CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DICKINSON, of Nash Mill, in the Parish of Abbotts Langley, in the County
of Hertford, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two, in the second year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Dickinson, His especial
licence that I, the said John Dickinson, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Dickinson, my exors, aduiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
nake, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Dickinson, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Dickinson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
as follows, that is to say :-
The first of my improvements in the manufacture of paper, as aforesaid,
consists in a process of purifying the pulp from knots, grit, and other im-
purities, by causing it, in a dilute fluid state, to pass between longitudinal
apertures, on the surface of a revolving cylinder, about the one hundred and
fifteenth part of an inch wide. The apparatus for this purpose is exhibited
in Figures 1, 2, and 3, in a Drawing hereunto annexed, wherein Figure 1
exhibits a longitudinal section, Figure 2 a transverse section, and Figure 3 a
plan, and in all the three Figures the same letters are used for reference to the
several parts. Letter a represents a shallow vat in which the revolving
cylinder 6 works; the pulp diluted to that consistency which suits the paper
machine it is intended to supply, is delivered into this vat, and the level of it
is regulated by means of a waste so as to keep the vat nearly full, and from
this vat there is no other outlet for the pulp except through the periphery
of the revolving cylinder b, and out of each end of it into the troughs C, C,
through which it is conducted to the machine which is intended to make it into
paper; the revolving cylinder 6 is constructed like a squirrel cage, of circular
hoops, or an endless spiral wire attached to transverse metal bars X, X, and is
so formed that the spaces between the hoops, or between each spiral ring of
the wire, are sufficient to allow of the passage of the fibres of pulp, but narrow
enough to intercept the knots and other substances which it is desirable to
keep out of the paper, which, when the machine is at work, will therefore
remain and accumulate in the vat a. For making fine paper it is found
practicable to pass the pulp through spaces the hundred and fifteenth part
of an inch wide, and even less than that; but the cylinder must, in other cases,
be formed with wider apertures, as for coarser papers the fibres are larger,
and in some cases they require to be twice the width above specified. It has
been before mentioned that the pulp enters the revolving cylinder solely
through the periphery, the ends being solid except the axis, which, at each
end, consists of a large tube. through which the pulp flows out. The hoops
or wire of which the periphery is formed, are about 3/8ths of an inch wide on
the outer surface, and about 1/4 inch thick, and the inner surface, which comes
against the transverse bars X, X, is only about 1/4 inch wide, so that the
apertures towards the inside of the cylinder are wider than they appear
externally. The best mode of forming these cylinders is by a spiral wire
drawn to the shape above described, and wound round and attached to the
transverse bars X, X, by a rivet at every point of contact, and the ends of
the transverse bars require to be firmly fixed to the cylinder ends by screws and
i.

page_text: soldering. The pulp would naturally accumulate on the surface of this
cylinder, and almost immediately stop up the apertures between the wires,
but this effect is prevented by the agitation of the pulp in the interior of the
cylinder produced by the rapid and constant up-and-down motion of the
float d; this instrument is of the shape described in the section Figure 1,
and is nearly long enough to reach from one end to the other of the cylinder
inside. It is hollow, but made water-tight and formed of strong copper, and
has a metal bar through it with an arm projecting from each end, to which
is fixed a strong link, and by these links it is hung to two levers k, k, in
such a way that the levers in moving up and down raise and depress the
float, but in all cases without bringing any part, of it into contact with the
cylinder; I call this a float, but it is intended, with the links and levers to
which it is fixed, to be much heavier than water, so that after being elevated
by the levers it may sink very suddenly, by its own weight, when they are
no longer supported. The range of up-and-down movement given to this
float should be about one and one quarter inch, and the rate of movement
about eighty or one hundred alternations per minute, and this, by suddenly
checking the flow of pulp through the apertures in its descent, or rather
reversing the flow, which, in its ascent it promotes, prevents any lodgement
of the fibres of rag. The cylinder 6 has a toothed wheel y fixed on the tube
part of one of the ends, and working between two metal flanches fixed to
the wooden side of the vat, for the purpose of keeping the pulp away from
the wheel, and it is made to revolve by a pinion f fixed on the spindle g,
which goes across the vat, and is fixed by two plummer blocks on the outside
of the troughs, and has a rotary motion given to it by the rigger h' by means
of a strap from any convenient power, at the rate of forty. or fifty revolutions
per minute. This spindle has also fixed upon it two double eccentrics i, i,
immediately under the levers k, k, so that in every revolution it twice lifts
those levers, and at the same time elevates the float d. The diameter of the
cylinder is not very material, I have found fourteen inches the most con-
venient size; the length of this cylinder must be regulated according to the
size of the machine it is intended to supply with pulp; but I have found a
cylinder four feet long, in the groov'd part, sufficient to supply to a machine
of the largest size in ordinary use, viz, capable of making paper four feet
six wide, and when of that length it is necessary to have a wheel and pinion
at each end. The metal flanches 1, 1, 1, are firmly fixed to the sides of the
vat a with a water-tight joint, and form the bearings in which the cylinder
works.
The second of my improvements relates to the transverse cutting of paper.

