IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF HEMP AND FLAX
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Buchan, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of
Ireland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
HEMP AND FLAX."
Sealed the 17th October 1868, and dated the 29th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Buchan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th May 1868.
I, PATRICK BUCHAN, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF HEMP AND FLAX," to be as follows:-
Hemps vary greatly in the quantity of cannobine resin they contain,
and they are hard or comparatively soft in proportion to the amount of
this property they possess.
With the most rigid hemps I begin by passing them through a bath
of quicklime and water at 180°, the lime being largely in excess of

page_text: what the water will dissolve, in fact a mechanical mixture. The bath
is contained in a large vessel fitted with guide rollers and squeezing
rollers. The hemp in its long lengths is passed in at one end of this
vessel between a pair of carrying rollers, and over and under a series
of ascending and descending rollers until it comes to a pair which
squeeze it slightly to drive out the water; it is then washed to free it
from any lime adhering, and afterwards steeped for several hours in a
bath of muriatic acid and water at, say, 2° Twaddell. On removal from
this bath it is again washed. Up to this point this process is only
necessary for very hard hemp, but it may be used for most hemps, but
not so safely for very fine soft hemps.
Hemps treated as above described, and also hemps not requiring such
treatment, and also coarse flaxes, I treat by boiling in a solution of
sulphuret of sodium, or sulphuret of potassium at the strength, say, of
from 2° to 3° Twaddell, and from about 4 to 8 hours according to quality
(soda ash or potash will also boil, but will not soften in anything like
the same degree or safely); I then wash, and if the colour be required
to be taken out I use a bath of chloride of lime and water of the
strength necessary to bleach. If the colour is not required to be
extracted I use a bath of permanganate of potass 30 grains, more or less,
to the gallon of water, followed by a bath of sulphurous acid and water,
say, 4 oz. to the gallon, or a weak solution of chloride of lime in which
it lies, say, 6 hours, and is followed by a bath of sulphuric acid and.
water standing 1° or 1° Twaddell. If the fibre is required to be very
soft and for spinning very high counts of yarns I again steep for, say,
6 hours in a bath of sulphite of sodium about oz. to 1 gallon of cold
water afterwards in a bath of sulphuric acid and water at 1° Twaddell,
and then without washing off the sulphuric acid I steep the fibre in a
cold solution of soap boiled without frothing 2 to 4 lbs., say, to every
hundredweight of fibre, each handful of the fibre being passed rapidly
through a small portion of the solution, which is repeatedly renewed by
fresh soap; or better still, I steep the fibre in the mass for 12 hours in a
bath composed, say, of 2 oz. of sub-carbonate of potass with 1 oz. of
végetable oil to 3 gallons of cold water. It is then drained or dried in a
hydro-extractor and fully dried in the air and in shade, or by heated air:
in shade, after which it is passed through a series of rollers, fluted
and plain alternately, beginning with inch flutes and ending with
inch flutes. It is then ready for hackling and dressing.

page_text: In the various processes of steeping to prevent much handling and
cost of labour, and also to allow the chemicals to penetrate the fibre
and act on all equally I propose using a series of grids on which the
fibre is spread after boiling. These grids I fit into a cage formed to
receive 5 or 6 one above the other with stops between to keep them
separate. The cage containing the series is lowered into the vessels
containing the different baths and withdrawn therefrom with facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Patrick Buchan in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
BUCHAN, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Patrick Buchan, Her special licence
that I, the said Patrick Buchan, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Patrick Buchan, 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 HEMP AND FLAX," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Patrick Buchan, 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 1, the said Patrick Buchan, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly deseribed and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to prepare hemp and flax fibres for
spinning higher counts than are spun at present. I have found that
hemps vary greatly in the quantity of cannobine resin they contain, and
that they are hard or comparatively soft in proportion to the amount of
this property which they possess.
With the most rigid hemps I begin by passing them through a bath
of quicklime and water at one hundred and eighty degrees, the lime
being very largely in excess of what the water will dissolve, in fact a
mechanical mixture. The bath is contained in a large vessel fitted with
guide rollers for ensuring the proper immersion of the fibres, and a
pair of squeezing rollers for expressing the water therefrom as they leave
the vessel. The hemp in its long lengths is passed in at one end of
this vessel between a pair of carrying rollers, and over and under a series
of ascending and descending rollers until it comes to a pair at the
opposite end of the vessel by which the fibre is squeezed slightly to
expel the water therefrom; it is then washed to free it from any lime
adhering, and afterwards steeped for several hours in a bath of muriatic
acid and water at, say, two degrees Twaddel. On removal from this
bath it is again washed. The process described up to this point is only
necessary for very hard hemps, it may however be used for most hemps,
but not so safely for very fine soft hemps.
Hemps treated as above described, and also hemps not requiring such
preparatory treatment, and also coarse flaxes, I treat by boiling in a
solution of sulphuret of sodium or sulphuret of potassium at the strength,
say, of from two degrees to three degrees Twaddel, and from about four
to eight hours according to quality (soda ash or potash may also be used
for this boiling, but they will not soften in anything like the same
degree, or with equal safety); I then wash in clean water, and if the
color be required to be taken out I use a bath of chloride of lime and
water of the strength suitable for bleaching. If the color is not required
to be extracted I use a bath of permanganate of potass, thirty grains,
nore or less, to the gallon of water, followed by a bath of sulphurous
acid and water, say, four ounces to the gallon, or a weak solution of

page_text: chloride of lime, in which it lies, say, six hours. This saturation is
followed by a bath of sulphuric acid and water standing one or one
and a half degrees Twaddel. If the fibre is required to be very soft and
for spinning very high counts of yarns I again steep it for say six hours
in a bath of sulphite of sodium about half an ounce to one gallon of
cold water, and I afterwards submit it to a bath of sulphuric acid and
water at one degree Twaddel. On removing the fibre from this bath I
then, without washing off the sulphuric acid, steep the fibre in a cold
solution of soap boiled without frothing of a strength, say, of from two
to four pounds to every hundredweight of fibre, each handful of the
fibre being passed rapidly through a small portion of the solution, which
is repeatedly renewed by fresh soap; or, better still, I steep the fibre in
the mass for twelve hours in a bath composed, say, of two ounces of
sub-carbonate of potass with one ounce of vegetable oil to three gallons
of cold water. On removal from the bath I next submit the fibre to the
action of an hydro-extractor, and having by this means removed the
liquor therefrom I complete the drying of the fibre in the air and in
the shade, or by heated air in the shade. The fibre thus prepared I
pass under the action of a series of pairs of rollers fluted and plain
alternately, beginning with three-quarter inch flutes for the first pair,
and ending with one-eighth inch flutes for the last pair of fluted
rollers. The hemp or flax on leaving these rollers will be ready for the
hackling and dressing operation,
In the various processes of steeping above referred to it is important
to prevent more handling of the fibre than is absolutely necessary as an
economy
in the cost of labor results therefrom. It is also essential to
allow the chemicals to penetrate the fibre and act on all the fibres
equally. To attain these ends I propose to use a series of rectangular
grids formed of wood or wickerwork to receive the fibre. Upon these
the fibre is spread evenly as a thin layer after undergoing the boiling
process. These grids I fit into a cage formed to receive, say, five or six
one above the other with stops between to keep them separate. The
cage containing the series of loaded grids is lowered into the vessels
containing the different baths and withdrawn therefrom with facility.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in the Preparation of Hemp and Flax," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the

page_text: above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, treating hemp and flax in
the manner and for the purpose above described..
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Buchan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.