IMPROVE- MENTS IN TREATING PRODUCTS OBTAINED WHEN OPERATING ON WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO OBTAIN FIBRE THEREFROM
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Burnett Houghton, of Grove House,
West Reading, in the County of Berks, 'for the 'Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING PRODUCTS OBTAINED WHEN OPERATING ON WOOD AND OTHER
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO OBTAIN FIBRE THEREFROM."
Sealed the 11th February: 1868; and dated the 17th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Burnett
Houghton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis
Petition, on the 17th August 1867.
I, FREDERICK BURNETT HOUGHTON, of Grove House, West Reading, in the
County of Berks, do hereby, declare the nature of the said: Invention for,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PRODUCTS OBTAINED WHEN OPERATING ON WOOD
AND OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO. OBTAIN: FIBRE THEREPROM," to be as;
follows:"
This Invention has for its object improvements.in treating products, obtained
when operating on wood and other vegetable substances to obtain fibre there-
from. At the present time. it is common: to boil wood, and other, vegetable,
substances in a solution of alkali to obtain a fibre suitable for the manufacture

page_text: of paper. The alkali is at present recovered from the solution after it has
been used in the manner above stated by evaporating it in pans heated by fire
underneath, and then transferring the resulting material to a reverberatory
furnace in which the resinous and other matters which the alkali has taken
up are burnt off.
According to my Invention I employ to evaporate the alkali a pan heated
by means of a coil of water pipes, which are sealed so that the water cannot
escape. A portion of the coil is within the pan, and the remainder is heated
by a furnace. The heat thus communicated to the coil is by the circulation
within it carried into the pan, and so the evaporation is conducted without the
rapid destruction of the 'pan, which results when in evaporating this liquid
the whole heat is applied by fire impinging on the bottom of the pan. I
employ to form the coil pipes of of an inch internal diameter or larger.
When the material is sufficiently nearly dry in place of charging it into a
reverberatory furnace I place. it in a retort which is closed and heated by
fire externally. Here the drying of the material is completed, and then by
continuing the heat a large quantity of combustible gas is obtained, which is
collected in a gas holder for use. A portion of this gas may be employed to
heat the retort: The residue left in the retort is treated with water to dissolve
the alkali out from it, and so a ley is obtained to be again used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Burnett Houghton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
BURNETT HOUGHTON, of Grove House, West Reading, in the County of Berks,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August; in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Burnett Houghton, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Burnett Houghton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others'
as I; the said Frederick Burnett Houghton, 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

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PRODUCTS OBTAINED WHEN OPERATING ON WOOD AND
OTHER VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES TO OBTAIN FIBRE THEREFROM," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Burnett Houghton, my executors
5 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 Frederick Burnett Houghton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
:
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating products obtained
when operating on wood and other vegetable substances to obtain fibro
therefrom. At the present time it is common to boil wood and other vegetable
substances in a solution of alkali to obtain a fibre suitable for the manufacture
of paper. The alkali is at present recovered from the solution after it has
been used in the manner above stated by evaporating it in pans heated by fire
underneath, and then transferring the resulting material to a reverberatory
furnace in which the resinous and other matters which the alkali has taken.
up are burnt off. :
:
According to my Invention I employ to evaporate the alkali a' pan heated
by means of a coil of water pipes, which are sealed so that the water cannot
escape. A portion of the coil is within the pan and the remainder is heated by 'a
furnace. The heat thus communicated to the coil is by the circulation withiu
it carried into the pan, and so the evaporation is conducted' without the rapid'
destruction of the pan, which results when in evaporating this liquid the
whole heat is applied by fire impinging on the bottom of the pan. I'employ
to form the coil pipes of of an inch internal diameter or larger. When the
material is sufficiently nearly dry in place of charging it into a reverberatory'
furnace I place it into a retort which is closed and. heated' by fire externally.
Here the drying of the material is completed, and then by continuing the heat
a large quantity of combustible gas is obtained which is collected in a gas
holder for use. A portion of this gas may be employed to heat the retort. The
residue left in the retort is treated with water to- dissolve the alkali out from
it, and so a ley is obtained to be again used.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
+

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
..
Figure is a plan of the evaporating pan which I employ together with its
furnace, which also contains retorts for calcining the impure alkali when it is
run out of the evaporating pan; Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of
the same; Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the furnace, and shows
also a part of the side of the evaporating pan.
. a, a, is the brickwork of the furnace in which the retorts, b, b, are set
transversely or at right angles to the fire-bars which are formed with the
hermetically closed water pipes; as herein-after more fully described. The,
mouths of the retorts project through one of the side walls of the furnace, and
are fitted with covers like ordinary gas retorts. The retorts are supported at
the back by an internal wall a', through which underneath the retorts are
openings which allow the draft to pass into the space a² between the wall a
and the side wall of the furnace, and from this space the draft escapes into the
horizontal flue a³ on the top of the furnace, which conducts it into flues passing.
to and fro under the bottom of the pan c and, at the further; end 'connected.
with the chimney. The pan c is a large rectangular trough of sheet iron
with the bent pipes passing through one of its sides; it has near one end a.
gutter-like recess c¹ formed in its bottom to assist in running out the con-
centrated alkali, which at the time of emptying the pan has about the
consistency of treacle or is somewhat thicker. This gutter c¹ leads to an outlet
pipe fitted with a stop-cock. d, d, are the heating pipes which, are coupled
up together so as to form one continuous circulating system in the following
manner Beginning at the point d and tracing the pipe in the direction in
which the water flows it enters the pan at, the front; passes to the back, then
returns to the front where it issues at a point lower than that at which it
entered; it descends and then forms a horizontal bend; here it is used as one of
the fire-bars of the furnace; it ascends and returns, over, the top of the fire so
as to expose a greater surface to the heat, and then again it goes into the pan
at d**, and in this way its progress is continued until sufficient heating surface
is obtained both in the pan and in the furnace, and then the pipe after passing
for the last time through the furnace is carried across and connected up at the
point d. At this point also the standard pipes d', d', are erected upon the
circulating pipe d; they are closed pipes about half filled with water; they serve
to keep the pipe & constantly full, notwithstanding any expansion and con-
traction which takes place in heating and cooling.
e, e, are connections at

page_text: which a force pump may be applied to fill the coils. The alkali is run into the
evaporating pan in the state in which it comes from the boiler in which it has
been used for boiling the wood or vegetable substance; it is there evaporated
so long as it remains sufficiently fluid, and it is then drawn out, it may be into
vessels, where it is allowed to cool before it is charged into the retorts; but
usually I prefer to run it direct into the retorts through one of the orifices
b, b, upon them, the other orifice receiving a pipe by which the gas
produced is led off either to be directly burnt in the furnace or to be collected
in a gasometer. The distillation is continued until no more gas is produced,
then the retort is discharged, and the residue when cool is washed with water
which dissolves out the alkali to be again used.
What I claim is the evaporating the spent alkali which has been employed
to boil wood or other vegetable substance to obtain fibre in a pan heated by
means of a coil of sealed water pipes contained partly within the pan and
partly within a furnace, as described.
I also claim the distilling the concentrated and semi-fluid material from the
evaporating pan in close retorts, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Burnett Houghton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
EDWP. SWEETAPPH,
Corn Mill,
Lydney.
F. B. HOUGHTON. (L.S.)