IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS AND PAPER PULP FROM VARIOUS TREES. SHRUBS, AND PLANTS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Constant Vautier, of Charenton le Pont,
(Seine), near Paris, Gentleman, and at Mr. Uzielli and Co., of Mincing
Lane (City), London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
FIBROUS MATERIALS AND PAPER PULP FROM VARIOUS TREES. SHRUBS, AND
PLANTS."
Sealed the 24th October 1861, and dated the 13th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Constant Vautier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th May 1861.
I, ANTOINE CONSTANT VAUTIER, of Charenton le Pont (Seine), near Paris,
Gent man, and at Mr. Uzielli and Co., 9, Mincing Lane (City), London, do
hei declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTA. ¡NG FIBROUS MATERIALS AND PAPER PULP FROM VARIOUS TREES, SHRUBS,
AND PLANTS," to be as follows:-
The objects of my Invention are, first, to produce silk, or a fibrous material
resembling silk, from the mulberry tree, without the intervention of the silk-
worm; second, to produce fibrous materials, of silky and other characters,
from various other trees, shrubs, and plants; third, to obtain paper pulp. For
these purposes I operate on the trees, shrubs, or plants, or on the bark, rind,
or leaves, or the required part or parts of the trees, shrubs, and plants in a
moist, wet or damp condition, preferring to carry on the process as continuously
as possible. I herein-after call the trees, shrubs, plants, bark, leaves, or parts
Price 1

page_text: on which I operate, the "vegetable substances." I prefer to treat, the vegetable
substances, when in a naturally green or fresh condition, immediately after
gathering, plucking, cutting, or felling them, and before they get dry, or when
they have been prevented from drying. I can treat the tree or plant direct
as cut down, or I separate the bark, rind, leaves, or parts required. If the
tree is cut when the sap is not rising, and if the bark is dry and adhesive, the
trunk or branches should be subjected to maceration, sprinkling, or incipient
fermentation, which may be aided by artificial fermenting agents, and the
process expedited by subjecting the matters to boiling or steam.
I operate on the vegetable substances by beating, rubbing, bruising, breaking,
pressing, or crushing them (keeping them all the time sprinkled with water
or steam, or otherwise in a wet or damp state), and by subjecting them
to maceration or treatment in hot water or liquid, or hot treatment by boiling
or steam (or two or more of these as desired), and also by subjecting them to
rinsings or washings, combining, repeating, and arranging the order of these
operations in any desired manner, and carrying them on until I disintegrate the
vegetable substance, separate or remove the extraneous matters, and obtain in
almost every case a perfectly white or bleached product, without using chemical
bleaching agents.
In carrying out the Invention, the substances may be subjected to preliminary
maceration and to fermentation, if desirable, and may be rinsed or washed in
cold water as well as in hot. Acetic and other acids, alkalies, chloride of sodium,
and soap may be added to the liquids employed in the various operations; the
crushing may be performed by beaters, beetles, mallets, grooved or other rollers,
and other instruments or means, and the steam injected in a close vessel under
pressure, or in an open vessel or space in any desirable manner.
The process may be accelerated by subjecting the products to sudden
variations of temperature after the first hot treatment, which should be gradual,
thus they may be suddenly removed from boiling to cold water, the crushing
repeated, and then returned to boiling water or steam.
When the aforesaid operations are terminated, the products are dried
preferably under a cover or casing, which, while allowing air to circulate, keeps
the drying gradual. If not white enough, they may be bleached before drying
by exposure to air or sun, frequently sprinkling them, and again treating with
heat and crushing. Although the process should be continuous, it may be
interrupted at any stage, and the products dried to be damped and softened
afresh, when the treatment is to be resumed. The products may be combed,
carded, spun, woven, felted, or otherwise treated in any ordinary manner of
operating on fibrous materials, or converted into or applied as paper pulp.

