IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF EXTRACTING THE, FILAMENTS OF STRAW AND THE BARK OF THE MULBERRY TREE, AND IN, CONVERTING THE SAME INTO PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN. THE APPARATUS THEREFOR.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustave Demailly, of Argenteuil, Department of
66
the Seine and Oise, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, for
the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF EXTRACTING THE,
FILAMENTS OF STRAW AND THE BARK OF THE MULBERRY TREE, AND IN,
CONVERTING THE SAME INTO PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN.
THE APPARATUS THEREFOR.'
"
Sealed the 14th October 1870, and dated the 6th August 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Gustave Demailly at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 6th August 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section-
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAVE
DEMAILLY, of Argenteuil, Department of the Seine and Oise, in the
Empire of France, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in posession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OF EXTRACTING THE FILAMENTS OF STRAW AND THE BARK OF THE
MULBERRY TREE, AND IN CONVERTING THE SAME,INTO PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE

page_text: OF PAPER, AND IN THE APPARATUS THEREFOR," and have, petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration
that I am the first and true Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gustave Demailly, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully.
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:
The first part of my Invention relates to a chemical operation for
-preparing the filaments before submitting them to a mechanical process
for converting them into pulp.
The chemical operation is as follows:-Having previously cut the
straw into lengths of from 5 to 6 centimetres it is boiled in caustic lye of
from 1 to 2 degrees for about 2 hours, it is then withdrawn and washed
in either hot or cold water mixed with about 1 per cent. of sulphuric
acid in order to remove the colouring matter produced by the effect of
the caustic lye..
In preparing the bark of the mulberry tree a simple water retting will
suffice when the tree is not green, or if it is desired to accelerate the
work it may be cut in lengths of from 8 to 10 centimetres and boiled
for a quarter of an hour in a soda lye at 12 a degree, when it
be
withdrawn and passed to the machine for converting it into pulp, of
which Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 an end view.
may
A is a grooved cylinder turning round its axis o, and moves in a
trough B formed of plates also grooved, and whose circumference does
not excede that of the cylinder by more than 3 centimetres, and leaving
between them a space determined by the nature of substance to be
treated and the state to which it is to be reduced. These plates are
maintained against the cylinder A by means of india-rubbers c, fixed
by one of their extremities to a transverse shaft a, furnished at its ends
with pivots receiving rollers rolling on an inclined plane p. These india-
rubbers embrace the whole of the plates and pass over a second
transverse shaft a¹ also rolling on an inclined plane p¹, and are fixed
by means of iron hooks E to the levers F, supplied with weights P for
regulating the pressure. The two inclined planes p, p¹, tend to draw
the extreme plates against the bars on which the india rubbers rest.
On each side of the cylinder A are placed as close as possible two cast

page_text: iron cheeks J, J, on which are fixed parts of circular crowns of sheet
iron D, pierced with as many rectangular guides as there are plates.
These guides impart to the plates B a percussion motion, and prevent
them rising one on the other. A space which may vary from 1 to 5
tenths of a millimetre is made between the plates B and the cylinder A,
according as it is desired to make paper pulp or simply to extract the
filaments.
Having thus described the parts of the machine I will now explain the
modus operandi:-The matter having undergone the chemical process
before mentioned is spread on the endless cloth T which leads it between
the grooved cylinders M, M, which latter distribute it uniformly to the
machine and force it to pass through the entrance r; it is then drawn
along by the grooved cylinder A and reaches the first plate, which
yielding to the pressure strikes the matter which continuing to arrive is
treated similarly by each blade in succession. From this it will be
observed that the drawing movement of the cylinder A in conjunction
with the striking of the plates causes the separation of the filaments and
the gummy particles, destroys the parenchyma which escapes through the
interstices of the grooved plates B, and effects a partial solution of the
gum in the water contained in the basin b. The matter leaves the
machine by the opening N in the form of filamentous rolls and falling
on the endless cloth T is thence conducted to an agitator where it is
separated, and is then in a condition to be employed either in the
formation of tissue (in the case of the mulberry bark) or for conversion
into paper pulp. In reducing the straw at once into pulp the cylinder
is completely surrounded with grooved plates; in this case the straw
falls through the interstices of the plates into the lower basin b, whence
it has a continuous or intermittent flow.
As regards the bark after having submitted to one machine for
extracting the filaments it is subjected to a second completely surrounded
with grooved plates which reduce it to paste. The extraction of these
latter filaments require grooves of from 4 to 6 millimetres and one part
flat of 5 tenths of a millimetre at the angle.
For the manufacture of pulp the grooves are from 2 to 4 millimetres
with the angles as sharp as possible.
Besides the straw and mulberry tree, aloes, the agava americana, the
yucca, the banana, the rush, the papyrus, the palm, the phormium-
tenax, the bark of the osier, the lime, chesnut, willow, and other

page_text: trees and shrubs as well as hemp and flax may be treated by this
method.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the rotary grooved cylinder with grooved
blades, the india-rubbers for the distribution of pressure, the iron checks 5
and guides to the grooved plates, and the chemical process for preparing
the filaments before submitting them to the machine, substantially as
and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustave Demailly, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the year of 1
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GUSTAVE DEMAILLY. (L.S.)