A METHOD OF TREATING PHORMIUM TENAX IN ORDER TO RENDER IT FIT FOR THE MANU- FACTURE OF PULP
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Gibbs, of Abingdon Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "A METHOD OF
TREATING PHORMIUM TENAX IN ORDER TO RENDER IT FIT FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PULP."
Sealed the 13th April 1858, and dated the 15th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Gibbs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th.
October 1857.
I, JOSEPH GIBBS, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A METHOD
OF TREATING PHORMIUM TENAX IN ORDER TO RENDER IT FIT FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PULP," to be as follows:-
My method of treating phormium tenax or New Zealand flax is as follows:-
I cause the plant to be cut when at maturity, but in a green state, and before
the leaf is withered or dried; after being cut it is passed through heavy
pressing rollers, so as to break down and extract as much of the mucilaginous
matter or sappy part of the plant as possible, after which it is cut transversly
into pieces of about one inch in length, by passing the material through powerful
engines, similar in construction and action to those in use for cutting chaff.
These chaff-cutting engines, being so well understood, need not be further
described. After the fibrous material has been cut into short lengths it is
passed through a coarse rag engine, such as is used for making paper, and
there ground sufficiently to further separate the fibres from any muciliginous

page_text: or sappy matter still remaining with the fibres. The fibres are then passed
through pressing rollers to squeeze out water and any further mucilage. The
fibres are finally dried, and when dry are in a fit state for making pulp, and
subsequently paper, by the ordinary machinery used for such purpose. Instead
of using the rag engine for separating the fibres from the other portions of the
plant I sometimes use pestles or stamps working in troughs in which the
plant after being cut up, as before described, is stamped until the sap, the
gum, and the mucilage are separated from the fibre; and further, I sometimes
use edge runners for the same purpose, but in every case the material is
squeezed after being drained, either by pressing rollers or by hydraulic presses,
to abstract the water and any mucilage which may still adhere or be present
with the fibres.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patents; filed
by the said Joseph Gibbs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
GIBBS, of Abingdon Street, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her. Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Gibbs, Her special licencé that I, the said Joseph Gibbs, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Gibbs, 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, usé, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A METHOD OP TREATING
PHORMIUM TENA IN ORDER TO RENDER IT FIT FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Gibbs, 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 calender
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.-

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Gibbs, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My method of treating phornium tenax or New Zealand flax is as follows:-
I cause the plant to be cut when at maturity, but in a green state, and before
the leaf is withered or dried; after being cut it is passed through heavy
pressing rollers, so as to break down and extract as much of the mucilaginous
matter or sappy part of the plant as possible, after which it is cut transversely
into pieces of about one inch in length, by passing the material through powerful
engines, similar in construction and action to those in use for cutting chaff.
These chaff-cutting engines, being so well understood, need not be further
described. After the fibrous material has been cut into short lengths it is
passed through a course rag engine, such as is used for making paper, and
there ground sufficiently to further separate the fibres from any mucilaginous
or sappy matter still remaining with the fibres. The fibres are then passed
through pressing rollers to squeeze out water and any further mucilage. The
fibres are finally dried, and when dry are in a fit state for making pulp, and
subsequently paper, by the ordinary machinery used for such purpose. Instead
of using the rag engine for separating the fibres from the other portions of the
plant, I sometimes use pestles or stamps working in troughs in which the
plant, after being cut up, as before described, is stamped until the sap, the gum,
and the mucilage are separated from the fibre; and further, I sometimes use
edge runners for the same purpose, but in every case the material is squeezed
after being drained, either by pressing rollers or by hydraulic presses to abstract
the water and any mucilage which may still adhere to or be present with
the fibres.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the treating of
phormium tenax to render it fit for the manufacture of pulp in the manner
lierein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Gibbs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
JOSEPH GIBBS. (L.S.)