AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FOR SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING
FOR SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES."
A communication from abroad by Marie Ernest Alfred Cornut, of
Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, in the Republic of France.
-
Sealed the 22nd May 1872, and dated the 8th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton'
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition;!il
on the 8th December 1871.
Pl.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chanceryl
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby 1
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE: OF
PREPARING FOR SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE J
FIBRES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is so to prepare flax, hemp, and other like
vegetable fibres that they may be rendered capable of being worked by
1

page_text: the machinery in ordinary use for preparing and spinning wool and
cotton. To attain this object the flax or hemp is first crushed in the
straw, thereby removing therefrom the whole or greater part of the boon,
and thus obtaining stricks of parallel fibres. These stricks are divided
into bunches of from three to six ounces in weight, and around these
stricks are placed rings of india-rubber, or they may be bound loosely
with twine at various parts of the length. They are then placed in au
alkaline lixiviating bath and kept at boiling heat for say from 10 to 12
hours.
The practical difficulty hitherto. experienced of preventing the fibres
from intermingling after having been divested of their boon, and thereby
loosing their rigidity, is by this arrangement obviated.
When the liquor is in a state of ebullition an ascending current will
act upon the flax, and while the bunches will be free to expand the
fibres will be retained by the rings and thus be prevented from becoming
entangled. When the operation of steeping is supposed to be finished
the stricks are taken out. They are then washed in acidulated water so
as to neutralise any alkali which they may contain, after which they are
well rinsed and then left'to dry.
For hemp this. process offers great advantages, as it causes the hemp
to acquire a suppleness and fineness hitherto unknown, at the same time
rendering it silky and separating the fibres the one from the other.
When treating. retted and scutched flax the material is divided into
bunches of from three to six ounces, held together with twine or rubber
rings, as before explained. In this case the alkaline bath may be some-
what weaker, and the duration of the boiling process may be shortened.
In, treating China grass and other like vegetable fibres for spinning the
like operation to that above described may be employed!>
As the flax and hemp after having been submitted to this process
becomes more supple it will be understood that the draught and pressure
of the preparing and spinning machines now in actual use must be
somewhat modified both.in dimension and motivé power, so as to meet
the requirements of the improved condition of the material to be spun

page_text: 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 6th June 1872.
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 Eighth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING FOR SPINNING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS,
AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES," being a communication to me from abroad
by Marie Ernest Alfred Cornut, of Boulevard Beaumarchais, Paris, in
the Republic of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly 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) :-
When wool and cotton have been submitted the one to scouring and
the other to beating, materials almost pure are obtained, the fibres being
completely separated and perfectly prepared for spinning.

page_text: With flax and hemp on the contrary after combing a complex material
has to be dealt with, consisting chiefly of (1) the natural fibres of the
plant; (2) pectic acid (vegetable jelly) proceeding from the trans-
formation by the retting of the gum which unites the fibres; and (3)
small pieces of straw forming part of the boon which the scutching and
heckling processes do not remove. If combed flax be examined by the
aid of the microscope a series of bright scales of resinous appearance
forming a tube around the fibres will be seen. This is a foreign
substance more or less pure pectic acid. Thus in spinning flax the
preparing machines have not only to prepare the fibres, that is to say, to
lay them in regular and parallel lengths, but they have also to break
mechanically this pectic acid which adheres to and surrounds the fibres.
It is this mechanical operation which necessitates the employment of
considerable motive power, and of the large, ponderous, and expensive
machinery such as is used for the working of flax and hemp. This
mechanical operation of separating the fibres is furthermore but ineffec-
tually carried out at present, hence the invention of wet spinning to
remedy this effect, and dissolve this foreign substance which hinders the
operation of spinning. It is also for this reason that some spinners
submit their bobbins to the action of steam, or immerse them in boiling
water. The reason for these two operations is that the boiling water
suffices for converting the insoluble pectic acid into soluble metapectic
acid, and in consequence to disembarrass the fibres of what is improperly
called gummy matter, rosin, gum rosin, but which is really pectic acid.
יוני
11
داخه و
I'
The fibres of flax obtained by the process in actual use contain besides
this pectic acid a yellow coloring matter, which is extracted during the
retting process, that is to say, by lixiviation in a weak alkaline solution.
This operation has this drawback, that in extracting from the strick the
foreign matter contained therein the fibres are thereby affected.
Now the object of the present Invention is to remedy these defects,
and to bring the flax and kindred fibres to a state of purity, separation,
and parallelism, comparable to woollen and cotton fibres properly
prepared, and to admit of such fibres being operated upon by the
machines at present in use for manufacturing woollen and cotton yarn,
such machines being, however, modified to suit the length of fibre under
treatment.
In treating flax and hemp in the straw according to this Invention,
the straw is first crushed as usual in order to remove the greater portion

page_text: of the boon and obtain parallel stricks of fibres. These stricks are then
divided into small bunches of from three to six ounces in weight, and
placed in an alkaline lixiviating bath, maintained at a boiling heat by
steam or otherwise.
The proportion of carbonate of potash, or other alkali such as car-
bonate of soda, carbonate of lime or ammonia (producing the same
chemical reaction) employed, varies from five to ten per cent., according
to the nature, fineness, or coarseness of the flax to be treated.
required for the boiling varies from eight to twelve hours.
The time
A practical difficulty was to prevent the fibres from intermingling
when once divested of the boon or protecting envelope. This defect
it is proposed to remedy in the following manner :-Each bunch of flax
is bound with twine or india-rubber rings placed at given distances
apart, but so as to leave the bundles free to swell and the fibres to play
under the action of the ascending and descending currents of the liquid
in which they are immersed. When the boiling operation is considered
finished the bunches are taken out and plunged into vessels containing
water acidulated with sulphuric or other acid in order to neutralize the
carbonate of soda or potash which the fibres may contain. The bundles
are then removed from the acid bath, and after being well rinced they
are left to dry. The bundles on their removal from the alkaline bath
will leave behind the greater portion of the boon that was left on the
fibres after the crushing operation, and the fibres will be found to be
well separated from each other. Simple scutching will then restore
pliability to the flax fibres.
When however hemp is treated the operation of rendering it pliable is
unneeded, as it naturally acquires a fineness, softness, and pliability
hitherto unknown, at the same time the fibres are silky and perfectly
separated.
In treating flax and hemp already retted and scutched, and also China
grass and other like fibres, the material is divided into bunches of from
three to six ounces, which are held together by strings or rubber rings as
above mentioned and submitted to an alkaline solution of less strength
than above indicated, the time of ebullition may also be shortened.
The material, whether flax or hemp, obtained by the improved process
does not present the same characteristics as the fibres at present in use.
It is lighter, finer, softer, and more admirably divided. It will therefore

page_text: be easily understood that the flax and hemp machinery commonly used
need not be employed for converting the fibres into yarn, but that the
fibres possessing now qualities akin to those possessed by cotton and
wool may be operated by like-machinery.
الك
1. "
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "an improved
mode of preparing for spinning flax, hemp, China grass, and other
vegetable fabrics, 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, the treatment of flax, hemp, and other like vegetable fibres when
in the form of bundles, in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
In witness whereof. I. the said Alfred Vincent Newton. have here-
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)