A NEW IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING PAPER BY MACHINERY, AND ALSO A NEW METHOD OF CUTTING PAPER AND OTHER MATERIAL INTO SINGLE SHEETS on PIECES BY MEANS OF MACHINERY
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DICKINSON, of Nash Mill, in the Parish of Abbotts Langley, in the County of
Hertford, Paper Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said John Dickinson, did, by my petition, humbly repre-
sent to His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, that I had, by
long study and application, and after much trouble, labour, and expence, found
out and invented "A NEW IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
PAPER BY MACHINERY, AND ALSO A NEW METHOD OF CUTTING PAPER AND OTHER
MATERIAL INTO SINGLE SHEETS on PIECES BY MEANS OF MACHINERY," which
said Invention, I, the said John Dickinson, conceived would be of great public
utility, that I, the said John Dickinson, was the first and true Inventor
thereof, and that the same was not known, except to those whom I had employed
in drawing plans for the same, and that the same had never been used or
practised by any other person or persons to the best of my knowledge
and belief. I did therefore most humbly pray His Majesty to be graciously
pleased to grant unto me, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, His Majesty's
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, for the sole usc.
benefit, and advantage of my said Invention, within that part of His Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Majesty's
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for the term of
fourteen years, according to the Statute in that case made and provided; and
His said Majesty being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inven-
tions which might be for the public good was graciously pleased to condescend
to my request; and, therefore, by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great
Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of

page_text: January, in the ninth year of His reign, of His especial grace, certain know-
ledge, and mere motion, for Himself, is heirs and successors, did give and
grant unto me, the said John Dickinson, my exors, admors, and assigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
John Dickinson, my exors, admors, and assigns, and every of us, by ourselves,
or by our deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
John Dickinson, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein and herein-after expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of His
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to
me, the said John Dickinson, my exors, adñors, or assigns, or any of them,
should, in our discretion, seem meet; and that I, the said John Dickinson, my
exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the
whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage, from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the term of years therein and herein-after mentioned, to have, hold, exercise,
and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before
granted, or mentioned to be granted, unto me, the said John Dickinson, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, for and during and unto the full end and term of
fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent, next and immediately
ensuing, and fully to be complete and ended according to the Statute in that
case made and provided; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that if I, the said John Dickinson, should not particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted should utterly cease, determine, and become void, any thing
therein-before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as
in and by the same Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in obedience to the said Letters Patent, and in
compliance with the said proviso therein contained, I, the said John Dickinson,
do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my aforesaid Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, in manner following (that
is to say):-

page_text: paper
My said improvement in the manufacture of paper consisted firstly in a
new method of pressing out the water in the process of manufacturing paper
by means of machinery. After the first consolidation of the pulp into
by means of the greater part of the water being drained away from it through
the surface of woven wire in which the paper is formed, the continuous web
of paper is in the usual course of manufacture conducted by means of an
endless felt between press rolls for the purpose of squeezing out a further
quantity of the water and making the fibres of rag cohere more strongly;
this is accomplished by one or more pressures of the same kind in succession;
and my improvement consists in giving the latter of these pressures with the
paper reversed, so that the different sides of the paper may come alternately
next the upper press roll, it being experienced that in this stage of the manu-
facture a gloss is communicated to the surface of the paper by its contact with
the polished surface of the press roll, which has hitherto caused a difference
in the two sides of the finished paper. In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 is a
longitudinal sketch of a machine for making paper to which this process is
applied; the first pair of press rolls are marked a, a, and the paper which is
formed upon the cylinder marked 6 is led through them by the endless felt,
described by a dotted line, and receives its first pressure in the usual manner.
The paper is then led over the small roller c, which should be very light, as it
is intended to be turned merely by the contact of paper passing over it; and
after that the paper is led over a second endless felt, which is described by a
red line, and which leads the paper into contact with a third endless felt, both
travelling at the same rate and in the same direction, and the paper passes on
between them as far as the roll marked x, round which it is led with the third
felt, and conducted on the surface of it to the second pair of press rolls
marked d, d, where it receives a second pressure; after which the paper is led
away by a fourth felt revolving round the rollers e, f, g, which last-mentioned
felt leads the paper to the revolving steam cylinders h, h, h, upon which it is
dried, according to the usual process, and wound off on a reel preparatory to
its being cut into sheets. This process is applicable to the machines for
making paper on an endless web of woven wire, as well as to the machines for
making it on a hollow cylinder with a pervious surface, which is the kind
shewn in the sketch, Fig. 1; and I have thought it unnecessary to shew the
mode of giving motion to the different parts, as that must depend upon local
opportunities and convenience, but I have shewn by arrows the direction in
which the different parts are intended to move. It is to be observed, that the
rate of movement of the second and third felts, and of the second press
rolls d, d, should correspond, but that all these require to move about one foot

