IMPROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF A CERTAIN MATERIAL OBTAINED IN TREATING COTTON SEED, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Rose, of Oxton, in the County of
Chester, Ironfounder, and Robert Emerson Gibson, of New Brighton,
in the same County, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE UTILIZATION OF A CERTAIN MATERIAL OBTAINED IN TREATING COTTON
SEED, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
"
Sealed the 4th October 1870, and dated the 5th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Rose and
Robert Emerson Gibson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 5th April 1870.
We, THOMAS ROSE, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, Ironfounder,
and ROBERT EMERSON GIBSON, of New Brighton, in the same County,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iи-
PROVEMENTS IN THE UTILIZATION OF A CERTAIN MATERIAL OBTAINED IN TREATING
COTTON SEED, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
.
The material, which it is the object of our present improvements to utilize
consists of the husks and adhering fibre obtained in treating cotton seed

page_text: by the methods and means, or some of them, for which we obtained
Letters Patent, No. 3388, of the year 1867, and No. 3105 of the year 1868,
that is to say, the system of treatment whereby fibrous cotton seed is so
acted upon as to break the kernels into a mealy condition, and such meal
is afterwards removed by sifting or otherwise from the husks and fibre.
We have ascertained after lengthened and costly experiments that
unless the husks are altogether or nearly altogether separated from the
fibro, such fibre cannot be satisfactorily utilized even in paper making.
We have therefore for the purpose of effectually and economically
separating the said fibre perfected the method or process of treatment,
and also the apparatus for facilitating the operation herein-after described.
By the said treatment we obtain the fibre by itself in a fit state for making
paper of fine quality, and also for other uses to which cotton fibre of
short staple is applicable.
Our said method of treatment consists essentially in subjecting the
said husk and fibre material as it leaves the sifting or other machine or
means for removing the meal, or after it has been treated to loosen the
husks, as hereafter is set forth, to the action of a current of water
contained in any suitable vessel for the purposes now to be mentioned.
(a) detaching the husks from the fibre; (b) holding such husks in
suspension so long as any fibre adheres to them; (c) allowing the husks
to fall to the bottom of the vessel by their own gravity when detached,
and be collected for subsequent removal; and (d) keeping the fibre.
floating.
Motion can be given to the water in any convenient way, but we
prefer to give motion to it by the machinery or apparatus hereafter
described.
The said treatment for loosening the husk consists in moistening the
mass of the said material and allowing it to lie for a longer or shorter
time, say, twelve hours, or in subjecting it to the action of moisture and
heat with or without an alkali.
The apparatus referred to for giving motion to the current of water,
and facilitating the separation of the husk and fibre, consists of a vessel
resembling a paper maker's washing engine provided with a beater roll.
capable of being made to rotate, and fitted with a perforated bottom and
space thereunder to allow the husks to fall through and be collected,
Discharge cocks or valves are fitted to the said space. At the side of
the said beater roll just above the water line an intercepting plate is

page_text: fitted in such manner that water is prevented from passing in any large
quantity from the delivery to the feed side of the beater roll during its
rotation, but is conveyed away by a race provided for the purpose to the
opposite side of the midfeather, or retained at the delivery side, and
hence caused to flow around towards the feed side at considerable
speed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson Gibson in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ROSE, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, Ironfounder, and ROBERT
EMERSON GIBSON, of New Brighton, in the same County, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson Gibson, Her
special licence that we, the said Thomas Rosc and Robert Emerson
Gibson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson Gibson, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, should in 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 Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE UTILIZATION OF A CERTAIN MATERIAL OBTAINED IN TREATING COTTON SEED,
AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson Gibson, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or their, or one of our or their hands and scals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson
Gibson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of illustrative Drawings, and to the figures and
letters marked thercon, that is to say :-
The material which it is the object of our present improvements to
utilize consists of the husks and adhering fibre obtained in treating
cotton seed by the methods and means, or some of them, for which
we obtained Letters Patent, No. 3388, of the year 1867, and No. 3105,
of the year 1868, that is to say, the system of treatment whereby fibrous
cotton seed is so acted upon as to break the kernels into a mealy con-
dition, and such meal is afterwards removed by sifting or otherwise
from the husks and fibre.
We have ascertained after lengthened and costly experiments that
unless the husks are altogether or nearly altogether separated from the
fibre such fibre cannot be satisfactorily utilized even in paper making. We
have therefore for the purpose of effectually and economically separating
the said fibre perfected the method or process of treatment, and also
the apparatus for facilitating the operation herein-after described. By
the said treatment we obtain the fibre by itself in a fit state for making
paper, and also for other uses to which cotton fibre of short staple is
applicable.
Our said method of treatment consists essentially in subjecting the
said husk and fibre material as it leaves the sifting or other machine,
or means for removing the meal, or after it has been treated to loosen
the husks, as hereafter is set forth, to the action of a current of water
contained in any suitable vessel for the purposes now to be mentioned.
(a) detaching the husks from the fibre; (6) holding such husks in sus-
pension, so long as any fibre adheres to them; (c) allowing the husks
to fall to the bottom of the vessel by their own gravity when detached,
and be collected for subsequent removal; and (d) keeping the fibre
floating.
Motion can be given to the water in any convenient way, but we
prefer to give motion to it by the machinery or apparatus hereafter a
described.
When all the husks have fallen to the bottom the fibre is collected
and removed from the water. If it is to be made into paper it is