page_text: In the machinery in use for this purpose, one knife is fixed, and the paper
being drawn or led over it, after the length of a sheet has passed another
knife, having the edge at an angle with the fixed knife, is made to pass it,
the one edge coming into close contact with the other, and thus the cut is
performed in the manner of shears. My improvement consists in forming
the moveable knife with the cutting edge of the shape shewn in Figure 4 of
the annexed Drawing; that is to say, the cut is intended to communicate at
both ends at the same time, and to be completed as soon as the middle part
of the upper knife has passed the middle part of the lower one. The angle
of the edges, shewn in the Drawing, is what I find in practice to be sufficient
for cutting, but the exact angle of the edges is not of importance.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dickinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two

page_text: LONDON:
PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY:
PUBLISHED AT THE GREAT SEAL PATENT OFFICE,
25, SOUTHAMPTON BUILDINGS, HOLBORN.

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DICKINSON, of Nash Mill, in the Parish of Abbotts Langley, in the County
of Hertford, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-two, in the second year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Dickinson, His especial
licence that I, the said John Dickinson, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Dickinson, my exors, adiiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Dickinson, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Dickinson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed; is described and ascertaine
as follows, that is to say:-
The first of my improvements in the manufacture of paper, as aforesaid
consists in a process of purifying the pulp from knots, grit, and other im
purities, by causing it, in a dilute fluid state, to pass between longitudina
apertures, on the surface of a revolving cylinder, about the one hundred an
fifteenth part of an inch wide. The apparatus for this purpose is exhibite
in Figures 1, 2, and 3, in a Drawing hereunto annexed, wherein Figure
exhibits a longitudinal section, Figure 2 a transverse section, and Figure 3 a
plan, and in all the three Figures the same letters are used for reference to the
several parts. Letter a represents a shallow vat in which the revolving
cylinder 6 works; the pulp diluted to that consistency which suits the paper
machine it is intended to supply, is delivered into this vat, and the level of it
is regulated by means of a waste so as to keep the vat nearly full, and from
this vat there is no other outlet for the pulp except through the periphery
of the revolving cylinder b, and out of each end of it into the troughs C, C,
through which it is conducted to the machine which is intended to make it into
paper; the revolving cylinder 6 is constructed like a squirrel cage, of circular
hoops, or an endless spiral wire attached to transverse metal bars X, X, and is
so formed that the spaces between the hoops, or between each spiral ring of
the wire, are sufficient to allow of the passage of the fibres of pulp, but narrow
enough to intercept the knots and other substances which it is desirable to
keep out of the paper, which, when the machine is at work, will therefore
remain and accumulate in the vat a. For making fine paper it is found
practicable to pass the pulp through spaces the hundred and fifteenth part
of an inch wide, and even less than that; but the cylinder must, in other cases,
be formed with wider apertures, as for coarser papers the fibres are larger,
and in some cases they require to be twice the width above specified. It has
been before mentioned that the pulp enters the revolving cylinder solely
through the periphery, the ends being solid except the axis, which, at each
end, consists of a large tube through which the pulp flows out.
The hoops
or wire of which the periphery is formed, are about 3/8ths of an inch wide on
the outer surface, and about 1/4 inch thick, and the inner surface, which comes
against the transverse bars X, X, is only about 1/4 inch wide, so that the
apertures towards the inside of the cylinder are wider than they appear
externally. The best mode of forming these cylinders is by a spiral wire
drawn to the shape above described, and wound round and attached to the
transverse bars X, X, by a rivet at every point of contact, and the ends of
the transverse bars require to be firmly fixed to the cylinder ends by screws and
i'

