THE APPLICATION & USE OF THE FIBROUS TEXTILE PLANT CALLED IN ARABIA DISS, OR IN LATIN, ARUNDO FESTUCA PATULA, OR BY BOTANISTS FESTU COIDES ET DONAX TENAX, IN THE MANUFACTURING OF PULP FOR PAPER, & Tow FOR THREAD TISSUES & CORDAGE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jozé Luis, of No. 1B, Welbeck Street, (Cavendish
Sqre..) London, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"THE APPLICATION & USE OF THE FIBROUS TEXTILE PLANT CALLED IN
ARABIA DISS, OR IN LATIN, ARUNDO FESTUCA PATULA, OR BY BOTANISTS FESTU
COIDES ET DONAX TENAX, IN THE MANUFACTURING OF PULP FOR PAPER, &
Tow FOR THREAD TISSUES & CORDAGE."-A communication.
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 26th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jozé Luis at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th May 1858.
I, JOZE Luis, of No. 1B, Welbeck Street, (Cavendish Sqre.,) London, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for THE APPLICATION & USE OF THE FIBROUS TEXTILE PLANT CALLED IN ARABIA.
Diss, OR IN LATIN ARUNDO FESTUCA PATULA, OR BY BOTANISTS FESTU COIDES ET
DONAX TENAX, IN THE MANUFACTORING OF PULP FOR PAPER, & Tow FOR THREAD
TISSUES & CORDAGE" (a communication) to him from a foreigner residing
abroad, to be as follows:-
Diss is a perenial herbaceous plant growing spontaneously in Algiers, where
it exists in inexhaustible quantities in the forest as well as in places arid and
uncultivated.
Method of preparation:-The plants are gathered by means of sickles, they
are then made into trusses, which, in order to render the transport easier, are
pressed. On their arrival at the laboratory they are sorted, in order to separate
the plants thoroughly dry; they are then cut by a machine into lengths from
fifteen to twenty inches, in order to facilitate the separation of the fibres.
The pieces are then placed in a boiler, and upon them is thrown a sufficient
quantity of the following mixture:-

page_text: To every one hundred and seventy-five pints of soft water add two pounds
of American potash; in this mixture they are boiled two hours. On being
taken out of the boiler, the plants still wet are submitted to the action of
pestles moved by machinery, which destroy the plant, and thus disengage the
mucilagenous & herbaceous parts of the plant. All the time this operation is
going on, a current of fresh water is kept running over them, in order to
detach & carry away the mucilagenous parts which must entirely disappear.
After this trituration the matter thus obtained is carefully sorted from all
foreign substances: it is then put in a bath of fresh water for half an hour,
after which it is taken out, dried, and stowed away ready for commerce.
The tow thus obtained is the same color as that obtained from all textile
plants. When it is required for paper, the tow is bleached in the same manner
& with the same agents that other substances used for paper are; should,
however, the plant be not in so dry a state, the following much simpler
operation can be substituted for the one above mentioned:-The plant is
steeped, just as it is, for fifteen days in a large vat or hole filled with water,
which is continually changing; during these fifteen days there is no occasion
to move or touch it, and at the end of this time the water is drawn off, and
without any chemical agent being used, the separation of the fibres from the
other parts is carried on in the same manner as above described. This pro-
ceeding can be applied equally should the diss be required for thread, tissue,
or cordage, only then there is no occasion to cut the plant into pieces.
Thus the Inventor desires to patent in England, the application & use of
the plant just named in the manufactory of pulp for paper, & tow for thread,
tissues, & cordage. This new discovery is of immense importance, as the plant,
in the first place, costs but the gathering, & secondly, the manipulation is
extremely simple, & the expense but little in comparison with rags, which are
dear to obtain & afterwards difficult & expensive to sort, besides causing so
many dangerous illnesses to persons doing this work. The discovery is, there-
fore, equally advantageous when taken in an humane point of view.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filel
by the said Jozé Luis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOZE
Luis, of No. 1B, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in London, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jozé Luis, Iler special licence that I, the said Jozé Luis, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jozé Luis, 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 of "THE APPLICATION AND USE OF THE FIBROUS
TEXTILE PLANT CALLED IN ARABIA DISS, OR IN LATIN ARUNDO FESTUCA PATULA, OR
BY BOTANISTS FESTU COIDES ET DONAX TENAX, IN THE MANUFACTURING OF PULP
FOR PAPER, AND TOW FOR THREAD, TISSUES, & CORDAGE," a communication, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jozé Luis, 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 Jozé Luis, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
Diss is a perennial herbaceous plant growing spontaneously in Algiers
where it exists in inexhaustible quantities in the forests, as well as in places
arid & uncultivated.
Method of preparation.-The plants are gathered
means of sickles, they
are then made into trusses, which, in order to render the transport easier, are
pressed. On their arrival at the laboratory they are sorted in order to
separate the plants thoroughly dry, they are the cut by a machine into
lengths of fifteen to twenty inches, in order to facilitate the separation of the
fibres.
The pieces are then placed in a boiler, and upon them is thrown a sufficient
quantity of the following mixture.-To every 175 pints of soft water, two
pounds of American potash; in this mixture they are boiled two hours. On
being taken out of the boiler, the plants, still wet, are submitted to the action
of pestles moved by machinery, which destroys the plant, and thus disengage

page_text: the mucilagenous & herbaceous parts of the plant. All the time this operation
is going on a current of fresh water is kept running over them in order to
detach & carry away the mucilagenous parts, which must entirely disappear.
After this trituration, the matter thus obtained is carefully sorted from all
foreign substances; it is then put in a bath of fresh water for half an hour,
after which it is taken out, dried, and stowed away ready for commerce.
The tow thus obtained is the same color as that obtained from all textile
plants. When it is required for paper the tow is bleached in the same
manner & with the same agents that other substances used for paper are;
should, however, the plant be not in so dry a state, the following much
simpler operation can be substituted for the one above mentioned:-The plant
is steeped just as it is for fifteen days in a large vat or hole filled with water,
which is continually changing; during these fifteen days there is no occasion
to move or touch it, & at the end of this time, the water is drawn off, and
without any chemical agent being used, the separation of the fibres from the
other parts is carried on in the same manner as above described. This
proceeding can be applied equally should the diss be required for thread,
tissues, or cordage only, then, there is no occasion to cut the plant into
pieces.
Thus, what the inventor claims is, the application & use of the plant just
named in the manufacturing of pulp for paper, & tow for thread, tissues, &
cordage. This new discovery is of immense importance, as the plant, in the
first place, costs but the gathering, & secondly, the manipulation is extremely
simple, & the expense but little in comparison with rags, which are, in the
first place, dear to buy & afterwards the difficulty and expense of sorting, an
operation which has caused so many dangerous illnesses to the persons doing
this work. This discovery is therefore equally advantageous when taken in a
humane point of view.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jozé Luis, have bereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOZE LUIS. (L.S.)