AN IMPROVED METHOD OP TREATING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO BE USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Watt, of No. 18, Graham Street, Walworth,
Surrey, Chemist, and Thomas Snaith Haviside, of 69, Cornhill, in the
City of London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OP TREATING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO
BE USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Watt and Thomas
Snaith Haviside at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 1st September 1862.
We, JOHN WATT, of No. 18, Graham Street, Walworth, Surrey, Chemist,
and THOMAS SNAITH HAVISIDE, of 69, Cornhill, in the City of London,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "An
IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES TO BE USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the obtaining from flax and other similar vegetable
fibrous substances of a material capable of being used as a substitute for
cotton, and consists in subjecting the flax or other similar vegetable fibrous
substance to the action of proto-carbonate of soda, or bi-carbonate of soda, or
proto-carbonate of potassa, or bi-carbonate of potassa, or soda ash, in solution
in water at the boiling temperature and continuing the boiling until the
solution becomes so concentrated that crystallization or solidification of the
carbonate or salt employed will take place on the cooling of the liquid contents

page_text: of the boiler, or the boiling may be continued until aqueous fusion ensues.
During the boiling evaporation of the water will take place, the loss of water
thereby occasioned is to be supplied. After the fibrous substance has been
sufficiently boiled it is to be carefully washed in water, and then gradually and
carefully bleached with a solution of chloride of lime or chloride of soda.
A substance is thus produced which may be applied as a substitute for
cotton.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Watt and Thomas Snaith Haviside in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WATT, of No. 13, Graham Street, Walworth, Surrey, Chemist, and THOMAS
SNAITH HAVISIDE, of No. 69, Cornhill, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Watt and Thomas Snaith Haviside, Her special licence that we, the
said John Watt and Thomas Snaith Haviside, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Watt and Thomas Snaith
Haviside, our 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, a Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF TREATING FLAX AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
TO BE USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Watt and Thomas Snaith Haviside, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho
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 we, the said John Watt and Thomas Snaith
Haviside, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer÷
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:―
Our said Invention relates to the obtaining from flax and other similar
vegetable fibrous substances of a material capable of being used as a substitute
for cotton, and consists in subjecting the flax or other similar vegetable fibrous
substance to the action of proto-carbonate of soda, or bi-carbonate of soda, or
proto-carbonate of potassa, or bi-carbonate of potassa, or soda ash in solution
in water, and heating the whole to the boiling point, and boiling the same
until the fibrous substance has been so acted upon that on being washed and
treated with an aqueous solution of chloride of lime or chloride of soda,
it is converted into a substance which may be applied as a substitute for
cotton.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will now proceed moro particularly to describe the
samc.
:
The flax or other vegetable fibrous substance employed is placed in a
suitable boiling vessel with a sufficient quantity of water to cover the vegetable
fibrous substance. Proto-carbonate of soda, or bi-carbonate of soda, or
proto-carbonate of potassa, or bi-carbonate of potassa or soda ash, is then to bo
added to the contents of the boiler or vessel in a quantity sufficient to form a
saturated or nearly saturated solution at the boiling point.
Or the salt
employed may be dissolved in water and such solution placed in the boiler.
The contents of the boiler or vessel are then to be heated to the boiling point,
and the boiling is to be continued until the solution becomes so concentrated
by evaporation that crystallization of the carbonate or salt will take place on
the cooling of the liquid contents of the boiler, or the boiling may be continued
until solidification or aqueous fusion ensues. The condition of evaporation to
produce crystallization may be ascertained either by taking out during the
process a small quantity thereof, and allowing it to cool, when if sufficiently
concentrated, crystals of the salt employed will be deposited, or it may be
ascertained from the formation of a crystalline pellicle on the surface of the
liquid.
When any one of these conditions is attained it will be found that 'con-
siderable evaporation of the water has taken place, and a consequent diminution
or loss in quantity thereof has been occasioned. This diminution or loss is to
be then compensated for by a supply of water to the contents of the boiler or
vessel equal to the loss in quantity occasioned by evaporation. And similar
additions of water are to be repeated and the boiling continued, and similar
evaporations allowed to take place, until the condition of the fibrous substanco

page_text: is such that when taken out of the boiler or vessel and washed and then
steeped in a solution of chloride of lime or chloride of soda it becomes converted
into a substance which may be applied as a substitute for cotton. This condition
of the fibrous substance will be readily ascertained by taking a small portion of
it from time to time during the process and treating it in the manner described.
When the fibrous substance has been sufficiently boiled, it may be removed
from the solution, and placed in any suitable vessel, or the solution may be
run off from the boiler or vessel containing it. The fibrous substance is then
to be washed with water in any convenient manner, in order to free it from
any alkali and other matters that may remain about it. The washing should
be continued until the water employed runs off colorless. The fibrous
substance is then taken from the boiler or vessel containing it, and placed
in a bleaching cistern or other suitable apparatus, and treated with an aqueous
solution of chloride of lime or chloride of soda. The cistern or other suitablo
apparatus and the contents thereof may then be gently and slightly heated by
means of steam-pipes or other suitable apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Watt, on behalf of myself and the
said Thomas Snaith Haviside, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Twenty-eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three.
(10-7)
JOHN WATT.