page_text: soldering. The pulp would naturally accumulate on the surface of this
cylinder, and almost immediately stop up the apertures between the wires,
but this effect is prevented by the agitation of the pulp in the interior of the
cylinder produced by the rapid and constant up-and-down motion of the
float d; this instrument is of the shape described in the section Figure 1,
and is nearly long enough to reach from one end to the other of the cylinder
inside. It is hollow, but made water-tight and formed of strong copper, and
has a metal bar through it with an arm projecting from each end, to which
is fixed a strong link, and by these links it is hung to two levers k, k, in
such a way that the levers in moving up and down raise and depress--the
float, but in all cases without bringing any part of it into contact with the
cylinder; I call this a float, but it is intended, with the links and levers to
which it is fixed, to be much heavier than water, so that after being elevated
by the levers it may sink very suddenly, by its own weight, when they are
no longer supported. The range of up-and-down movement given to this
float should be about one and one quarter inch, and the rate of movement
about eighty or one hundred alternations per minute, and this, by suddenly
checking the flow of pulp through the apertures in its descent, or rather
reversing the flow, which, in its ascent it promotes, prevents any lodgement
of the fibres of rag. The cylinder 6 has a toothed wheel y fixed on the tube
part of one of the ends, and working between two metal flanches fixed to
the wooden side of the vat, for the purpose of keeping the pulp away from
the wheel, and it is made to revolve by a pinion ƒ fixed on the spindle g,
which goes across the vat, and is fixed by two plummer blocks on the outside
of the troughs, and has a rotary motion given to it by the rigger h by means
of a strap from any convenient power, at the rate of forty-or-fifty-revolutions
per minute. This spindle has also fixed upon it two double eccentrics i, i,
immediately under the levers k, k, so that in every revolution it twice lifts
those levers, and at the same time elevates the float d. The diameter of the
cylinder 6 is not very material, I have found fourteen inches the most con-
venient size; the length of this cylinder must be regulated according to the
size of the machine it is intended to supply with pulp; but I have found a
cylinder four feet long, in the groov'd part, sufficient to supply to a machine
of the largest size in ordinary use, viz', capable of making paper four feet
six wide, and when of that length it is necessary to have a wheel and pinion
at each end. The metal flanches 1, 1, 1, are firmly fixed to the sides of the
vat a with a water-tight joint, and form the bearings in which the cylinder
works.
The second of my improvements relates to the transverse cutting of paper.

page_text: In the machinery in use for this purpose, one knife is fixed, and the paper
being drawn or led over it, after the length of a sheet has passed another
knife, having the edge at an angle with the fixed knife, is made to pass it,
the one edge coming into close contact with the other, and thus the cut is
performed in the manner of shears. My improvement consists in forming
the moveable knife with the cutting edge of the shape shewn in Figure 4 of
the annexed Drawing; that is to say, the cut is intended to communicate at
both ends at the same time, and to be completed as soon as the middle part
of the upper knife has passed the middle part of the lower one. The angle
of the edges, shewn in the Drawing, is what I find in practice to be sufficient
for cutting, but the exact angle of the edges is not of importance.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dickinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hund
JOHN DICKINSON. (L.B.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1882, the aforesaid John Dickinson came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.