IMPROVED MEANS OF GIVING INCREASED STRENGTH TO PAPER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Taylor, of Vere Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF GIVING
INCREASED STRENGTH TO PAPER."
Sealed the 22nd September 1859, and dated the 29th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION lett by the said Thomas Taylor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th.
March 1859.
I, THOMAS TAYLOR, of Vere Street, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF
GIVING INCREASED STRENGTH TO PAPER," to be as follows:
The object of my Invention is to alter the texture, and to produce a change,
more or less complete, in the fibres or material of which paper is composed, in
order to obtain increased strength, stiffness, and greater durability as regards
the wear of paper. By my treatment the paper acquires, to a greater or
lesser degree, the toughness, semi-transparency, and general appearance of
parchment.
My Invention consists in soaking the paper, either during its manufacture
or in its finished state, in a concentrated solution of chlorideof zinc, or chloride
of tin, or the chlorides of calcium or magnesium, either alone or inixed with
each or any of the others in varying proportions according to the effectdesired,
After the soaking, the paper or pulp is to be thoroughly washed in water

page_text: and, if necessary, in a weak alkaline solution. The paper may then be dried
and submitted to the ordinary processes for obtaining a smooth or glazed
surface, and in the case of pulp it may be manufactured into paper in any
ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Taylor in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
TAYLOR, of Vere Street, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent,bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Taylor, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Taylor, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Taylor,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 ingdoni of Great Britain and Ire-
land, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED
MEANS OF GIVING INCREASED STRENGTH TO PAPER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Taylor, 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, aud 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Thomas Taylor, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to prepare paper (either sized, unsized, or
partially sized,) in such manner as to produce a change, more or less com-
plete, in the fibre or material of which the paper is composed, whereby the
texture and character of the paper are altered. The paper thus treated
becomes less porous, acquires increased density, strength, stiffness, and

page_text: durability, resists the action of water, and may be made to assume, to a greater
or lesser extent, the toughness, semi-trausparency, and general appearance of
parchment; the peculiar effect thus produced upon paper being as regards
chloride of zinc, a new fact in chemical science.
My Invention consists in soaking paper, when dry, in a concentrated
neutral, or nearly neutral solution of chloride of zinc, either at the natural
temperature of the air, or moderately heated, and afterwards thoroughly
washing the paper in water.
The following is the general process I adopt :-I take a solution of the salt
called chloride or muriate of zinc, and having rendered it as neutral as may be
by the addition of oxide or carbonate of zinc, I concentrate the solution by
evaporating it until it has acquired, when cold, the consistence of syrup. In
this state it will have the specific gravity of 2100, or thereabouts. The solu-
tion of zinc being thus prepared, I immerse or float upon its surface the paper
to be treated, until it is fully saturated with the solution. The paper is then
withdrawn, and the adhering liquor being removed by a scraper, roller, or any
other mechanical ineaus, it is either immediately plunged into water or allowed
to remain for a short time until it is apparently dry, then plunged into water
and washed therein until all soluble matter is removed. In cases where it is
desirable to retain a portion of oxide of zinc in the paper, the paper after
being partially washed is immersed in a weak solution of a carbonated alkali,
and afterwards thoroughly washed in water. The paper may then be pressed
and dried, and submitted to the ordinary processes for obtaining a smooth
or glazed surface, or it may be sized or colored.
After this treatment,it will be found that the paper is more or less changed,
has contracted in volume, become more deuse, and is less porous than before,
while, at the same time, it is Duch stronger. When, however, it is desired
that a more complete change should be produced in the paper, the solution of
zinc should be moderately heated before immersing the paper, or the paper
after having been drawn through the cold solution and the adhering liquor
removed, should be exposed to a gentle heat. The temperature necessary
my be varied from 80° or 90° Fabreinheit to little short of boiling water,
according to the effect that is desired to be produced on the paper. It must
also be borne in mind in determining the amount of heat to be applied, that
the kind of paper used, its thickness, density, the strength of the zinc solution
and the length of time during which the paper is exposed to heat, influence
the result.
In general I find that when ordinary blotting paper is used, and the paper
is heated by the application of metallic surfaces, a temperature of 120° to 140°

page_text: Falirenheit is sufficient.
A good criterion of the completion of the change is
to be found in the circumstance that the paper becomes somewhat swollen and
apparently dry, it also passes from a semi-transparent and rather rigid state to
one that is more opaque and flaccid.
The heating of the paper may be effected in several ways, first, by bringing
the solution of zinc to the required temperature; secondly, by laying the
saturated paper upon smooth heated surfaces, or by passing such surfaces over
it, as is done in the operation of ironing. When the paper is in the form of a
continuous web, this may be conveniently effected by passing the paper
between heated rollers or through a hot chamber, as is commonly done in the
drying of paper, in fact the whole operation from the first plunging the paper
into the bath of chloride of zinc to its final washing in water inay be made a
continuous process. I do not, however, claim any particular form of apparatus
for doing this, as the means are so simple as to be obvious to every mechanic,
and are also in ordinary use for various other purposes. I also find that this
process may be applied to paper already printed or written upon with common
writing ink, whereby both the paper and writing are rendered more durable.
In some cases I disselve, by the aid of heat, cotton fibre, starch, dextrine, or
gum in the concentrated solution of chloride of zinc; or I add to the solution
of chloride of zinc, the chlorides of tin, calcium or magnesium, prior to using
it; but in every case I use the substances in a state of solution, and afterwards
submit the paper to thorough washing with water If sheets of paper after
having been saturated with chloride of zinc be pressed firmly together and
a warm iro: passed over them, the surfaces will become permanently united,
and in this way many sheets may be joined together, or vessels formed of
one continuous piece.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the employment of
a concentrated solution of chloride of zinc either alone or mixed with other
substances to sized or unsized paper, and afterwards washing the paper in
water substantially in manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.