An Improved Process for the Manufacture of Yarn or Thread from Paper, and Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 8th Aug., 1896
CODE LEIE DIECITATION.
An Improved Process for the Manufacture of Yarn or Thread from
Paper, and Apparatus therefor.
A communication by EMIL CLAViez, of Chemnitz, in the Empire of Germany,
Director.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in
the County of Warwick and 31 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object an improved process for the manufacture of a
yarn or thread from paper, and apparatus for carrying out the said process.
The process is characterised by the paper being cut into narrow strips and
worked up into a yarn. or thread without the use of vegetable fibres, which
thread or yarn may be used in the same way as any other yarn or thread of wool,
flax, hemp or the like.
The process is carried out as follows:-
The paper-material which is to be worked up is saturated with suitable chemicals
consisting of potash, resinate, oleate or stearate of soda with an admixture of
sulphate of alumina, starch and a solution of albumen which render the paper soft
and tough.
The chemicals are preferably employed in the following proportions.—
The latter is strictly speaking no chemical term, it is made by melting colophony
with carbonate of soda, and it mainly consists, in addition to other impurities
of abietate of soda.
According as the paper is to be stiff or soft, oleate, stearate or resinate of soda is
employed and dissolved or mixed with more or less water according to the degree
of stiffness or softness which the paper is to have, the paper being then impregnated
with the mixture.

page_text: The quantity employed for impregnating the paper cannot be fixed definitely as
Pit is selected in each case to suit the quality of the paper employed. The paper
material thus prepared is cut longitudinally into narrow strips by means of a
suitable apparatus, is impregnated with adhesive substance and each strip wound
on a separate spool. The impregnating with adhesive substance has for its object
to render possible an even winding up on the spool of the paper strips.
After the various paper strips have been wound on the spools, the spools
are steamed in such a way that the steam penetrates the spool from the interior
outwards.
The steaming has for its object to loosen both the adhesive substance or size and
the chemicals with which the paper material has been saturated.
The steamed spools are placed on a spinning apparatus or frame and the paper
strips twisted. The twisted thread is carried from the spinning frame to a drawing
mechanism, consisting of a preliminary and final drawing mechanism. Between the
preliminary or front and rear or final drawing devices is a pair of rollers indued
with the chemical composition hereinbefore enumerated over which the thread
passes.
This second saturating of the thread has for its object to impart to it a smooth
appearance. The second drawing mechanism has a greater circumferential speed
so that a stretching of the drawn thread takes place. By the drawing mechanism
the strips are formed into the required thread. After the drawing mechanism the
various threads pass through a drying apparatus in which dry air is set in active
circulation, so that the threads which are to be dried, receive an oscillating or
swinging motion. The paper thread obtained in this manner may be woven
or treated in other suitable manner as may be required.
The apparatus for carrying out the above mentioned process is shown in the
accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the cutting apparatus, the apparatus for
impregnating the strips of paper with the size or adhesive substance and the spooling
apparatus ;
Figure 2 shows the spinning apparatus; and
Figure 3 the drawing frame and the drying apparatus.
The construction and mode of operation of the whole apparatus is as
follows:-
In the two
A roller a revolubly mounted on the machine frame A (Figure 1) carries the
impregnated paper material which is to be treated. This is carried over a slowly.
revolving cylinder or drum 6 which is driven by a pair of cog wheels o and p and
is conveyed from there between tension rollers c to a roller d. The upper end
of the machine frame A is provided with two oscillating lever arms e which may be
moved by means of a leverf in the direction shown by the arrow.
arms e a roller g. is mounted, the periphery of which is provided with T-shaped
grooves running longitudinally. In these grooves suitable knives for cutting the
paper material to be treated are inserted and secured. If the arms e be moved
downwards by means of the lever f, the knife roller g will come in contact with the
guide roller d so that the paper material passing over the guide roller d will be cut
into narrow strips. The adjustability of the knives renders it possible to cut the
paper strips to any suitable or desired width. The paper strips thus produced are
carried over guide rollers hand and then over tension rollers l m n from whence
they are carried over a roller q between guides and from thence between
impregnating rollers y. The lower of the latter two rollers y dips into a trough
containing size or other suitable adhesive substance so that all the paper strips are
duly sized or saturated with the adhesive substance.
From the impregnating rollers the strips pass to the spooling apparatus.
The latter is arranged as follows:-
On a frame B there are mounted several brackets 1 which carry perforated spools or
tubes. The driving of the various tubes is effected by friction by means of a belt 5
stretched over belt pulleys 3 and 4 and engaging and rotating the separate spools

