AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF CON- VERTING WOOD INTO PAPER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF CON-
VERTING WOOD INTO PAPER."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th July 1854.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PROCESS OF
CONVERTING WOOD INTO PAPER" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the conversion of wood into pulp suitable for the
manufacture of paper.
In carrying out this Invention, any of the softer kinds of wood, such as
spruce, hemlock, pine, &c. are employed. The wood is split and sawn up into
pieces of about two inches in diameter, and from one to two feet in length;
these pieces of wood so cut are passed between pairs of pressing or squeezing
rollers until the wood is entirely crushed or broken up into small shreds.
To dissolve the gummy matter contained in wood, and which serves to
agglutinate together the fibres thereof, chlorine is employed in the following

page_text: manner A quantity of the broken or crushed woody shreds are placed in a
large vat or kier, partially filled with a solution of chloride of lime. This
solution is kept constantly agitated by revolving dashers, so as completely to
saturate the woody shreds, with the solution, and to diffuse these shreds
throughout the liquid.
When sufficiently saturated, the mass assumes the appearance of paper pulp
in the ordinary rag engine when the process of grinding is half finished. The
pulpy mass is next treated with sal-soda, either in solution or in the solid
state, for the purpose of bleaching the pulp.
The pulp may afterwards be washed and beaten and passed upon the
ordinary cylinder, or Fourdrinier machines, and made into paper in the common
method.
Instead of crushing the wood with rollers, as above described, any of the
ordinary crushers or pounders may be used for this purpose. Chlorine in the
gaseous state may be employed instead of chloride of lime, by being dissolved
in water, and, thus applied to the woody fibre contained in the vat, as above
described..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE PROCESS OF CONVERTING WOOD INTO PAPER," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent

page_text: Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, con-
sists in submitting wood to certain mechanical and chemical treatment,
whereby it is converted into pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper. To
enable others skilled in the art to use this process, I will proceed to describe
it minutely and in detail.
For the purposes of this Invention, the softer kinds of wood, such as spruce,
hemlock, pine, &c. are selected, and the bark and hard knots are removed
therefrom. Ordinary logs of these woods are split and sawn into pieces of
about two inches in diameter, and from one to two feet in length, and these
pieces are passed between pairs of pressing or squeezing rollers until the wood
is entirely crushed or broken up into small shreds.
The object of this crushing or breaking is to divide the wood into small
shreds, and thus to prepare it for the chemical action to which it is afterwards
exposed. The number of crushing rollers and the degree of pressure applied
to them is to be varied, according to the toughness of the wood and the size of
the pieces to be crushed.
It has been discovered by my correspondent that chlorine is a complete
solvent of the gummy matter contained in wood, and which gummy matter
serves to agglutinate together the fibres thereof, and he avails himself of this
discovery in the following manner:-A quantity of the broken or crushed
woody shreds is placed in a large vat or kier, partially filled with a solution of
chloride of lime, which is kept in constant agitation by any of the ordinary
revolving dashers or agitators, so as completely to saturate the woody shreds,
and effect the diffusion of these sheds throughout the liquid.
About one gallon of the solution of chloride of lime, of the strength of
three degrees Beaumé, is employed for every pound of woody shreds introduced.
The woody shreds are kept immersed and stirred in this solution from eight to
ten hours.
At the expiration of that time the mass assumes the appearance of paper
pulp produced in the ordinary rag engine when the process of grinding is half

page_text: finished (known as half stuff). The pulpy mass is drawn off from the vat just
described into another vat, where it is treated with sal-soda, either in solution
or in the solid state, in the proportion of about fifteen pounds of sal-soda to
one hundred pounds of pulp. The sal-soda is stirred up with the pulp for
about half an hour. The effect of this addition of the sal-soda is to bleach
the pulp.
The advantage of the employment of sal-soda at this stage is due, perhaps,
to the fact that it liberates an additional quantity of chlorine without dis-
coloring the woody matter, as sulphuric or other acids would. The pulp may
afterwards be washed and heaten and passed upon the ordinary cylinder, or
Fourdrinier machines, and made into paper in the common method.
Instead of crushing the wood with rollers, as above described, any of the
ordinary crushers or pounders may be used for this purpose. Chlorine in the
gascous state may be employed instead of chloride of lime, by being dissolved
in water, and thus applied to the woody fibre contained in the vat, as above
described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
the Process of Converting Wood into Paper," as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,―
First, the process of reducing wood to pulp and rendering it fit for the
manufacture of paper, as herein described.
Secondly, the employment of chloride of lime or chlorine as a solvent for
the gummy matter contained in woody fibre, substantially as described.
. And, thirdly, the employment of sal-soda in connection with chloride of lime
for bleaching pulp so made, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFfatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)