A NEW MODE OF PREPARING FIBRES FROM PLANTS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Eives, of 17, Cornhill, London, for the In-
vention of "A NEW MODE OF PREPARING FIBRES FROM PLANTS."--A
communication.
Sealed the 27th June 1856, and dated the 29th March 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Eives at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
March 1856.
I, JAMES EIVES, of 17, Cornhill, London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A NEW MODE OF PREPARING FIBRES FROM PLANTS," a com-
munication from abroad, to be as follows:-
By this process useful fibres, applicable to the same purposes as flax or hemp,
can be obtained from many plants, both wild & cultivated, which have here--
tofore been almost valueless.
I cut the plants near to the ground, and having prepared a pit of proper
depth in the field where the plants grow I set the plants in it with their buts
downward; they are thus set as soon as they are cut, and while still green
and alive, and are placed as near together and as nearly in a vertical position
as possible. When the pit is quite full I cover its sides with leaves or straw,
and embank them with earth several inches thick, and as high as the tops of
the plants. The sun and air being thus excluded, the gases of the plants are
slowly evolved and replaced by the moisture from the carth, which penetrates
the stalks, and destroys the glutenous portion, causing the fibre to separate

page_text: from the woody substance, and changing its color, but not impairing its
strength or elasticity.
When the process of separation is completed, which can be ascertained by
trial, the pit is broken up and the plants spread out to dry. When dry, the
woody portion is detached by passing the plants between rollers or under
beaters, or by treading with horses. The finer fibres will in this way be
perfectly prepared for manufacturing, but the coarser fibres may need water
rotting, and the other processes which follow it in the ordinary preparation of
flax or hemp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Eives in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EIVES, of 17, Cornhill, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Eives, Her special licence that I, the said James Eives, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Eives,
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 "A NEW MODE OF PREPARING
FIBRES PROM PLANTS," a communication from a foreigner resident abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Eives, 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 naturo
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 James Eives, 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-

page_text: This Invention consists in a process by which useful fibres, applicable to
the same purposes as flax or hemp, can be obtained from many plants, both
wild and cultivated, which have heretofore been almost without value. The
fibres so obtained can be applied to the manufacture of thread, cloth, rope, or
paper.
Among the plants to which my process is applicable I will enumerate the
cotton stalk, wild indigo, asclepias, hollyhock, mallow, nettle, wild sanfoin or
lucerne, althea, mulberry (black and white), morus multicaulus, yellow willow,
manile, okra, passion flower stalks, hemp, flax, sugar cane, grape vine, &c. &c.
The process is as follows:-I cut the plants near to the ground, and having
prepared a pit of proper depth in the field where the plants grow I set the
plants in it with their buts downward; they are thus set as soon as they are
cut, and while still green and alive, and are placed as near together and as
nearly in a vertical position as possible. When the pit is quite full I cover
its sides with leaves or straw, and embank them with earth several inches thick,
and as high as the tops of the plants. The sun and heir being thus excluded,
the gases of the plants are slowly evolved and replaced by the moisture from
the earth, which penetrates the stalks and destroys the glutinous portion,
causing the fibre to separate from the woody substance.
When the process of separation is completed, which can be ascertained by
trial, the pit is broken up and the plants spread out to dry. When dry, the
woody portion is detached by passing the plants between rollers or under
beaters, or by treading with horses. The finer fibres will in this way be perfectly
prepared for manufacturing, but the coarser fibres may need water rotting, and
the other processes which follow it in the ordinary preparation of flax or hemp.
What I claim as my Invention is the preparation of vegetable fibres, by
treating the plants from which they are derived substantially in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Eives, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JAMES EIVES. (L.S.)