AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING JUTE, GUNNY, MANILLA, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR THE MANU- FACTURE OF WHITE PAPER AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING
JUTE, GUNNY, MANILLA, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF WHITE PAPER AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by George W. Dubuisson, of Toms River, New
Jersey, United States of America, Gentleman.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th April 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF
TREATING JUTE, Gunny, ManilLA, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF WHITE PAPER AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," a communica-
tion, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel process in which potash is used as a
necessary alkaline agent for the treatment of jute, gunny, and Manilla.

page_text: and other fibrous plants, whereby their fibres are disintegrated, freed from
their natural coloring matter, and converted into pulp or fine filaments
for the manufacture of fine white paper and for other purposes.
The plants above named hold so tenaciously their natural color and
the hardening constituents which in their natural state they contain that
the removal of these elements by the methods and agents hitherto
employed have been found to be either impossible or practically so
difficult, and attended with so much expense and waste of the raw material,
that the use of these plants has been hitherto limited to the manufacture
of the coarser grades of paper in which some color is permitted. By
this novel process fibrous plants may be freed from their natural coloring
matter and converted into a white soft silky filament from which the
finer grades of white paper may be made with so small a waste of the
raw material and at an expense that will enable the manufacturer to
realize a fair profit on the paper made from them.
-
My method of treating these plants whereby I deprive them of their
natural coloring matter and convert their fibres free from the gums and
hardening elements by which in their natural state they are invested
into soft white fine filaments suitable for the manufacture of paper of
the finest and whitest quality, and for other purposes, is as follows:-
The plants for paper stock are for convenience cut into pieces an inch
or an inch and a half in length. The dust and dirt are then thoroughly
removed, which may be conveniently done in what is known among
paper makers as the "duster," a revolving cylinder made of wire cloth.
They are then ready for the disintegrating process by which the natural
gums and hardening elements of the plants are dissolved out, thus
exposing the natural coloring matter to the action of the bleaching agent.
This process consists in subjecting the plants to the action of common
potash salts formed by evaporating the ley obtained by leaching wood
ashes. To this end the plants are put into a suitable vessel and with
them about eight pounds of potash to each one hundred pounds of the
plants, sufficient water being added to form a liquor that will test about
two degrees of potash by the hydrometer. The temperature is then
raised (and preferably gradually and slowly) to boiling, and the boiling
continued from eight to twelve hours. The most complete and efficient
mode of conducting the boiling is in a steam-tight boiler by the use of
steam, and under forty to sixty pounds steam pressure. If a larger
degree of potash than that above indicated is used the fibre of the plant

page_text: is liable to be injured; if a less degree is used the boiling will have to bo
prolonged, and it will be found that the complete disentegrating of tho
fibre and the removal of all the coloring matter will not be satisfactorily
accomplished if liquor of less strength than one degree tested by the
hydrometer is employed. After this operation of boiling in a solution
of potash is completed the mass of fibre is removed from the solution
and the solution carefully preserved to be restored and again used, as
herein after discribed. The mass is then subjected to a thorough
washing in water for the purpose of removing all traces of the potash.
This is usually done in the "washing engine," in which after the
washing is completed the mass of fibre is reduced to "half stock," so
called. The mass is then ready for the bleaching liquor, consisting
usually of the chloride of lime dissolved in water. About ten pounds of
the lime should be used for cach hundred pounds of the fibre, and tho
liquor made with it should test about one and a half degrees by the
hydrometer. After the bleaching liquor is added the mass is allowed to
remain at rest until the bleaching operation is completed and the natural
color of the plant destroyed, which will usually occupy about forty-
eight hours, the time however depending somewhat upon the depth and
consequent compactness of the mass as it stands in the bleaching tubs ;
the more compact the mass the longer will be the time required for the
bleaching agent to permeate it. The stock is then removed from the
bleaching liquor and transferred to the "beating engine," where
the bleaching liquor is thoroughly washed out, an operation which
usually occupies about an hour for, say, a one hundred pounds batch of
stock. The time may be shortened and the removal of all traces of the
bleaching liquor facilitated by adding a small quantity, say, a couple of
ounces, of the hyposulphite of soda, which acts to neutralize the chloride
of lime.
After the washing is completed the beating is continued until the
stock is reduced to a pulp or fine filament. It will be found to readily
yield to the action of the beater, whereby the fibres are divided into fine
white silky filaments, and the natural coloring matter of the plant will
have been very completely destroyed, the potash having acted to dissolve
out the natural gluten and hardening matter of the plants so that they
are washed away, leaving the coloring matter exposed to be attacked
and destroyed by the chlorine. This result will be accomplished by
potash without injuring the true fibre of the plant, the total loss upon.