page_text: in thirty-six faster than the first press rolls a, a. It is also to be observed, that
the fourth felt requires to move nearly one foot in thirty-six faster than the
second press rolls d, d. It is expedient to have a means of adjusting these
different motions, and for that purpose to communicate them to the parts
specified by means of expanding riggers, or some other of the contrivances at
present in use with machines for making paper, for the same purpose of
adjusting the different movements to make them correspond with one another,
and allow, as required, for the stretching of the paper. The first and third
felts are carried round by the press rolls, through which they respectively lead
the paper.
The second felt should derive its motion from the roller k, and the
fourth from the roller g. As the machines for making paper are in very general
use and of various widths, I have thought it unnecessary to shew more particu-
larly by a plan, the construction of the machines. In order to heighten the
gloss on the paper I heat the upper press rolls a and d, by introducing steam
into them, and withdrawing the water of condensation through the spindles of
these press rolls in the same manner as both these objects are effected with
the steam rolls for drying the paper.
My said improvement in the machinery for making paper consists, secondly,
in a method of introducing into paper, cotton, flaxen or silken thread, web, lace,
or other material adapted for the purpose in the course of the manufacture by
machinery herein-after described, so that the said thread, lace, or other material
may constitute the internal part of the paper. For this purpose I make use
of one of the machines for the manufacture of paper invented by myself, and
shewn in Figure 1 of the Drawing annexed, before referred to. b is a hollow
cylinder having a pervious surface covered with fine woven wire revolving in a
vat of liquid pulp, the ends of the cylinder being closed, except that there is a
central tube communicating with the interior of it, and passing out through
the sides of the vat, for the purpose of allowing a passage for the water, which,
in the course of making the paper flows into the interior of the cylinder
through its periphery, and thereby leaves the fibres of rag which had been
floating in it on the surface of the cylinder, which, by that means, in the
course of its revolution, has the paper gradually formed. upon it, and which is
afterwards detached from it as fast as it arrives at the point m, and made to
adhere to an endless felt, moving at the same rate as the cylinder, and brought
in contact with it by the roller n, called the couching roll, round which
the felt revolves. This hollow revolving cylinder may be compared to a
circular sieve for straining the pulp, and in working, so soon as any given
point of the uncovered part of its surface descends into the pulp, the flow of
the water of the pulp through it commences, and the fibres of rag begin to

page_text: be deposited upon it, and this goes on till the same point of the surface emerges
from the pulp on the opposite side, by which time the quantity of fibres of rag
requisite for forming the desired thickness of paper is accumulated, and there
is a constant flow of pulp into the vat, equivalent in quantity to the flow of
water out through the hollow tube which conveys the water from the cylinder.
This process was invented some years ago, and has been publicly used, and as
it is not the new Invention for which the present Royal Letters Patent are
granted, there is no need to explain more than as above for the purpose
of describing my present improvement in the manufacture of paper, above
stated. 0, 0, 0, 0, Figure 1, are bobbins covered with very fine thread or silk,
the mode of arranging which is not material so as they are on spindles, which
admit of their revolving and allowing the thread to be unwound with perfect
facility. p is a roller fixed horizontally and parallel with the cylinder b,
on which the paper is made, but so placed on bearings that it will revolve
with extreme facility. The periphery of this roller p is to be indented with
small circular grooves about one eighth of an inch apart, or the distance that
may be desired, such grooves being rather wider than the diameter of the
thread intended to be introduced into the paper, and the bottom of them
being formed flat or slightly rounding instead of an acute angle. The ends of
the threads are to be led from the bobbins, and in the first instance drawn over
one or other of the grooves in the roller p, corresponding to the part of the
sheet of paper in which they are desired to be introduced. When they are so
arranged and the machine in motion and making paper, the roller p may be
turned round by the hand in the direction shewn by the arrow, and of course
the ends of thread will descend into the pulp, and the cylinder 6 being in
motion and paper forming upon it, the flow of the pulp towards it will carry
the ends of the thread into contact with it, and they will be attached to its
surface sufficiently to carry them round with it, the grooved roller p being
turned by the hand till that part of the paper in which the threads are incor-
porated is led away by the endless felt, after which the grooved roller will be
turned round, and the bobbins unwound by the pull of the threads led away
with the paper. The roller p should be adjustable, so that it may be fixed
nearer or further distant from the cylinder b, by which means the contact of
the threads with the surface of the cylinder will be higher or lower, and the
thickness of the paper made previously in the cylinder will be proportionally
greater or less, but it will generally be found that one half the thickness
of the paper is made during the first quarter of the time that any given point
on the surface of the cylinder is passing through the pulp. The number of
threads introduced is in a greater degree optional; they may be within one

