brick Court, Temple,
London, Barrister at Law, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The object of our invention is to separate the clean fibre from China grass and
from rhea, otherwise called ramie by removing the bark and the gumming material
with which the fibre is naturally associated.
We proceed in the first place to boil the material in a two per cent. solution of
borax.
The material should be in the form of strips or ribbons and to prevent entangle-
ment of the fibre it is well that it should be confined in cages of wire work,
preferably copper, which should be loosely packed. The boiling is continued
until the material is softened although as yet the bark will not separate
completely.
This boiling will take generally from half an hour to two hours according to the
age of the material; if it has been long in store it will require a more prolonged
boiling (not exceeding two hours) than when new. The action of the borax is to
dissolve the principal part of the gum but there will remain some gum which
cannot be properly removed by borax alone. To complete the treatment we
employ a composition consisting of four parts of soft-soap and one part of oil
containing from 5 to 10 per cent. of its bulk of turpentine.
The oil may be mineral oil not readily volatilisable or it may be linseed or rape
oil. This composition is at the proper time added to the vat in which the boiling
is in progress the addition being made in such proportion, that it constitutes about
one tenth of the whole of the liquid in the vat.

page_text: The boiling is then continued until the fibre leaves the bark quite freely when
the material is rinsed in hot water. When this is found to be the case the whole
of the fibre is well washed with hot water and afterwards dried.
It will be understood that the proportions above stated and the duration of the
treatment may be varied; and as a general rule old material requires a stronger
and more prolonged treatment than is required for newer and softer fibre.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
:-
1. The treatment of rhea ramie and China grass by boiling in a solution of
borax.
2. The treatment of rhea ramie and China grass by boiling with a composition
containing turpentine, oil and soap.
3. The treatment of rhea ramie and China grass by boiling first with borax
alone and then with the addition of turpentine, oil and soap.
Dated this 19th day of March 1896.
R. W. EMERSON MACIVOR.
JOHN CHESTER.