A NEW MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSES TO WHICH HEMP AND FLAX ARE USUALLY APPLIED
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmond Bertin, of Aldgate, in the City of London,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE SUITABLE
FOR THE PURPOSES TO WHICH HEMP AND FLAX ARE USUALLY APPLIED."
Sealed the 20th October 1857, and dated the 15th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmond Bertin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th July 1857.
I, EDMOND BERTIN, of Aldgate, in the City of London, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW MANUFACTURE
OF FIBRE SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSES TO WHICH HEMP AND FLAX ARE USUALLY
APPLIED," to be as follows:-
My said improvements relate to the employment of the leaves of the shrub
or plant called "baguois" in the French and English colonies, and classed by
botanists among the family of the "pandanus;" to the separation of the bark
or cuticle and gumo-resinous parts; and, lastly, to the employment of certain
machinery for facilitating the preparation of the fibre.
I prepare the leaves by boiling them in water, and afterwards add soda,
potash, or other applicable alkali or alkaline earth or earths, neutralizing them
as soon as required by the employment of dilute sulphuric or other suitable
acids, by which means the fibre can be obtained without the usual process of
retting.
The machinery I employ combines the processes of breaking, rolling, and

page_text: rubbing, consisting of a framework carrying a series of upper rollers, having
below them a corresponding set of rollers; of these the first upper and first
lower rollers or feeding rollers are fluted longitudinally, while all the others
are fluted transversely exept the last upper and last lower rollers, or delivering
rollers, which are smooth, and the whole are rotated by toothed pinions, and
have a rubbing action given them by means of occentrics. The rollers are
fed by an endless band in front, and a similar endless band at the end delivers
the prepared fibre as it leaves the rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmond Bertin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMOND
BERTIN, of Aldgate, in the City of London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edmond Bertin, Her special licence that I, the said Edmond Bertin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edmond Bertin, my 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, an Invention for "A NEW MANU-
FACTURE OF FIBRE SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSES TO WHICH HEMP AND FLAX ARE
USUALLY APPLIED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edmond Bertin, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmond Bertin, 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 follow-
ing statement:-

page_text: My said improvements relate to the employment of the leaves and bark of
the shrub or plant called "baguois," in the French and English colonies, and
classed by botanists among the family of the "pandanus;" to the separation
of the bark or cuticle and gumo-resinous parts; and, lastly, to the employ-
ment of certain machinery for facilitating the preparation of the fibre.
And for the better understanding of my said Invention I will now proceed
to detail the particulars thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed for the mode of constructing my improved machinery, in which the
same letters apply to corresponding parts throughout.
I first proceed to prepare the green or the dried leaves and bark of the
plants to be subjected to my processes by boiling the green or dry plants in a
cistern or boiler of sufficient length to receive them, supplied with a steam-
tight cover, and having at bottom a draw-off cock. The plants are to be thus
boiled in pure water or previously used lye water for about one or two hours
and then reboiled in a fresh supply of water. After these boilings the boiler
is to be refilled, adding a solution of potash or soda, caustic or otherwise, in
which the plants should be boiled three or four hours, and the wasto liquors
kept to use for any first boiling; fresh water should next be poured in and
run off gradually to wash the plants. I employ soda, potash, or other appli-
cable alkali or alkaline earth or earths, neutralizing them as soon as required
by the employment of dilute sulphuric acid or other suitable acids, by which
means the fibre can be obtained without the usual process of retting. The
boiler being again filled with water, about ten pounds weight of green or soft
soap are put to every one hundred and twelve pounds weight, or thereabouts,
of plant, and boiled about one hour. The plants must then be removed to a
large tub or vessel and cleansed in a solution of soap in hot water, and after-
wards passed through the preparatary machine to break, strip, and rub them;
they are then in a fit state for being washed in running or other water and
dried. The construction of the machinery I employ is set forth in the