page_text: Among the numerous trees, shrubs, and plants to which my Invention is
believed to be applicable, beside the mulberry tree, I may mention elm, peach,
almond, cherry, plum, and other trees of the amygdalineæ group, medlar,
quince, and others of the pomacea group; acacia, robinia, and various of the
mimosete group; oak, virginia, poplar, flax, hemp, and textile plants, diss,
palmetto, and many others.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Antoine Constant Vautier in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
CONSTANT VAUTIER, of Charenton le Pont (Seine), near Paris, Gentleman,
and at Mr. Uzielli & Co., 9. Mincing Lane (City), London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me. the said
Antoine Constant Vautier, Her special licence that I, the said Antoine
Constant Vautier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Antoine Constant Vantier, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS AND PAPER PULP FROM
VARIOUS TREES, SHRUBS AND PLANTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Antoine Constant Vautier, 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 Antoine Constant Vautier, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The objects of my Invention are, first, to produce silk, or a fibrous material

page_text: For
resembling silk, from the mulberry tree, without the intervention of the silk-
worm; second, to produce fibrous materials of silky and other characters from
various other trees. shrubs, and plants; third, to obtain paper pulp.
these purposes I operate on the trees, shrubs, or plants, or on the bark, rind,
or leaves, or the required part or parts of the trees, shrubs, and plants, in a
moist, wet, or damp condition, preferring to carry on the process as continuously
as possible. I herein-after sometimes call the trees. shrubs, plants, barks,
leaves, or parts on which I operate, the "vegetable substances: "I prefer to treat
the vegetable substances when they are in a naturally green or fresh condition
immediately after gathering, plucking, cutting, or felling them, and before
they have become dry, or when they have been prevented from drying. I can
treat the tree or plant direct as cut down, or I separate the bark, rind, leaves,
or parts required. If the tree is cut when the sap is not rising, and if the
bark is dry and adhesive, the trunk or branches should be subjected to
maceration. sprinkling, or incipient fermentation, which may be aided by
artificial fermenting agents, and the process expedited by subjecting the matters
to boiling or steam.
I operate on the vegetable substances by two or more of the following
processes, namely, by what I call "manual or mechanical manipulation," (that
is beating, rubbing, bruising, breaking, pressing, or crushing them, keeping
them all the time sprinkled with water or steam, or otherwise, in a wet or
damp state); by subjecting them to maceration or treatment in hot water or
liquid by hot treatment by boiling or steam, and also by subjecting them to
rinsings or washings, combining and repeating the operations, and arranging
their order as desired, and carrying them on until I disintegrate the vegetable
substances, separate or remove the extraneous matters, and obtain, in almost
every case, a perfectly white or bleached product without requiring the sub-
sequent use of chemical bleaching agents.
be performed by beaters, beetles,
other instruments or means, and the
under pressure, or in an open vessel
In carrying out the Invention, the substances may be subjected to pre-
liminary maceration and to fermentation if desirable, and may be rinsed or
washed in cold water as well as in hot. Acetic and other acids, alkalies,
chloride of sodium, and soap may be added to the liquids employed in the
various operations; the crushing may
mallets, grooved or other rollers, and
steam may be injected in a close vessel
or space, or in any desirable manner. The process may be accelerated by
subjecting the products to sudden variations of temperature after the first hot
treatment, which should be gradual; thus they may be suddenly transferred
from boiling to cold water, the crushing repeated, and then returned to boiling