page_text: eighth of an inch of each other, the whole width of the paper. It will require
an equal number of bobbins, of course, but they can be easily arranged so that
the threads may draw off without interfering by leading the threads through a
weaver's reed or otherwise. If the substance to be introduced into the paper
were lace, or an open web of any kind adapted for the purpose, the roller p
should be a plain surface, and the lace or other material should be wound on
a large reel and put in place of the bobbins 'o, o, o, o, from whence in the
working of the machine it would be regularly drawn off in the same manner
as has been described with respect to the thread. Whatever the material
may be which is to be introduced into the paper in this way it should be wet
at the time of its being led into the pulp.
My improvement in cutting paper by means of machinery is shewn in
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, in the annexed Drawing. Figure 2 being a longitu-
dinal view. Figure 3 a transverse view. Figure 4 a plan, and Figure 5 a
plan for shewing the mode of giving motion to the frame carrying the cutters ;
and in the different views the same parts of the apparatus are described by the
same letters. a is a reel covered with the paper intended to be cut, which is
fixed in bearings that admit of its unwinding with facility; b is a barrel or
cylinder to which motion is given through gear wheels by the spindle c, which
has motion communicated to it at the rate of about twenty-four feet per
minute by a strap from a rigger or drum on a shaft above marked d, working
on to an expanding rigger c, which is fixed on the before-mentioned spindle c.
The end of the paper is led over the barrel b, and between two small light rolls
marked f, f, between which the paper is held, and the upper one has a rachet
wheel to prevent their turning round in a wrong direction, and releasing the
paper; g is a strong table of cast iron, to which four steel cutters, h, h, h, h, are
attached by means of screws. They are to be all exactly parallel with the axis of
the barrel b, and the upper edges of them sharp, and the distance they are apart
should be corresponding to the width it is required to cut the sheets of paper.
The table g should be longer than is shewn in the Drawing, so that there might
be fixed upon it a stop, the same distance from the last of the cutters that these
are from each other; i is a swinging frame, with a spindle at the bottom so
fixed as to admit of its revolving with facility, and having four circular steel
cutters firmly fixed upon it, which are intended to come in contact with the
straight cutters h, h, h, h. A motion is given to the swinging frame i by a con-
necting rod, which is acted upon by the eccentric 1, the revolution of
which gives it an alternate motion backwards and forwards, but with a pause
or rest between each of these movements, and by these means the swinging
frame is moved across the table with cutters h, h, h, h. Motion may be com-

page_text: municated to the apparatus as most convenient, either from the shaft m,
on which the eccentric is fixed, or from the shaft d, which communicates with
it by bevilled wheels n, n. When this apparatus is set to work the attendant,
after leading the end of the paper between the two rolls f,f, draws it on to the
stop before mentioned, at the end of the table g, and holds the paper there till
the frame with the circular cutters is thrown across, and the paper thereby cut
into four sheets; he then returns to the other end of the machine, and draws the
paper out again till the end reaches the stop before mentioned, where he waits
while the frame is thrown across and another cut made, and so continues to
go backwards and forwards alternately on the opposite side to where the
swinging frame i is at the time, removing from time to time the sheets which
are cut, and drop on the table between the cutters h, h, h, h. The swinging
frame should be rather wider than is shown in the Drawing, and the cutters
adjustable so as to cut sheets of different widths, either three, four, or more of
which may be cut at one transverse motion of the frame. The motion of the
barrel 6 is given by means of an expanding rigger for the purpose of adjusting
the rate of unwinding the paper from the reel to the quantity cut in each
throw of the frame. There is a small roll o for keeping the paper in contact
with the barrell b, and a swinging roll p, nearly balanced by a counterweight, to
absorb the paper as it is delivered from the barrel 6 during the time that the
attendant is not Drawing it away. This apparatus is not adapted for cutting
wider paper than shewn in the drawing, unless the swinging frame of greater
length be used, & the shafts m and d be proportionably higher. Most of
the principles of this apparatus for cutting paper have been in use before, and
described by myself in former Specifications; the only parts I set forth as a new
Invention at present are the swinging frame with circular cutters on a spindle
at the bottom of it, acting against fixed straight cutters, by means of which
several sheets can be cut at once from a web of paper, each time the swinging
frame is thrown across, either by the revolution of the eccentric, as herein
described, or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dickinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the tenth year of
the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth, the Grace
of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King,
Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-nine.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1829, the aforesaid John Dickinson came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thou-
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-nine.