IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF VEGETABLE FIERES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER PULP OR HALF STUFF THEREFROM
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferrar Fenton, of Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF
VEGETABLE FIERES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER PULP OR HALF STUFF
THEREFROM."
Sealed the 13th May 1864, and dated the 21st November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferrar Fenton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
November 1863.
I, FERRAR FENTON, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER PULP OR HALF STUFF
THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the treatment of "gunney" and jute, otherwise
called Surat bagging, also straw, esparto grass, flax waste, reeds, leaves of the
iris flag, and bamboo and other canes, with a view to the preparation of pulp
or half stuff to the manufacture of paper. In preparing and bleaching
"gunney" and jute, otherwise called Surat bagging, and straw by one opera-
tion, it is proposed to employ a mixture of one part by weight of nitric acid and
five parts by weight of hydrochloric acid, of which mixture about four pints or
more, as occasion may require, are introduced into about one hundred gallons
of water, after which about fifty gallons of chlorine bleaching liquor of about
five degrees of strength are to be added. In the bath formed as above and

page_text: contained in a suitable vat, are placed the "gunney," jute, or Surat bagging, or
straw, and the whole is boiled for a short time, when the fibre will be rendered
white and perfectly soft, so as to pulp easily. The fibres are then taken out
of the boiling liquid, and the acids and chlorine they contain are removed or
destroyed in the usual manner, when the fibres will be ready for pulping.
In the preparation of Esparto grass, flax waste, reeds, leaves of the iris flag,
and bamboo and other canes, with a view to the manufacture of pulp or half
stuff for paper-making, it is proposed to boil such substances either by means
of steam or over a fire in a liquor consisting of one hundred gallons of water,
to which is added from six to eight pounds by weight of a mixture composed
of one part of nitric acid and five parts of hydrochloric acid of the ordinary
specific gravities, the boiling being continued until the silicates and gum are
thoroughly extracted and the fibres rendered soft. These fibres are then
removed from the vat or boiler, which may be either open or closed so as to
boil under pressure, and are well washed in lime water or in pure water in
order to destroy or remove the acids, after which they are washed in the
usual way, with a view to the removal of all coloring matter, and are finally
bleached by any well-known process.
When treating bamboo or ratan cane it is preferred to employ two parts of
nitric acid to five of hydrochloric acid, or five parts of sulphuric acid may be
employed with one part of nitric acid, in preparing the boiling wash.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent; filed
by the said Ferrar Fenton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERRAR
FENTON, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Ferrar Fenton, Her special license that I, the said Ferrar Fenton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ferrar
Fenton, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT
OF VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PAPER PULP OR HALF STUFF
THEREPROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ferrar
Fenton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should par-
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferrar Fenton, 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 state-
ment, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the treatment of "gunney" and "jute," other-
wise called Surat bagging, also straw, esparto grass, flax waste, flax straw,
reeds, leaves of the banana, plaintain, palm, and aguava, otherwise called
Mexican fibre, iris flag, and also wood fibres, bamboo, and other canes, and
the refuse sugar cane after the sugar has been expressed, and indeed all other
vegetable fibres, but more particularly those of Dutch grass and papyrus reeds,
with a view to the prepartion of pulp or half stuff for the manufacture of
paper. In preparing and bleaching "gunney" and "jute," otherwise called
Surat bagging, and straw, by one operation, it is proposed to employ (after well
washing the gunney "in soda ash ley, hot or cold,) a mixture of one part
by weight of nitric acid and five parts by weight of hydrochloric acid, or a'
mixture of these acids in such other proportion as required by the condition
of the raw fibre, of which mixture about four pints, or more or less as
occasion may require, are introduced into about one hundred gallons of water,
after which about fifty gallons of chlorine bleaching liquor of from two to five
degrees of strength are to be added. In the bath formed as above and con-
tained in a suitable vat are placed the "gunney," "jute," or Surat bagging, or
straw, and the whole is boiled for a short time, when the fibre will be rendered
white and perfectly soft, so as to pulp easily. The fibres are then taken out of
the boiling liquid, and the acids and chlorine they contain are removed or
destroyed in the usual manner, when the fibres will be ready for pulping.
In the preparation of esparto grass, flax waste, reeds, leaves of the iris flag,
and bamboo and other canes, with a view to the manufacture of pulp or half stuff
for paper-making, it is proposed to boil such substances either by means of steam
or over a fire in a liquor consisting of one hundred gallons of water, to which is
added from six to eight pounds, more or less, as experience alone can determine,

page_text: by weight, of a mixture composed of one part of nitric acid and five parts of
hydrochloric acid, or such other proportions as the condition of the raw fibre
requires, of the ordinary specific gravities, the boiling being continued until the
silicates and gum are thoroughly extracted and the fibres rendered soft. These
fibres are then removed from the vat or boiler, which may be either open or
closed so as to boil under pressure, and are well washed in lime water or in
pure water, in order to destroy or remove the acids, after which they are
washed in the usual way with a view to the removal of all coloring matter,
and are finally bleached by any well-known process. When treating bamboo
or ratan cane it is preferred to employ two parts of nitric acid to five of
hydrochloric acid, or five parts of sulphuric acid may be employed with one
part of nitric acid in preparing the boiling wash. In some cases, as, for
example, in the treatment of papyrus reeds and other vegetable fibrous
substances in which the amount of silicates is small, I use only a boiling wash
of dilute muriatic acid in lieu of the compound washes herein-before
mentioned, and when boiling ferns I prefer a wash of dilute muriatic acid or
a wash of a weak solution of sulphuric acid, or a combination of the two. In
some other cases, which can only be decided by practical examination of the
substances to be operated upon, I use a wash consisting of a dilute compound
of sulphuric, muriatic, and nitric acids combined in various proportions
according to the prevalence in the fibre of gum, resin, or silicate, whether
separately or together.
In lieu of the compound or simple acids herein-before mentioned as com-
posing the boiling washes, I propose in some cases to employ fluorides, either
alone or in combination in a dilute form, such washers being especially
applicable in the treatment of bamboo, ratan, and other canes wherein the
amount of silica is very large and difficult of removal. I may, however, observe
that boiling washes of this kind may be advantageously used for most other
fibres.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the application and used to and in the boiling of all kinds of vegetable
fibres with a view to the preparation of "half stuff" therefrom of washes
composed of dilute compound or simple acids or of fluorides, either alone or in
combination with acids, in lieu of caustic or carbonated alkalies, as herein-
before described.

page_text: Second, the application and use to and in the washing of "half stuff" after
boiling, as herein-before described, of alkaline liquors, such as lime water,
lime wash, lime, or solutions of soda or potash, either carbonated or not, with
a view to facilitate the thorough and even bleaching thereof, as herein-before
described.
Third, the application and use to and in the boiling of "half stuff" of a
wash composed of dilute fluorides, either alone or in combination with acids.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferrar Fenton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-four.
FERRAR FENTON. (L.S.)