page_text: water or steam. When the operations are terminated the products are dried,
preferably under a cover or casing, which, while allowing air to circulate,
keeps the drying gradual. If not white enough, they may be bleached before
drying by exposure to the air or sun, frequently sprinkling them, and again
treating with heat and with crushing. Although the process should be con-
tinnous, yet it may be interrupted at any stage, and the products dried, being
of course damped and softened afresh when the treatment is resumed. The
products may be combed, carded, spun, woven, felted, or otherwise treated in
any ordinary manner of operating on fibrous materials, or they may be con-
verted into or applied as paper pulp.
Among the numerous trees, shrubs, and. plants to which my Invention is
applicable, beside the mulberry tree, I may mention elm, peach, almond,
cherry, plum, and other trees of the amygdalineæ group; medlar, quince, and
others of the pomaceæ group; acacia, robinia, and various of the mimosa
group, oak, Virginia poplar, flax, hemp, and other textile plants, as diss and
palmetto, and many others.
I now proceed to describe in what manner the Invention may best be
carried into effect.
Preparation of vegetable substances.-If the tree be cut at the season at
which the sap rises the bark is easily detached, but if the bark be dry and
clinging, it can best be detached by macerating the cut pieces of the trunk
in a body of still water, and subjecting them to boiling or steam.
Flax, hemp, and other textile plants may be taken in order to be subjected
to my treatment when fresh, after being gathered, as well as when wholly or
partially dry. I can operate on flax and hemp, and other plants without
retting them. In treating flax that is not quite dry, 1 first crush it between
fluted or other rollers, or by other means to detach the straw or boon, and then
rinse or wash it to remove the remaining coloring and gummy matters that
have become dissolved or detached, and I repeat the operation as often as
desirable, rinsing after each crushing. When flax, hemp, and nettles are
quite ripe or dry, they are first treated in a dry state to remove the boon or
ligneous portions. The boon of raw dry flax can be removed by any of the
mechanical means before-mentioned, or by the known means usual for treating
flax prepared by retting. I obtain the fibrous portions from hemp, nettles,
and similar textile plants by the same means as described for flax, modifying
the process according as to whether the substance is fresh or dry.
The fibrous portions which I obtain from the plant are ready for being at
once treated as herein-after described, but if not to be finished off at once,
should be carefully dried, which may be done by expressing the moisture in a

page_text: press, and then leaving them to dry in the open air, or under a shed or cover.
By my mode of treatment, as described, I of course can entirely do away with
the troublesome process of retting.
Treatment of the vegetable substances.-1 may here mention that my
mode of treatment is not only applicable to the fibrous portions of flax, hemp,
and other textile plants that have been separated or prepared, as described,
but also to flax, hemp, and other fibrous materials prepared or obtained by
known processes of retting. Where I herein-after use the expression soapy,
alkaline, or acid water, I mean water to which soap, alkaline, or acid has been
added. I operate on the barks, leaves, flax, hemp, and other vegetable sub-
stances as follows:-After having. first soaked, macerated, or washed the sub-
stances in pure or in soapy, alkaline, or acid water, or without such preliminary
soaking, maceration, or washing, I subject the substances to a more or less
protracted boiling, or else to an injection of steam under pressure or in an
open vessel, and then, if I think the substance requires it, I bruise or crush
it while in a damp state by hand or by rollers or other apparatus (though for
some substances this is not requisite). The boiling or injections of steam
(and the crushing if used are repeated as often as required until the gummy
matters that fasten the fibres together are completely dissolved, and that and
the other extraneous matters, completely disintegrated or detached from the
fibrous portions. I thus obtain a fibrous mass which I next subject to rinsings
or washings. I sometimes also rinse or wash the substance between the
various boilings or steam injections, using for such rinsing or washing warm or
cold water mixed with soap, acids, or alkalies, or not. While rinsing. I some-
times also crush or rub the substances by hand or otherwise (i.c. manual or
mechanical manipulations.) By these means I entirely separate and remove
the extraneous matters, effect what I call a complete disintegration of the
substance under treatment, and obtain a white fibrous product. I sometimes
facilitate the process by exposing the substances to the open air during or after
some of the stages of the operation.
In treating flax and hemp separated from the boon, I sometimes, instead of
boiling or injecting steam, use the following "treatment of maceration," that
is to say, I macerate it in hot soapy water, repeating the macerations, and
following or interspersing them by or with washings or rinsings in pure or
acidulated water, and exposures of the flax or hemp to the open air, carrying
on the macerations, &c., till I obtain a perfectly disintegrated fibrous product
which is wholly free from extraneous matters, and is of silky appearance and
quite white, without requiring subsequent chemical bleaching.
The waters which are used when subjecting the substances to the
processes

