IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER MANUFACTURES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Henry Gray, of Grant Road, Clapham
Junction, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER MANUFACTURES.”
Scaled the 11th June 1875, and dated the 15th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Henry Gray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th December 1874.
I, THOMAS HENRY GRAY, of Grant Road, Clapham Junction, in the
County of Surrey, Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER
MANUFACTURES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the preparation of vegetable.
fibres and the conversion of the same into paper pulp. To this end I employ
by preference the plant known as sword rush or grass which is freely
obtained from Australia, or I may use wheat or other straw or wood

page_text: then subject it to boiling in a strong alkaline solution, as described, with
reference to the Australian grasses.
The further chemical treatment of the material is proceeded with after
the manner described above. By this means I am enabled to obtain a
a pulp which will produce an exceedingly tough paper of good texturo
at a comparatively low price, the tendency hitherto experienced of the
fibre to darken during the boiling process being entirely removed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Henry Gray, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HENRY GRAY, of Grant Road, Clapham Junction, in the County of
Surrey, Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Henry Gray,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Henry Gray, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Henry
Gray, 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 Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER MANUFACTURES,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Henry
Gray, my executors 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Henry Gray, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to cavl
.

page_text: remove the discharged color and any gluten remaining after the first
washing.
The next process is to submit the fibre to the action of a beating
engine whereby it is reduced to pulp. When the pulp is ready for sizing
I proceed as follows:-I first add thereto, by preference, rosin size,
mixing the same well with the pulp, I then apply China clay or equi-
valent earth, and when thoroughly mixed add starch obtained from rice
flour or otherwise, the same having been steeped in a solution of sul-
phuric acid, and I further add alum and any suitable coloring matter
that may be required to give the paper to be manufactured the desired
tint.
When converting wheat or other straw and wood fibres into pulp I
reduce the fibres by. a cutting and a grinding action, using for the latter
purpose Derby Peak stones, or, by preference, the machine for which I
applied for Letters Patent on the Seventeenth day of April, 1875, No. 1412,
which will fray out the fibre, reducing the woody parts of the straw,
such as the knots and ears to a state that will admit of their being as
readily acted on by the chemicals in the subsequent stages as any other
portions of the straw; when wood fibre is thus mechanically reduced I
next sieve it to remove any hard or solid pieces therefrom. The frayed
fibre thus obtained I steep for several hours in a solution of chloride of
lime. After this I wash the material and then subject it to boiling in a
strong alkaline solution, as described with reference to the Australian
grass.
The further chemical treatment of the material is proceeded with
after the manner described above. By this means I am enabled to
obtain a pulp which will produce an exceedingly tough paper of good
texture at a comparatively low price. The tendency hitherto experienced
of the fibre to darken under the high steam pressure used in the boiling
process being entirely removed.
I may remark that pulp obtained according to my Invention is not
deteriorated by "the action of the bleach liquor as the mechanical reduc-
tion of the knots and hard woody portions of the fibre removes the
necessity hitherto experienced of retaining the fibres for many hours in
the bleach liquor with the view of bleaching the knots.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in the Preparation of Pulp for Paper Manufactures," and explained

page_text: the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim; the process
above described for converting sword rush and other fibrous materials
into noner
above described for converting sword rush and other fibrous materials
inte-paper
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Gray, have 5
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of June, in
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.