page_text: or tubes. In order to be able to obtain an even spooling of the paper, guides 6 are
arranged in a special frame, which guides effect, in the ordinary manner by means
of a lever 7 and cam 8, the necessary reciprocating movement. The weighted cords
shown on the right hand side of Fig. 1 are merely the ordinary arrangement for
keeping the paper material taut.
The spools are then steamed, the steam being passed through them from the
inside to the outside. These steamed spools are then fastened in the spinning
frame 9 shown in Figure 2 consisting of a revoluble & forked spindle and an axle
to hold the spool which device revolves on its axis 10. The necessary twist is
imparted to the paper strips 11 by the spinning frame together with the spool 2
turning on the axis 10, which is effected by means of the driving mechanism 12.
The twisted threads 11 pass from the spinning frame over a roller 13 into
the preliminary drawing mechanism 14 where they are preliminarily drawn, that is
to say, the twist is rendered even. After this has been done, the threads 11 pass
between a pair of rollers 15 between which they are again impregnated with the
chemical mixture hereinbefore mentioned. This impregnation has for its object to
impart a smooth appearance to the surface of the thread.
After the impregnation, the threads are again compressed in the second drawing
apparatus 16 and are at the same time stretched.
The drawing or stretching is produced by this second drawing mechanism 16
having a greater peripheral speed than the front drawing mechanism 14..
After the paper threads have left the second drawing mechanism 16, they pass
over a roller 17 into the drying apparatus 18 being carried through the latter
between pairs of rollers 19 and 20. The drying apparatus consists of a chest 21
provided with any suitable heating apparatus 22 which may be formed of hot
air, hot water or steam coils arranged in spirals or having corrugated outer
surfaces as may be deemed preferable.
There are also arranged in the chest 21 exhaust fans 23 which have for their
object to set the dry air in thorough circulation so that the threads 11 which are to
be dried describe or receive an oscillating movement with the object of accelerating
the drying process. The dried paper threads are then conducted to a suitable
machine in order to be wound into cops.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A process for the manufacture of yarn or thread from paper characterised by
parrow paper strips cut from a paper band impregnated with chemicals being
impregnated with size or adhesive substance steamed and twisted, without any
addition of vegetable or woollen fibres so that it can be woven or employed in any
other suitable manner for making suitable woven goods.
2. In apparatus for the manufacture of yarn or thread from paper by a process such
as described, a device for cutting the paper, consisting of a revoluble knife-roller
mounted in an oscillating frame and provided on its periphery with grooves running
longitudinally and adjustable knives secured on the periphery of said roller whereby
on the frame being pressed down the knife roller is brought in contact with a band
of paper carried over a guide roller and effects the cutting of the paper into strips
substantially as described.
3. In an apparatus such as described, the combination with a device for cutting
the paper into strips, of a device for impregnating the paper strips with size or other
suitable adhesive substance consisting of a pair of rollers dipping into a trough
containing liquid gum or other suitable adhesive substance substantially as
described.
4. In an apparatus such as described, a spinning fraine (9) characterised by
a revoluble and forked spindle and an axle or bolt mounted within the fork of said
spindle and adapted to receive and hold the spool in such a manner that by rotating

page_text: the spindle on the axis (10) the necessary twist is imparted to the strips of paper
substantially as described & shown in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.
5. In an apparatus such as described, a drying apparatus consisting of suitable
corrugated or coiled heating devices and fans arranged in a chest or casing, whereby
heated air in the chest is set in circulation and imparts to the threads which are to
be dried an oscillating or swinging movement and thereby produces a more rapid
drying substantially as described.
Dated this 12th day of December 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.