IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bertrani, of the firm of William and
George Bertram, Engineers, Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER"
Sealed the 5th July 1853, and dated the 13th May. 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by the said George Bertram
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th May 1853.
I, GEORGE BERTRAM, of the firm of William & George Bertram,
Engineers, Edinburgh, Scotland, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER" to
be as follows:
My Invention has reference to the preparation of rags for the manu-
facture of paper, and consists in the following improvements in the
ordinary apparatus for "beating" and "washing" the rags:-
The apparatus for this purpose, under my Invention, consists of an
engine or trough, with four rollers working in it, and without the
ordinary partition at the back of the roller for the reduced rags or pulp
to pass round.

page_text: The engine or trough may be made either circular, square, or of
other form, but it should be rounded in the corners. The rollers also
should be placed therein, at equal distances apart, and they should fill
up the space in the trough in which they revolve, so that the reduced
rags or pulp may be made, by the revolution of the rollers, to flow in a
continuous stream from one roller to the other without having to pass
round the two ends of a partition, and along a part of the engine or
trough beyond the end of the roller.
Another point in my Invention consists in the adjustment, by any
convenient means, of the plate or bed on which the rags or pulp are
reduced by the rollers to the required working point, instead of the
adjustment of the rollers to a stationary plate.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Bertram in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 12th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I.
GEORGE BERTRAM, of the firm of "William and George Bertram,"
Engineers, of Edinburgh, Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ler
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Bertram, Her special license that I, the
said George Bertram, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Bertram, 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 expresserl,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Bertram, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, 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 George Bertram, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
My Invention of Improvements in the Manufacture of Paper"
relates to the preparatory process of "washing" and "beating" rags and
other material adapted for the manufacture of paper, and is designed to
economize the ordinary amount of time occupied in reducing the rags
or other material to the required state of pulp by bringing them more
constantly under the action of the reducing rollers.
And my Invention, with this object in view, consists, in the first
place, in the employment of an engine or trough of such form as to
admit of rollers working within it in such a manner as to pass the
materials under operation from one roller to the other without their
having to travel round a partition known by the name of "midfeather,"
after having been operated upon by the roller, before being again
operated upon.
And my Invention consists, in the second place, in adjusting the
plates (on which the rags or other material are reduced to pulp) under-
neath the rollers to their required position in relation thereto, instead of
adjusting the rollers to the plates.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood I will
proceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of the accompanying
Drawing, in which Fig. 1, is a plan or horizontal view of the engine or
trough, with its four rollers suitably mounted upon and within the same.
Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section of the same in the line Y, Z, of Fig. 1.
Fig. 8, is a front elevation of the same. Figures 4, 5, and 6, relate to
the adjustment of the plates to the rollers, and will be hereafter referred

page_text: to. In these several Figures the same letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts.
A, A, is the engine or trough, which it will be seen has spaces, in
which four rollers B, C, D, E, work, the remainder of the space therein
being open for the passage of the rags or pulp. The engine may be of
the form shewn in the Drawing, or of other suitable formn to allow of a
free passage of the rags or pulp from one roller to the other, and also
to admit of any other convenient number of rollers being used, but I
prefer four rollers, as shewn. Also, the dimensions of it may be varied,
according to the quantity of pulp required to be produced in it, and it
may be composed of metal or other suitable material. This engine or
trough is intended to be used cither in the process of "washing" or in
that of "beating" the rags or other material, and may have the
ordinary apparatus for the purpose applical to it.
The operation of this engine is as follows:-The rags or material to
be operated upon, together with the proper supply of water, being
furnished to the engine, and the rollers being set in motion by any
suitable mechanical power, the material that has been operated upon
by roller B, will be passed on to rollers C, D, and E, in succession,
flowing in a continuous stream from one to the other along the open
space or passage in the engine or trough which is unoccupied by the
rollers. In this manner the operation of one roller upon the material
is quickly followed by that of another, the intervals or interruptions
occasioned by having to pass round a partition or "midfeather" after
leaving the roller being obviated.
I proceed now to describe more particularly the second part of my
Invention.
of the engine or
Fig. 5, is a
plan
Fig. 4, is a section on a larger scale of a portion
trough, shewing the plate and box below the roller.
or horizontal view of the same portion of the engine, but on the same
scale as Figures 1, 2, and 3. Fig. 6, is an elevation of the same. F, is
the plate box, containing the plate G, which has to be adjusted to a
proper distance from the lower surface of the roller. H, and I, are two.
malleable iron shafts or spindles for supporting the plate box F, the.
cross section of which shafts is in the form of a cam, as shewn at Fig. 5,

page_text: so that when they are turned in. such a direction as to stand the deepest
way upwards they raise the box and bring the plate in contact with the
roller, and when they are turned so as to cause the egg-shaped cam "to
be in a horizontal direction under the box the latter is allowed to
descend and carry the plate sufficiently. clear of the roller.
These shafts or cams H, and I, bave a rest throughout the whole of
their length in the seat below the plate box, 'and extend through the
back or inner side of the engine or trough, where they are made to
work througli stuffing boxes, their other end being supported in bushes
within the front or outer side of the engine, which is inade open in the
usual way for the purpose of getting the plate boxes in and out. These
shafts, or. cams E, and I, are turned as required by means of two
pinions K, and L, (see Figures 5, and 6,) keyed on to them, and gearing
into each other. The pinion K, has a toothed sector M, cast with it
which gears
into a worm wheel or screw on a vertical or inclined shaft,
as at N; this latter shaft being actuated by a pair of bevil wheels O,
and shaft P, with a handle Q, at the front or outer side of the
engine.
It will thus be seen that in order to raise or lower the plate box F,
so as to adjust the plate G, to the roller in the manner required, the
handle Q, has to be moved, by which the required motion may be
imparted through the bevilled gear O, and toothed sector M, to the
pinions K, and L, and thereby to the shafts or cams H, and I, to which
they arc keyed.
The roller should be fixed in its required position by firmly securing
the bushes in which it revolves into the plummer block, by adjusting
gib and cottars above and below.
I would here remark, that I do not confine myself to the mode of
raising and lowering the plate box just described, as it may be done in
various ways by means of screws, levers, and wedges, but I prefer that
which has been described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not mean or intend to confine myself to the precise forms, arrange-
ments, and combinations of the parts represented and described,

page_text: neither do I mean to confine myself to the combination of the engine
or trough, described under the first head of my Invention, with the
adjusting of the plate to the roller, under the second head, as either of
these may be used with the ordinary arrangements in other respects.
But what I claim as of my Invention is―
First, the formation of the engine or trough, of whatever material
composed, with the whole of the internal space open, except that which
is occupied by the rollers, so as to admit of an uninterrupted passage of
the material under operation from roller to roller, as described.
And, secondly, the adjustment of the plate to the roller, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bertram, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
(L.S.) GEORGE BERTRAM.
HORATIO NELSON, Witness.