IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE PARCHMENT OR PARCHMENT PAPER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF VEGETABLE PARCHMENT OR PARCHMENT PAPER."-A communication
from abroad by Colin Campbell, of Buffalo, New York, United
States of America.
Scaled the 31st December 1870, and dated the 26th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th July 1870.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer; do licreby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF VEGETABLE PARCHMENT OR PARCHMENT PAPER," a communication, to be as
follows:-
;
The said Invention relates to the manufacture of a material analogous
to what is commonly termed vegetable parchment.

page_text: the catalytic action of dilute sulphuric acid, whereby the paper is
changed into an article which in its structure and qualities somewhat
resembles ordinary animal parchment. The greatest care and delicacy
are required in manufacturing the article to determine the requisite
strength of the acid, the temperature of the room, and the length of
time the paper is subjected to its influence. If the acid is not sufficiently
diluted the material will be charred; if the solution is too weak and the
paper is left too long in it the latter will be partially converted into
dextrine. Such parchment or membrane after it has become wet, and
subsequently dried loses to a great degree its pliancy, becoming hard
and stiff.
Experiments have proved that by using sulphuric acid instead of the
dilute acid less care in the manipulation of the process is required, and
that the acid can be used in a cold state, and the operation may be
carried on in an apartment at any ordinary temperature, while the
article produced is greatly superior to that made by the usual method,
as it retains the same desirable qualities after being wet and dried
as before.
My Invention consists partly in passing paper sized or unsized
through a bath of undiluted commercial sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol,
and then immersing it immediately in a water bath, whereby I am
enabled to produce a superior article of paper, which possesses the
qualities herein-after enumerated. It also consists partly in passing
the paper through an alum bath preparatory to treating it with acid,
the alum preventing the undue penetration and action of the acid. In
the preparatory alum treatment the paper is simply passed through a
bath of alum in solution, and then thoroughly dried, when it is ready
for the acid. It may be subjected to the acid treatment during the
manufacture of the paper with or without the previous alum treatment,
by allowing the web after it passes the drying rollers to dip into a tub of
the acid, and then into the vat containing the water. I may simply dip
the pieces of paper to be treated in the vessel containing the acid, and
then drop them into a vat of water. The paper is then treated in an
alkaline bath, and a subsequent water bath in the usual manner for
removing the acid. Written and printed paper can be subjected to
treatment by my improved process without materially affecting the
clearness and distinctness of the letters.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE PARCHMENT OR PARCHMENT
PAPER," a communication to me from abroad by Colin Campbell, of
Buffalo, New York, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 William Robert Lake, 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 :—
The said Invention relates to the manufacture of a material analogous
to what is commonly termed vegetable parchment.
To produce vegetable parchment common unsized paper is subjected
to the catalytic action of dilute sulphuric acid, whereby the paper is

page_text: changed into an article which in its structure and qualities somewhat
resembles ordinary animal parchment. The greatest care and delicacy
are required in manufacturing the article to determine the requisite
strength of the acid, the temperature of the room, and the length of
time the paper is subjected to its influence. If the acid is not sufficiently
diluted the material will be charred; if the solution is too weak and the
paper is left too long in it the latter will be partially converted into
dextrine. Such parchment or membrane after it has become wet, and
subsequently dried, loses to a great degree its pliancy, becoming hard
and stiff.
Experiments have proved that by using sulphuric acid instead of the
dilute acid less care in the manipulation of the process is required, and
the acid can be used in a cold state, and the operation may be carried
on in an apartment at any ordinary temperature, while the article.
produced is greatly superior to that made by the usual method, as it
retains the same desirable qualities after being wet and dried as before.
My Invention consists partly in passing paper sized or unsized
through a bath of undiluted commercial sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol,
and then immersing it immediately in a water bath, whereby I am
enabled to produce a superior article of paper, which possesses the
qualities hercin-after enumerated. It also consists partly in passing
the paper through an alum bath preparatory to treating it with acid,
the alum preventing the undue penetration and action of the acid. In
the preparatory alum treatment the paper is simply passed through a
bath of alum in solution, and then thoroughly dried, when it is ready
for the acid. It may be subjected to the acid treatment during the
manufacture of the paper with or without the previous alum treatment,
by allowing the web after it passes the drying rollers to dip into a tub of
the acid, and then into the vat containing the water. I may simply dip
the pieces of paper to be treated in the vessel containing the acid, and
then drop them into a vat of water. The paper is then treated in an
alkaline bath, and a subsequent water bath in the usual manner for
removing the acid. Written and printed paper can be subjected to
treatment by my improved process without materially affecting the
clearness and distinctness of the letters.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I claim,—

page_text: First. The process of treating paper by passing it through a bath of
pure commercial sulphuric acid, and then immediately into a water
batlı, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.
Second. The process of passing the paper through an alum bath
preparatory to treating it with acid, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
-set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
W. J. LOWE..
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)