page_text: the plants in their natural state being not more than thirty to forty per
cent., including all the impurities and extraneous matter connected with
them as they are imported into our markets.
The potash solution preserved, as above indicated, is restored and
again used, as follows:-It is filtered through leached wood ashes,
whereby the coloring matter and the gummy or glutionous juices and
carthy matter it has extracted from the plants treated in it are filtered
out and the solution is restored clear and fit for further use, with a loss
of only about twenty or twenty-five per cent. of its potash. Then for
operation upon another batch I add potash to supply the said loss,
together with more water if needed, and so by repeated filterings and
the restoration of the solution after each boiling. I expend of potash
only the small per-centage abovo indicated.
The leached ashes employed for filtering the potash solution may be
used until well filled with the impurities retained from the solution,
when they will be found to have been doubled and trebled in value as a
fertilizer. From this source the manufacturer may be reimbursed, not
only the outlay for the leached ashes but also a considerable portion of
the cost of the potash which disappears in the treatment of the stock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 22nd October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " AN
› IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF TREATING Jute, Gunny, MANILLA, AND OTHER
FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WHITE PAPER AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," a communication to me from abroad by George W.
Dubuisson, of Toms River, New Jersey, United States of America,
Gentleman, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
O Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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
5 next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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, that is to say :—
0 This Invention relates to a novel process in which potash is used as a
necessary alkaline agent for the treatment of jute, gunny, and Manilla,
and fibrous plants, whereby their fibres arc disintegrated, freed from
their natural coloring matter, and converted into pulp or fine filaments
for the manufacture of fine white paper and for other purposes.
The plants above named hold so tenaciously their natural color and
the hardening constituents which in their natural state they contain that
the removal of these elements by the methods and agents hitherto
employed have been found to be either impossible or practically so
difficult, and attended with so much expense and waste of the raw
) material, that the use of these plants has been hitherto limited to the
manufacture of the coarser grades of paper in which some color is
permitted. By this novel process fibrous plants may be freed from their
natural coloring matter and converted into a white soft silky filament
from which the finer grades of white paper may be made with so small
a waste of the raw material and at an expense that will enable the
manufacturer to realize a fair profit on the paper made from them.