page_text: the
spur wheel C' is fixed or is made moveable on the axis of a shaft, and the
two pulleys D, D', are for a general transmission of movement. E and F are
bevel wheels, F being fixed on a shaft with cranks f,f,f; G, G, are two
cylinders, fluted longitudinally, and placed one over the other, and can when
required be replaced by smooth-faced cylinders; II, II, are cylinders, fluted
transversely, and similarly placed; I, I, are six pairs of cylinders, also fluted
transversely, intended to press the plants, and are operated by two motions,
one continuous circular, the other alternate rectilinear, produced by the
pinions i, i, on the axes of the cylinders, in gear with other intermediate fixed
pinions j, j; the backward and forward motion of I, I, is given by the double
axes of the crushers or cranks f,f,f", and 9, 9, 9, superimposed, and corres-
ponding with the axes of the cylinders I and I by the slotted cranks h, h, with
a kneed articulation. The motion of the superior shaft f.ff, communicates
with the inferior shaft 9, 9, 9", by the intermediate cog wheels K, K.
e, e¹, e", are pressure screws for regulating the pressure on the axes of the
crushing cylinders, which have the ordinary bearings, and rise or fall in slides,
having india-rubber inserted, upon which the screws press. The substances
operated on when leaving the cylinders are received upon an endless metallic
web L, L, distended by two rollers l, l, one receiving its motion from pinions
which are attached to the crushing cylinders, and transmitted by the roller
by the band . M is a mill, furnished with flails m, m, for beating the fibre,
actuated by the pulleys and n, turned by the band N, the fibre passing
between two or four cylinders O and P, driven one by the other by the wheels
O', O"; and Q is a delivery roller. A basket for receiving the fibre has a
circular motion given it by the bevel wheels q, q, and an endless chain on a
pulley fixed on the axis of q, and giving it to another pulley forming a move-
able plate of the basket. Between the inferior cylinders I, I, are placed per-
forated iron plates. In Figure 4 a particular arrangement is indicated to re-
place the crushing rollers J, I. a, a, a, are two series of metallic fluted and
jointed plates, between which the vegetable substance is crushed; b, b, b, are
also fluted and jointed, forming an endless chain, moved by the cogged whoels
c, c, c, c, e, e¹, e¹¹, el, receiving the axes of the hinged plates. The whole is set
up in a frame, which may receive by means of a cranked axle a backward and
forward motion. R, a water cistern, with a T-formed pipe and a valve r.
It will thus be observed that machines constructed according to my Inven-
tion combine the processes of breaking, rolling, and rubbing. The motion is
combined in such a manner that the crushing and the stripping are in the
grain of the vegetable matters and not across them. The pulleys D are used
to work the whole system of crushing; the cylinders G, G, seize and partially

page_text: crush and soften the fibrous substances when not round; but for acting on
hemp, flax, and other like fibres, they are replaced by smooth cylinders. The
cylinders H, HI, are placed to run through and open the vegetable matters
lengthways; for round fibre plants cylinders fluted longitudinally are sub-
stituted; beyond these are six pairs, more or less, of cylinders fluted trans-
versely, intended to press and separate their useless parts from the plants.
After the milling by M, the substances are again passed between two or more
smooh-faced cylinders, and are thereby cleansed of the last shivers, and are
thence removed by a roller Q', workmen, or baskets. The perforated iron
plates have an essential effect in conducting the substances directly under the
cylinder and to prevent rubbish accumulating. The water cistern affords
supply for such plants as pandanus and others.
Having thus fully described my said improvements, I would here remark
that my said machinery is likewise applicable for crushing and extracting the
fibre from phornium tenax, aloes, jute, bananas, ananas, palm tree, yucca,
osiers, and fibrous plants in general; and as my said Invention is capable of
modification, I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to
materials, dimensions, or the precise number or form of the several parts, so
long as the principle of my said improvements is retained; and I do declaro
that what I claim as my Invention is, namely, the peculiar chemical and
mechanical processes for obtaining fibre from fibrous plants as a substitute for
hemp and flax, and the machinery applied thereto, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmond Bertin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
1857.
EDM BERTIN. (L.S.)