THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FROM TWITCH OR COUCH GRASS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jeyes, of the Town and County of the Town
of Northampton, Merchant, for the Invention of "THE MANUFACTURE OF
PULP FROM TWITCH OR COUCH GRASS."
Sealed the 17th August 1854, and dated the 24th March 1854.,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Jeyes at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th March
1854
"I, JOHN JEYES, of the Town and County of the Town of Northampton,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE.
MANUFACTURE OF PULP FROM TWITCH OR COUCH GRASS"..to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the manufacture of pulp from the fibre obtained
after the separation of the glutinous, gummy, and other extraneous matters
from the root or plant of the "twitch" or "couch grass.". The separation is
effected by steeping and fermenting, by steeping in an alkaline ley, or by other
means usually employed for separating the fibre from the other portions of
plants. I submit the fibre, after being washed and cleansed, and, if necessary,
bleached, to an ordinary" pulping machine. The pulp when thus produced may
be employed alone, or may be mixed with other pulp, and will be found fit for
the purposes to which pulp is applied.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Jeyes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JEYES, of the Town and County of the Town of Northampton, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty. Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Jeyes, Her special licence that I, the said John Jeyes,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Jeyes, 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 "THE MANUFACTURE
OF PULP PROM TWITCH OR COUCH GRASS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Jeyes, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Jeyes, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the manufacture of pulp from the fibre obtained
after the separation of the glutinous, gummy, and other extraneous matters
from the root or plant of the "twitch" or "couch grass" ("triticum repens ").
The separation of the glutinous, gummy, and other extraneous matters from
the twitch or couch grass is effected by washing, and then steeping and fer-
menting in warm or cold water, by steeping in an alkaline ley, or by other
means usually employed for separating the fibre from the other portions of
plants. The fibre, after being washed and cleansed, and, if necessary, bleached,
is submitted to an ordinary pulping machine, and reduced to pulp; or it may
be bleached after having been reduced to pulp. The pulp when thus produced
may be employed alone, or may be mixed with other pulp, and will be found

page_text: fit for the manufacture of paper, millboard, and other purposes to which pulp
is applied.
I have not thought it necessary to describe minutely the different processes
of steeping, fermenting, and bleaching herein-before referred to, as the same
are well understood when applied to the treatment of flax, hemp, straw, and
other vegetable substances, and no variation is required to be made in them
for the preparation of the twitch or couch grass, so as to enable pulp to be
made therefrom according to my Invention.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim any of the
processes herein-before referred to, except in so far as the same are employed
in performing my Invention, nor do I limit myself to any particular process
or processes for carrying my Invention into effect; but what I claim as my
Invention is, the manufacture of pulp from the fibre obtained after the sepa-
ration of the glutinous, gummy, and other extraneous matters from the root or
plant of the twitch or couch grass, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jeyes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four.
JOHN JEYES. (L.S.)