IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cowley, of Quennington Paper Mills, Glou-
cestershire, and Daniel Peyton Sullivan, of Stockwell, Surrey, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER."
Sealed the 15th October 1855, and dated the 16th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cowley and Daniel
Peyton Sullivan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th April 1855.
We, JOHN COWLEY, of Quennington Paper Mills, Gloucestershire, and
DANIEL PEYTON SULLIVAN, of Stockwell, Surrey, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER" to
be as follows:-
The process we employ for preparing pulp from straw and other like fibrous
matters is as follows:-In the first place we subject the fibrous materials to a
much higher degree of temperature than has before been the practice; and
we effect this either by the direct application of heat or superheated steam, or
by a combination of both, by means of suitable apparatus, the object being
to cause the solvent or liquor used to act more quickly and in less time. The
next step is to immerse the pulp in caustic soda liquors at the low degree of
from 2 to 4 Beaumé, and then to cleanse and free it from impurities, and

page_text: to bleach it by the use of chlorine liquor of the low strength of 1 to 2 Beaumé,
applied and used with steam during the process; and, lastly, the paper is
perfected in an engine roller of an improved construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cowley and Daniel Peyton Sullivan in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 16th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
COWLEY, of Quennington Paper Mills, Gloucestershire, and DANIEL PEYTON
SULLIVAN, of Stockwell, Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Cowley and Daniel Peyton Sullivan, Her special licence that
we, the said. John Cowley and Daniel Peyton Sullivan, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Cowley
and Daniel Peyton Sullivan, our 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Cowley and Daniel Peyton Sullivan, by an instru-
ment in writing under our 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 we, the said John Cowley and Daniel Peyton
Sullivan, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
The object of our improvements in the manufacture of paper is to facilitate
-the manufacture of that article from straw and other similar vegetable matters,

page_text: to render. the process more effective, and to shorten the time ordinarily con-
sumed in the operation.
The first part of our Invention has reference to the operation of boiling
the straw in caustic soda liquors of the strength of from two to four
degrees, as indicated by the English glass, which gives a lower degree of
strength for the same number than Beaumé's. The straw or other similar
fibrous material is cut into pieces of about one inch in length, and after-
wards closely packed in an iron vessel, the form of which should be
circular, and fitted with a false bottom. The capacity of this vessel must be.
determined by the quantity of pulp required to be supplied within a given
time. Now, one hundredweight of straw requires a cubical space of fourteen
and a half square feet, and we believe that in practice a kier capable of
containing two tons of straw will be found to be the best and most convenient
size. When the straw or other materials are well packed in the kier, thirty
gallons of caustic soda liquor of the strength of from two to four degrees (as
indicated by the English glass) are introduced for each hundredweight of
straw in the kier. It should be here observed that the soda liquor should
not be of a higher degree of strength than from two to four degrees. It is
desirable that the vessel in which the soda liquor is distilled or prepared
should be so placed as to command the top of the kier in which the straw is
boiled, or the soda liquor may be elevated by means of a centrifugal pump, or
other similar hydraulic machine, or by means of steam, but the former methods
will be found preferable, as the most effective and least expensive. When
the requisite quantity of soda liquor has been poured or distributed over the
straw, a fire is lighted in a furnace fitted below the kier, the grate of which
must be so built as to allow of an even distribution of flame over the
bottom, and at least one-third of the sides of the kier. As soon as the fire is
thoroughly ignited, a jet of steam is to be introduced into the kier by means
of an iron pipe of one inch and a quarter diameter; this pipe is to be coiled.
several times in a spiral manner round the exterior of the kier, in order that it
may receive the direct heat of the fire. The steam pipe passes through the
centre of the bottom of the kier, and rises about one inch above the false
bottom. The superheated steam is discharged into a pipe attached to the
false bottom, which rises to within a few inches of the top of the kier. The
second or discharge pipe is surrounded at the top by a bonnet, or it may
terminate in a hollow chamber, having hollow arms secured to the sides;
rotary
motion may be given to the chamber by fitting it upon a pivot so as to turn
freely, in order that when the superheated steam is passed through the pipe,
the escape of the fluid from the arms shall cause the chamber to be put
"

