IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP FOR PAPER, AND FOR CONVERSION INTO TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Duff at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
February 1871.
I, CHARLES DUFF, of Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PAPER PULP FOR PAPER, AND FOR CONVERSION INTO TEXTILE FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the treatment of certain
fibrous substances for the manufacture of paper pulp for paper, parch-
ment, or vellum, or for the manufacture of textile fabrics.
I am aware that it has heretofore been suggested to use bamboo for
the manufacture of paper and other fabrics, but the processes bitherto
adopted or suggested for the conversion of bamboo or other analogous
cane have been found to be practically useless.
Bamboo has been treated in the first instance by chemical processes
in order to extract the resinous ingredients and to reduce the cane

page_text: towards a fibrous condition ready for scutching, breaking, and carding,
but by my Invention I propose to subject the bamboo cane primarily to
a mechanical treatment. I propose to take bamboo cut when about
from twelve to fifteen months old and to subject the same to the
operation of any suitable crushing machinery. I then further propose E
to compress the fibres so crushed by means of hydraulic or other pressure
so that the material may be packed tightly and in a comparatively small
compass for convenient transport, which cannot be otherwise donc in
any considerable quantity, and by which means the knots are inade to
form part of the fibre and used simultaneously as such; or the knots ]
may be treated separately for a longer period.
To remove the silex from the bamboo I subject the particles to the
nction of hydrofluoric acid, in a heated state by preference, diluted as
required; or inject among the particles a current of hydrofluoric acid
gas. The crushed material is subsequently to be immersed in a caustic ]
or other suitable alkaline solution, which may afterwards be forced
through the material by steam pressure or otherwise in sufficient
quantity to produce a defined color, as may be required, according to
the amount of solution used.
One method of treatment is as follows:-I place in a high-pressure
boiler 1 ton of cane, 3.4 pounds of caustic soda diluted in boiling water,
with 3 pounds of hydrofluoric acid, also diluted, and afterwards wash in
hot water to relieve the caustic. I then place the material in a poaching
engine with 10 per cent. of chloride of lime, and when ready transfer to
bleaching tanks, and afterwards steep and pulp. By these means I
utilize the bamboo as grown, including knots and all waste, which are
subjected simultaneously to the same process. Or the material may be
treated according to any ordinary methods employed in treating various
fibres for the manufacture of paper.
The alkaline process, the acid process, bleaching, mixing with rags or ;
other materials, boiling, and other manipulations incidental to the treat-
ment of fibre and pulp may be carried on by any of the well-known
means, and the bamboo or other analogous cane crushed in the first
instance and treated in the manner described will form a very superior
base or material for the manufacture of paper pulp and paper. By:
dilute sulphuric or other acids this paper can be converted into vegetable
parchment and vellum of a superior character.

page_text: In order to convert the fibre into a textile fabric for spinning,
weaving, and other manufacturing purposes I propose to treat the fibre
as follows:-I put the same into a boiler, within which steam is caused
to enter with or without alkali or other chemicals; in about six or eight
hours it will be cleaned and washed, and the gelatinous, gummy, and
resinous matters separated, and the fibre left clean and disintegrated, to
be afterwards dried and passed through or subjected to a machine
suitable for reducing it into the state for carding, spinning, or weaving.