AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER PULP FROM WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Riddell, of Crosby Hall Chambers,
Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER PULP
FROM WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR."
Sealed the 9th January 1872, and dated the 14th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Riddell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on;
the 14th July 1871.
I, WILLIAM RIDDELL, of Crosby Hall Chambers, Bishopsgate Street,
in the City of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER
PULP FROM WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR," to be as follows :—
My said Invention relates to a novel process and apparatus for
manufacturing wood and other vegetable fibres into paper pulp or half
stuff.
*

page_text: The said Invention is more particularly advantageous for some
vegetable fibres than for others, and is chiefly designed to afford the
means for obtaining pulp of a superior quality from wood. For this
purpose I take any kind of wood and first reduce it to small shavings
or filaments in a suitable machine. These filaments or shavings are
immersed or soaked in water or otherwise so drenched therewith that
every part of the mass of filaments is thoroughly wetted. They are
then drained to free them from excess of water and to leave them
equally moist or damp throughout the mass. The filaments are then
placed in a closed vessel and subjected to the action of chlorine gas, a
stream of which is forced through the said vessel. This part of my
process is continued long enough to effect the thorough impregnation
of the wood with the chlorine gas, which is indicated by the changing
of the wood from its natural colour to a bright orange colour. I then
remove the mass of filaments from the aforesaid olosed vessel and place
them in a beating engine, whereby they are broken and washed. From
the beating engine the fibrous mass is taken to a poaching engine and
subjected to a bath or solution of chloride of lime, chlorite of lime, or
chlorine liquor, wherein it is bleached. After bleaching the fibrous
mass is washed in clear water, and is then ready for use in the form of
half-stuff which may be converted into paper by the ordinary processes
of manufacture.
In treating maize straw it is necessary to boil it in a solution of soda,
alkali, or lime, or subject it to the action of steam, as described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to me the 6th April 1871,
No. 923, but in the manufacture of half stuff from the prepared and
compressed maize boards as imported it is only necessary to open out or
tear them asunder by any suitable apparatus, and then subject such torn
material to the same treatment as the wood filaments.
By the above described process the fibres of all kinds of wood, maize,
and other vegetable fibres are economically and rapidly manufactured
into half stuff or pulp of superior quality, and according to the nature
of the vegetable fibre to be acted upon the boiling or steaming may or
may not be necessary before applying the chlorine gas.
In the above process the ordinary apparatus may be used, but I
prefer to employ improved apparatus for gassing, poaching, and bleaching
the fibres, whereby I accelerate and cheapen the process and obviate
all danger and difficulty, which in the use of the ordinary apparatus

page_text: are occasioned by the deleterious nature of the gas. I use an apparatus
constructed with two inclined cylinders provided, with feed screws.
The chlorine gas and the damp fibres are admitted into one cylinder
at its lower end, and carried up by the screw therein to the upper end
of the second cylinder, whose screw carries it down again to a small
tearing or beating wheel placed over a tank containing water into
which the fibre passes from the said wheel. From this tank a third
inclined cylinder with a screw extends upward and delivers the fibre to
the beating engine.
My improved poaching engine is also constructed with an inclined
cylinder and screw. The lower end of the said cylinder rests in a tank
with an inclined bottom for containing the bleaching liquid in which the
fibre is placed, the screw carries the fibre continuously upward through
the cylinder, and back into the tank until the material is sufficiently
washed and bleached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Riddell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RIDDELL, of Crosby Hall Chambers, Bishopsgate Street, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, 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 William Riddell, Her special licence that
I, the said William Riddell, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Riddell, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times. thercafter 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 PROCESS FOR
MANUFACTURING PAPER POLP FROM WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES AND
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Riddell, my executors or administrators, by an