page_text: in rapid motion, by which a continuous stream of highly-heated vapour is
discharged upon the straw. By this arrangement it is obvious that the
expansive force of the steam used in this operation, which may leave the boiler
at thirty or forty lbs. pressure, may be increased at pleasure by reason of its
being exposed to the action of, the fire in the furnace before being allowed to
come in contact with the liquor in the kier. The straw is submitted to this
operation of boiling under pressure for a space of five or six hours, by which
time it is completely reduced to pulp; the caustic liquor is then drained off
into an iron vessel preparatory to pumping or otherwise forcing it upon another
quantity of straw packed in a kier, as before described. The caustic liquor is
allowed to percolate through and saturate the second quantity of straw for
about one hour, when it is drained off into a vessel beneath. This operation
prepares the fresh straw for the reception of the new liquors; the necessary
heat may be kept up by steam alone. The caustic liquor remaining from the
last operation still contains a quantity of valuable matter, and may be advan-
tageously used for the preparation of straw pulp for the manufacture of brown
paper or pasteboard, for which purposes straw is admirably adapted. We
prefer this method of using up the liquor to the more expensive method of
regeneration. When all the liquor is drained off the boiled straw, (that is to
say, the first quantity of straw herein-before referred to,) a sufficient quantity
of cold water is introduced to cool the pulp, and this being drained off, the
straw is ready to be washed, which is done in the following manner :-The
straw is removed to a kier made of timber, within which is fitted an agitator
and two or more circular washers. When the agitator is set in motion the
washers continuously lift the water until all the colouring matter is removed;
the straw is then ready for bleaching. ·
'
The second part of our Invention has reference to the process of bleaching
the straw after it has been treated as above described. The straw is placed
in an hydraulic press and the water thoroughly pressed out; it is then
removed to a willow, having a cylinder of about 6 feet in diameter, furnished
with steel teeth of about half an inch in length, which are so disposed as
to just touch but not pass through several tiers of steel teeth one quarter of
an inch long which are attached to the cover of the cylinder. The object
of this arrangement is to rapidly divide the straw into fibres, and prevent
its being carried round the cylinder in an undivided state. The cylinder
should rotate at a velocity of at least six to seven hundred revolutions per
minute, and will require but little power. The straw is then placed in a
wooden kier of nine feet diameter by six feet six inches in depth. A kier
of this size is capable of bleaching twenty hundredweight of straw at one

page_text: operation. The kier is supplied with fifteen hundred gallons of bleaching
liquor of from one and a half to two degrees of strength, as indicated by
the ordinary English glass. It is important to observe that a lower degree
of strength than one and a half degrees will not effectually discharge the
colouring matter, at the same time a greater strength than two degrees injures
the pulp, and does not produce a good clear white colour. Before putting the
straw into the kier, an agitator fitted within it is put in motion, and kept
rotating at a speed of from twelve to fifteen revolutions per minute during the
whole of the operation. When the straw has been packed in the kier it must
be watched, and as soon as it assumes a reddish colour, just merging on white;
a jet of steam is to be introduced, and continued for about two hours, when
the liquor having attained a blood heat, or about ninety degrees Fahrenheit,
which temperature must be carefully maintained for two hours longer, when-
the straw will be completely bleached, and fit for the beating engine. In
reference to the foregoing process, it should be observed that the gradual
introduction of the steam is most important, and also that the heat be very
evenly distributed through the pulp, otherwise an unequal and bad colour will
result. To obviate this, we line the bottom and sides of the kier with copper
tubing three quarters of an inch in diameter; through this pipe the steam
passes before it enters the pulp. The straw being well bleached, is drawn off
the liquor and bathed in cold water, when it is fit for admixture in any pro-
portion with other stuff. It has been found in practice that good paper cannot
be made from one description of fibre; we do not therefore propose to use
straw by itself, but in the proportion of eighty per cent. of straw to ten per
cent. of flax or linen rags, and ten per cent. of cotton; these proportions will
make a very excellent quality of paper, equal to that upon which the Times
newspaper is printed; but the straw pulp may be used in quantities varying
from thirty to fifty per cent. in the finest qualities of post paper that are
nianufactured.
The third part of our Invention relates to the process of reducing the pulp
in a beating engine, in which we use a roller and plate of the following
construction:-The plate is made of an angular shape, having the apex of
the angle precisely in its centre, and the bevil of each plate reversed, so as to
present the bevilled side to the stuff as it travels, and not against it, as in engines
of the ordinary construction. The bars in the roller must also have their
bevilled sides reversed, so as to present their bevilled edges to the bevil edge of
the plate. But the most important point in the construction of this engine
consists in fitting the steel bars in the block at a line forming a tangent with
the side of the spindle, and not perpendicular to it, as in engines of the ordinary

page_text: construction. The advantage of this arrangement is, that by reason of the
bevil edges of the rollers and plates being in contact, a grinding as well as
cutting action is exerted upon the straw, the former being most required for
straw; and. as the bars always present an obtuse angle to the stuff, a much
greater quantity of pulp is carried over the fall at each revolution than by the
ordinary means, so that the delivery over the fall is more rapid, and the liability
the pulp round to the breast completely obviated.
to carry
Having described, the nature of our, Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise arrangement of the mechanical details herein-
before described, because the same may be varied without departing from the
Invention; but what we claim, and desire to secure by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
•
Firstly, the use of caustic soda liquors of a strength not exceeding four
degress, as indicated by the ordinary English glass, used in the manner herein
described, for the manufacture of pulp from straw or other similar vegetable
fibrous matter.
Secondly, the use of superheated steam for the purpose of more effectually
disintegrating the straw or other vegetable matter, together with the mecha-
nical arrangement for effecting the same, as herein-before described.
-
Thirdly, the mode of washing the straw or other vegetable pulp prior to
bleaching, and the mechanical arrangement for effecting the same, as before
described.
-
Fourthly, the particular method of bleaching the straw or other vegetable
pulp, also the use of steam during the process, as described, and the use of
bleaching liquor at the low strength of from one and a half to two degrees, as
before described.
Fifthly, and lastly, the several improvements in the beating engine, as
particularly described in the third part of this our Specification.
****In witness whereof, we, the said Daniel Peyton Sullivan and John Cowley,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.