page_text: of soaking or maceration, boiling, steam injection, and rinsing or washing,
may or may not be mixed or saturated with acids, alkalies, or soap, also with
common salt (chloride of sodium), and with lime, plaster, chalk, and other
calcareous substances. When I wish to use soap or alkalies, when subjecting
the substances to an injection of steam, I steep the substance in soapy or
alkaline water, and then apply the steam.
When treating flax and hemp and other textile plants, whether I operate
on the same without retting or on the same prepared by retting, I recommend
that soap or an alkali should always be used in the waters employed for
the first operations if a white fibre is to be obtained. Soap and alkalies
dissolve the gummy and resinous extraneous matters which glue the fibres
together, and thus render the fibres far better fitted to undergo the subsequent
treatment. If the substance be subjected to boiling without a previous soaking
or treatment in soapy or alkaline water it resists the further bleaching action
of soap and alkali, so that by first treating the substance with soapy! or alka-
line waters, and then with boilings or injections of steam alternated and fol-
lowed by rinsings or washings, the disintegration is performed rapidly and
completely disintegrated, and white fibre obtained without having to be
bleached subsequently by chemical agents such as chlorine or chloride.
In order to obtain certain shades of white that the trade is accustomed to,
I sometimes take the fibrous substances after they have been duly freed as
described from the extraneous matters that surround and cement them, and
soak them in a very weak chloride liquor, and a very diluted acid bath.
The following is the mode I especially recommend for treating flax and
hemp I first soak it in soapy or alkaline water; 1 then subject it to
protracted or repeated boiling, or to injections of steam, using soapy or alkaline
water for the first boilings (or steam injections); I then rinse or wash in acid
water, or in pure water, and next expose the substances to the open air.
The product which obtain from flax, hemp, nettles, and other textile
plants, when treated by my method, is generally a white and strong product of
a silky feel, fineness, and appearance. I should here mention that the product
that I manufacture by my Invention is a new article, as it 'differs from the
material that has hitherto been obtained from this sort of plant by known
modes, and which is a fibre of the same length as the stalk. The fibre of flax
and hemp is in reality a collection of very fine filaments, laid one over the
other, and glued or cemented together: it is this fibrous substance that I
disintegrate by my process, and reduce to the required condition, and my mode
of disintegration, far from weakening the substance, actually renders it
stronger, the fibre or textile material of the plant being more or less strong,

page_text: according as the disintegration is more or less completely performed. Fibres
incompletely freed from gummy and resinous bodies become brittle and weak,
and when exposed in a damp situation ferment and rot, but this is not the case
when disintegration has been completely effected.
When the products which I obtain are dry, they may be heckled, combed,
or carded, and as they are quite free from gummy, resinous, and extraneous
matters, they can be spun in a dry state like cotton or silk.
When the water in which I immerse the substance during the boiling or
injection of steam contains neither alkali nor soap, the product which I obtain,
though perfectly disintegrated and generally of a beautiful silky appearance
and supple character, nevertheless is not of a white colour, but is capable of
being afterwards bleached by chlorine, chloride, or like chemical agents, and
of being spun when dry.
In treating some leaves, barks, & plants, I sometimes use acid waters
for the preliminary treatment instead of soapy or alkaline waters.
In treating some barks, plants, and leaves that contain remarkably active
and plentiful coloring principles, I use acetic acid solutions, or other
weak or diluted acids in the waters employed, as such acids neutralize the
coloring principles, and bring the substance more readily to a white or
but slightly colored condition.
Though I generally get the best practical results by carrying on the stages
of my process continuously, and keeping the substances damp all the time
(because if they are treated dry the extraneous matters coagulate, and cling to
the fibrous portion,, which are thereby rendered brittle, and the disintegration
impeded or prevented), nevertheless in operating on barks I sometimes find it
advisable in the course of the process to leave them to dry wholly or partially
for a while, in order to facilitate the separation of the cuticle and insoluble
extraneous matters, which come away easily on subsequently soaking and
shaking the bark. But mostly these extraneous matters separate during the
first washings without requiring any such drying.
When I apply my process to the bark and leaf of the mulberry tree, the
fibre that I obtain is of a lustrous appearance, a bright white color, and of
supple and nervous character, and its strength and tenacity, equal those of the
best silk: The fibre [ obtain from elm, peach, plum, cherry, and other trees
and plants of the amygdalineæ family, is not so beautiful, but is as plentiful
and strong, and nearly as fine. I may mention specially, by way of example,
that I extract a nice fibre from China grass and phormium tenax, and from
the bark and leaves of the quince, medlar, and other trees and shrubs of the
pomaceae family, from the acacia, robinia, or false acacia, and the various