page_text: 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 William Riddell, 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 statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing
forming a part of this Specification.
My Invention relates to a novel process and apparatus for manufac-
turing wood and other vegetable fibres into paper pulp or half stuff.
The said Invention is more particularly advantageous for some vegetable
fibres than for others, and is chiefly designed to afford the means for
obtaining pulp of a superior quality from wood. For this purpose I
take any kind of wood and first reduce it to small shavings or filaments
in a suitable machine. These filaments or shavings are immersed or
soaked in water or otherwise so drenched therewith that every part of
the mass of filaments is thoroughly wetted. They are then drained to
free them from excess of water and to make them equally moist or
damp throughout the mass. The filaments are then placed in a closed
vessel and subjected to the action of chlorine gas, a stream of which
is forced through the said vessel. This part of my process is continued
long enough to effect the thorough impregnation of the wood with the
chlorine gas.
This result is indicated by the changing of the wood
from its natural colour to a bright orange colour. I then remove the
mass of filaments from the aforesaid closed vessel and place them in a
beating engine whereby they are broken and washed. From the beating
engine the fibrous mass is taken to a poaching engine and subjected
to a bath or solution of chloride of lime, chlorite of lime, or chlorine
liquor wherein it is bleached. After bleaching the fibrous mass is
washed in clear water and is then ready for use in the form of half
stuff, which is to be converted into paper by the ordinary processes of
manufacture.
In treating maize straw it is necessary to boil it in a solution of soda
alkali, or lime, or to subject it to the action of steam, as described in
the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and bearing date

page_text: the 6th day of April 1871, No. 923, but in the manufacture of half
stuff from the prepared and compressed maize boards as imported it
is only necessary to open out or tear them asunder by any suitable
apparatus, and then subject such torn material to the chlorine gas,
and the same treatment as that to which the wood filaments are subjected
as above set forth.
By the above described process the fibres of all kinds of wood, maize,
and other vegetable fibres are economically and rapidly manufactured
into half stuff or pulp of superior quality, and according to the nature
of the vegetable fibre to be acted upon the boiling or steaming may
or may not be necessary before applying the chlorine gas.
In the above process the ordinary apparatus may be used, but I
prefer to employ improved apparatus for gassing, poaching, and bleach-
ing the fibres, whereby I accelerate and cheapen the process and obviate
all the danger and difficulty which in the use of ordinary apparatus is
occasioned by the deleterious nature of this gas.
The said apparatus is constructed as shown in the accompanying
Drawing, of which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of my
improved gassing apparatus; Figure 2 is a section of the tearing or
beating wheel on the line x, x, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a vertical
longitudinal section of a poaching engine constructed according to my
Invention.
The apparatus, Figure 1, has two inclined cylinders a, b, which have
fixed within them archimedean feed screws a¹, b'. The cylinders are
fitted to turn in the fixed ends a³, b, which are supported by the
brackets A. The fixed end a³ has a hopper c over the first cylinder a
for the admission of the fibres into the same. The spindle or shaft d
of the said cylinder is made hollow to admit the chlorine gas; e is a
small tank containing water and provided with a tearing or beating
wheelf. The damp fibres are introduced through the hopper c to the
first turn of the screw a' at a*, and the chlorine gas is admitted to
the second turn of the said screw through its hollow spindle. Then by
the revolution of this cylinder and screw the fibres are carried upward
in the said cylinder to the upper end of the second cylinder 6 and
screw b¹. These also revolve and thereby carry the fibres down into
the tank e. From this tank the fibres may be conducted to a beating
engine cither directly or through another cylinder and screw. Tho

page_text: required motion is imparted to the cylinders a, b, by any suitable
gearing from a steam engine or other motor.
The poaching engine, Figure 3, is also constructed with an archi-
medean screw g contained in a cylinder h, the lower end of which rests
in a tank i with an inclined bottom j and filled with water and bleaching
material. By the revolution of the cylinder the pulp and bleaching
liquid are carried upward to the other end of the tank, thus causing a
thorough mixing of the materials until the bleaching is completed.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner-in
which it is to be performed, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. Treating the wood filaments in the manufacture of paper pulp
therefrom by first soaking them and passing chlorine gas through them
without first boiling the said filaments, and finally completing their
bleaching with a weak solution of chloride of lime, chlorite of lime, or
chlorine liquor, as herein set forth.
Second. Treating maize fibres in the manufacture of paper pulp
therefrom by first boiling them in a solution of lime or steaming them
and afterwards gassing them and completing their bleaching with a
weak solution of chloride of lime, chlorite of lime, or chlorine liquor, as
herein set forth.
Third. The apparatus for gassing and poaching the vegetable fibres
in the manufacture of paper pulp, constructed and operating as herein
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Riddell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM RIDDELL. (L.S.)
Witness,
EDWARD C. JACKSON.