page_text: If it is to
be used in any other manufacture it is treated as circumstances may
require.
bleached, pulped, and prepared in any ordinary manner.
The said treatment for loosening the husk consists in moistening the
mass of the said material and allowing it to lie for a longer or shorter
time, say twelve hours, or in subjecting it to the action of moisture and
heat, with or without an alkali.
Although the action of the current of water is the feature whereby
the separation is effectively accomplished we, in practice, as means for
loosening the husk and thereby facilitating the operation adopt the
following preliminary treatment.
With husk and fibre material from American and African seed we
first place it in a revolving boiler or vessel, and to every ton of the said
material we add four hundred pounds, more or less, of caustic soda
dissolved in water. We then close the said boiler or vessel and cause it
to revolve for a period varying from eight to twelve hours, maintaining
the steam at about forty pounds pressure to the square inch all the
time, after which it is discharged and subjected to the action of the
current of water. Instead of a revolving boiler a closed vessel provided
with stirrers or agitators may be used.
With husk and fibre material from Smyrna and East Indian sced
we first boil it in water, preferably with a few pounds of soda, then
subject it to the action of a current of water to separate the inner
husks.
We next treat the material, which now consists of the fibre and
outer husks, to the action of caustic soda, heat, and moisture, in the
proportions above set forth for material from American and African
seeds.
We would have it understood that it is much more economical in
practice to adopt the above preliminary treatment than to take the
husks and fibre and treat them directly in the current of water, in fact
in the latter case the fibre is only obtained in a condition fit for making
profitably into coarse paper.
The apparatus referred to for giving motion to the current of water,
& facilitating the separation of the husk from the fibre, consists of a
vessel resembling a paper maker's washing engine, provided with a

page_text: beater roll, capable of being made to rotate, and fitted with a perforated
bottom & space thereunder to allow the husks to fall through and
be collected. Discharge cocks or valves are fitted to the said space.
At the side of the said beater roll just above the water line an inter-
cepting plate is fitted in such manner that water is prevented from
passing in any large quantity from the delivery to the feed side of
the beater roll during its rotation, but is conveyed away by a race pro-
vided for the purpose to the opposite side of the midfeather, or retained
at the delivery side, and hence caused to flow around towards the feed
side at considerable speed.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings illustrates that modification
under this part of our Invention which we prefer.
Fig. 1 is a view looking down on the engine; Fig. 2, a longitudinal
section at the line A, B; and Fig. 3, a longitudinal section at the
line C, D. Like letters are marked on the same parts in all the
views.
a denotes the containing vessel with stationary knives and discharge
way c; d, midfeather; e, beater roll with driving pulley f; g, beater
roll cover.
All the foregoing parts are constructed substantially in the
ordinary manner with the exception that here the space in the bottom
of a for the perforated grid is much larger. h, curved intercepting
plate secured to g; i, directing plate secured to g at the sides and fixed
at a short distance from 7 for the purpose of forming a way or passage;
j, chamber or receptacle for receiving the husks; k, perforated grid,
through which the husks pass after separation from the fibre; 1, discharge
way for husks.
In practice under this part of our Invention we charge the containing
vessel with water to within three or four inches from the top, and give
motion to the beater roll e at about the rate of two hundred revolutions
a minute. During the rotation of the roll a large quantity of water is
raised by it, and as engines of this kind have been used hitherto such
water has been carried from the tail end to the feed end, and con-
sequently the water and material therein have circulated at a slow
speed. The curved plate in our arrangement just described, or in any
equivalent arrangement, intercepts the water and returns it between
the directing plate and cover g to the tail end, and hence largely
increases the flow. In an engine of the size shewn with a charge of

page_text: two hundred and twenty-four pounds of husk and fibre material, the
roll running at about two hundred revolutions per minute, the whole
charge of water and material would be driven round the engine from
two to three times a minute. It will be obvious the tearing or opening
action of the latter accelerates the separation of the fibre from the
husks. Instead of the plate i directing the water immediately to the
tail end of the engine a race or way may be provided, as before men-
tioned, to convey such water to the opposite side of the midfeather, but
this we do not consider so convenient in practice.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into practice, we would have it distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the employment of water
contained in any particular kind of vessel, nor to any particular speed
of current, nor to any particular quantity of alkali, or of heat or
moisture; neither do we confine ourselves to the particular arrange-
ment of washing engine for increasing the speed of the current. What
we do claim is,―
1. Subjecting the husks and fibre of coated cotton seed, after the oil
yielding portions have been removed, to the action of a current of water,
for the purpose of separating the fibre from the husks, substantially as
herein set forth.
2. Subjecting the said husks and fibre previous to placing them in the
separating current of water to the action of moisture for the purpose of
loosening the husks, substantially as specified.
3. Subjecting the said husks and fibre previous to placing them in
the separating current of water to the action of moisture and heat, with
or without an alkali, to separate the fibre from the husks, substantially
as specified.
4. The pocket or recess j in the bed of a paper maker's engine in com-
bination with the two drains or ways c and 1, arranged as represented,
for the purposes herein set forth.
5. The perforated cover or scive k, arranged as specified.
6. The intercepting plate h, or its equivalent in combination with the
directing plate i, or its equivalent, and with the beater rolle & cover g
of a paper maker's engine adapted to serve as means for increasing the

page_text: flow of water, and thereby facilitating the separation of the fibre from
the husks of coated cotton sced.
7. The perforated cover k, chamber j, and way 4, for admitting,
containing, and discharging the separated husks in combination with the
plates h and i.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Rose and Robert Emerson
Gibson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day of
October in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy
In the presence of
J. T. KING,
Patent Agent,
Liverpool.
THOMAS ROSE.
(L.S.)
ROBERT EMERSON GIBSON. (L.S.)