page_text: mimosas; also the japan varnish tree (ailante). Many vegetable substances
treated by my process yield paper pulps. The elm, acacia, white poplar, and
mulberry tree especially produce excellent paper pulp. The leaves of elm,
white poplar (bois-blanc, populus albus), and quince furnish a paper pulp in a
state of complete preparation, and the bark and leaves of various trees which
do not yield textile fibres, properly so called, nevertheless produce paper pulp
when treated by my Invention. The waste and refuse of barks, leaves, and
plants treated by me as described, also produce paper pulp, which may be used
alone or combined with pulps otherwise obtained.
As regards the treatment of flaxen hemp. my Invention may be said to
effect before spinning what has hitherto been done or rather attempted to be
done after spinning or weaving, and has been then only performed very
imperfectly and with considerable difficulty. Disintegration is far more
easily effected before spinning than afterwards. as the fibre can be acted on
on every surface, and I moreover obtain a more beautiful and homogeneons
product.
Generally speaking. I do no attach much importance to the mode
suggested of rendering the process more expeditions by subjecting the
substances to sudden variations of temperature, though that method may at
times be useful.
In many cases, as I before said, I wholly dispense with the operation of
bruising, breaking, pressing, rubbing, or crushing the substances ("manual or
mechanical manipulation "), as the same is chiefly only of use when the sub-
stances are of hard nature or contain hard matters, whereas in dealing with
other matters, such, for example, as the fibrous portion of flax when separated
from the boon, and in other instances, it is often wholly useless, though it may
often be used without injury; however, I wish it to be understood that when
the said process of bruising, breaking, pressing, rubbing, or crushing (or as I
call it manual or mechanical manipulation) is performed, the substances are
kept during the performance of such process in a wet or damp state."
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, claim the mode of obtaining fibrous or textile materials of a silky.
cotton-like, or other appearance and character, from the bark, leaves, and storks
of trees and shrubs, and from plants and parts thereof, by subjecting the same
to a process of disintegration in a damp condition, in order to separate the
fibrous portions from extraneous matters, such process consisting. of treating
the substances by boiling or by injection of steam, and by rinsings or washings
either with or without previous or additional soaking or maceration, and with

page_text: or without a rubbing, breaking, crushing, pressing, or bruising (which I call
"manual or mechanical manipulation") of the substances, the water employed
in the processes being mixed or not with soap, alkalies, or acids.
Second, claim the particular application of the process herein-before
claimed in my first, claim to the treatment of flax, hemp, and other textile
plants, in, the manner described, that is to say, in which soap or alkalies are
employed in the waters used in the first operation, whether of soaking, boiling,
or steam injections. and then finishing by rinsing or washing in pure or acid
water.
Third, claim the particular application of my process as claimed in my
first claim to the obtaining of a perfectly white fibre, which does not require
any subsequent bleaching by chlorine, chloride, or like chemical agents, the
same being obtained by boiling (or injections of steam) in soapy, acid, or
alkaline waters, together with washings or rinsings in pure or acidulated
waters. The substances being previously soaked or not in alkaline or acid
waters, and being also subjected to a crushing or not.
Fourth, I claim the application of my process as claimed in my first claim
to the obtaining of paper pulps; and this I more particularly claim when
applied to elm, mulberry, acacia, and white poplar trees.
Fifth, I claim the treatment of flax and hemp by the macerating process
described, that is to say, by macerating in hot soapy water, and alternating,
interspersing, or following the macerations by rinsings or washings in pure or
acidulated waters, and repeating the macerations and carrying on the process
until the fibrous material is obtained in an entirely disintegrated condition of
a silky appearance, wholly freed from extraneous matters, and perfectly white
without requiring subsequent. bleaching by chemical agents.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Constant Vautier, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
M. HENRY, Patent Agent,
84, Fleet St., London.
ANTOINE CONSTANT VAUTIER. (L.S.)