page_text: My method of treating these plants whereby I deprive them of their
natural coloring matter and convert their fibres freed from the gums
and hardening elements by which in their natural state they are invested
into soft white fine filaments suitable for the manufacture of paper of
the finest and whitest quality, and for other purposes, is as follows :—
The plants for paper stock are for convenience cut into picces an inch
to an inch and a half in length. The dust and dirt are then thoroughly
removed, which may be conveniently done in what is known among
paper makers as the "duster," a revolving cylinder made of wire cloth.
They are then ready for the disintegrating process by which the natural
gums and hardening elements of the plants are dissolved out, thus
exposing the natural coloring matter to the action of the bleaching
agent. This process consists in subjecting the plants to the action of
common potash salts formed by evaporating the lye obtained by leaching
wood ashes. To this end the plants are put into a suitable vessel and
with them about eight pounds of potash to each one hundred pounds of
the plants, water being added sufficient to form a liquor that will test
about two degrees of potash by the hydrometer. The temperature is
then raised, preferably gradually and slowly, to the boiling point, and
the boiling continued from eight to twelve hours. The most complete
and efficient mode of conducting the boiling is in a steam-tight boiler
by the use of steam, and under forty to sixty pounds steamn pressure.
If a greater degree of potash than that above indicated is used the fibre
of the plant is liable to be injured; if a lesser degree is used the boiling
will have to be prolonged, and it will be found that the complete
disintegration of the fibre and the removal of all the coloring matter will
not bo satisfactorily accomplished if liquors of less strength than onc
degree tested by the hydrometer are employed. After this operation of
boiling in a solution of potash is completed the mass of fibre is removed
from the solution and the solution carefully preserved to be restored and
again used, as herein-after described. The mass is then subjected to a
thorough washing in water for the purpose of removing all traces of the
potash. This is usually done in the "washine engine," in which after
the washing is completed the mass of fibre is reduced to "half stock,"
so called. The mass is then ready for the bleaching liquor, consisting
usually of the chloride of lime dissolved in water. About ten pounds
of the lime should be used for each hundred pounds of the fibre, and the
liquor made with it should test about one and a half degrees by the
hydrometer. After the bleaching liquor is added the mass is allowed to

page_text: remain at rest until the bleaching operation is completed and the natural
color of the plant destroyed, which will usually occupy about forty-
eight hours, the time however depending somewhat upon the depth and
consequent compactness of the mass as it stands in the bleaching tubs;
the more compact the mass the longer will be the time required for the
bleaching agent to permeate it. The stock is then removed from the
bleaching liquor and transferred to the "beating engine," where the
bleaching liquor is thoroughly washed out, an operation which usually
occupies about an hour for, say, one hundred pounds of stock. The
time may be shortened and the removal of all traces of the bleaching
liquor facilitated by adding a small quantity (say a couple of ounces)
of the hyposulphite of soda, which acts to neutralize the chloride of
lime.
After the washing is completed the beating is continued until the
stock is reduced to a pulp or fine filament. It will be found to readily
yield to the action of the beater, whereby the fibres are divided into
fine white silky filaments, and the natural coloring matter of the plant
will have been very completely destroyed, the potash having acted to
dissolve out the natural gluten and hardening matter of the plants so
that they are washed away, leaving the coloring matter exposed to be
attacked and destroyed by the chlorinc. This result will be accomplished
by potash without injuring the true fibre of the plant, the total loss
upon the plants in their natural state being not more than thirty to
forty per cent., including all the impurities and extraneous matter
connected with them, as they are imported into our markets.
The potash solution, preserved as above indicated, is restored and
again used as follows:-It is filtered through leached wood ashes,
whereby the coloring matter and the gunny or glutinous juices and
earthy matter it has extracted from the plants treated in it are filtered
out and the solution is restored clear and fit for further use, with a loss
of only about twenty or twenty-five per cent. of its potash. Then for
operation upon another batch I add potash to supply the said loss,
together with more water if needed, and so proceed by repeated filterings
and the restoration of the solution after each boiling. I expend of potash
only the small per-centage above indicated.
The leached ashes employed for filtering the potash solution may be
1
.:41. 4.1. invitios retained from the solution

page_text: when they will be found to have been doubled or trebled in value as a
fertilizer. From this source the manufacturer may be reimbursed, not
only the outlay for the leached ashes but also a considerable portion of
the cost of the potash which disappears in the treatment of the stock.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,—
First. The method or process of disintegrating the fibre of jute,
gunny, Manilla, and other fibrous plants, and preparing them for
bleaching by the use of potash, as above specified.
Second. The method of repeatedly using the potash solution in the
treatment of jute, gunny, and Manilla after such solution is restored by
leaching through leached ashes, as above specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, 1
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five
Witness,
R. G. BROWN,
8, Southampton Buildings.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)