A METHOD OF AND MACHINERY FOR REDUCING WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES TO PULP APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PASTE- BOARD, MILLBOARD, PAPIER MACHÉ, MOULDINGS, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1853

page_text: Reducing Wood and other Vegetable Fibres to
Pulp applicable to Manufacture of Paper,
Mill-board, Mouldings, &c.; and Machinery
for effecting the same.
LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of the firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A METHOD
OF AND MACHINERY FOR REDUCING WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE
FIBRES TO PULP APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PASTE-
BOARD, MILLBOARD, PAPIER MACHÉ, MOULDINGS, AND OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES." A communication.
Sealed the 9th December 1853, and dated the 16th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th August 1853.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent S
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A METHOD OF AND MACHINERY FOR REDUCING WOOD AND OTHER VEGE-
TABLE FIBRES TO PULP APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER,

page_text: PASTEBOARD, MILLBOARD, PAPIER MÂCHÉ, MOULDINGS, AND OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES," to be as follows:
The method of reducing wood (supposing that to be the fibre
operated upon) to pulp consists in obtaining or separating by mechani-
cal means fibres of wood in the direction of the grain thereof and
parallel therewith, together with the employment in such separation of
a current or stream of water applied to the reducing agent just before
contact with the wood. If. straw be the fibre used, then the reducing
agent must be applied in a direction parallel with the length of the
straw; in fact, whatever the vegetable fibre employed, the Invention
consists in reducing it to fragments by mechanical means applied in
every case in a direction parallel with the length or grain of the fibre.
The machinery consists of a millstone or millstones, or metal
rollers, cylinders, or rasps with roughened surfaces, which are caused
to act upon a block or piece of wood (or other vegetable fibre) held in
a frame always in the direction of the grain thereof; as above mentioned.
A current or stream of water as aforesaid is directed on to the stone or
A
other reducing agent immediately before its contact with the wood.
gauge is provided to prevent the passage with the water of such. por-
tions as may not be sufficiently reduced. The fibres as they come
from the stones are passed through sieves of different gauges, from
which they are taken to be applied to the different purposes to which
they are intended. The pulp thus obtained may be mixed with various
other ingredients now employed in the manufacture of paper, paste-
board, millboard, papier mâché, mouldings, &c. &c. In some cases it
may be used by itself.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One, thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her
special licence that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my execu
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 METHOD OF AND MACHINERY FOR
REDUCING WOOD AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES TO PULP APPLICABLE TO
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PASTEBOARD, MILLBOARD, PAPIER MACHÉ,
MOULDINGS, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," (being a communication from
abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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 thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed. (that is to say):
Firstly, the said Invention consists in a method of reducing wood
and other vegetable fibres to pulp by obtaining or separating the fibres
by mechanical means acting in the direction of the grain thereof and
parallel therewith, or as nearly so as may be, (the fibres being held in
every case so as to present the grain in the direction of its length to the
reducing agent,) together with the employment in such reduction or
separation of a current or stream of water applied to the reducing

page_text: agent just before contact with the wood or other vegetable substance.
If straw be the fibre used, then the reducing agent must be applied in
a direction parallel or as nearly so as may be with the length of the
straw. In fact, whatever the vegetable fibre employed, the Invention
consists in reducing it to fragments by mechanical means applied in
every case in a direction parallel or as nearly so as may be with the
length or grain of the fibre.
Secondly, the Invention consists of certain machinery to be employed
for the purpose of obtaining the fibres of wood and other vegetable
fibres in manner aforesaid. This machinery consists of a millstone or
millstones, or metal rollers, cylinders, or rasps with roughened sur-
faces, which are caused to act upon a block or piece or two or more
blocks or pieces of wood (or other vegetable fibre) held in a frame or
frames always in the direction of the grain thereof, as above mentioned,
a current or stream of water as aforesaid being directed on to the
stone or other reducing agent immediately before its contact with the
wood. A gauge is provided to prevent the passage with the water of
such portions of the wood or other vegetable fibres as may not be suffi-
ciently reduced. The fibres as they come from the stones, rollers,
cylinders, or rasps, are passed through sieves of different gauges, from
which they are taken to be applied to the different purposes for which
they are intended. The pulp thus obtained may be used by itself, or
may be mixed with rag pulp, and with various other ingredients now
employed in the manufacture of paper, pasteboard, millboard, papier
maché, mouldings, &c.
Figure 1, of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a vertical
section, and Figure 2, a plan, of a machine which may be employed
for the purposes of the Invention. The main part of this machine
consists of a circular millstone or cylinder of steel, iron, or other metal,
having a rough surface and fixed in a vertical position on an axis or
shaft which revolves in suitable bearings. A, is the millstone; and B,
the axis on which it is fixed, turning in bearings C, which rest on
beams or on a stone or iron foundation. The millstone turns in a box
or casing A', the under part of which is provided with an outlet H, for
the ground pulp. The millstone is driven by suitable power, and

page_text: revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow. The speed at which
it is driven is preferred to be from 180 to 240 revolutions per minute
when the millstone is about 4 feet in diameter. The upper part of the
casing A', enclosing the millstone, has an aperture in which is placed
the frame D, which is open at bottom, and the four extremities of
which come nearly in contact with the millstone. At one side of this
frame is formed a perforated compartment E, which is intended to
receive the water required to wet the millstone, and on the other side of
the frame and opposite to the compartment E, is fixed within the frame
an iron or steel gauge plate G, which as near as possible touches the
stone, and is intended to prevent any large particles of fibre which have
not been sufficiently reduced from passing into the reservoir H. This
gauge plate can be raised or lowered by hand, or by tappets or other
suitable contrivances, according to the extent required to suit the material
operated on. The wood, supposing that to be the substance to be
reduced to pulp, is placed with its fibres running in the same direction
as that in which the millstone revolves, as before particularly directed,
and as shewn in the detached views, Figures 3, 4, and 5. This
arrangement is absolutely essential, as upon it depends entirely the
production of fibrous pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper, paste-
board, &c.
The same method of placing the fibres with reference to the reducing
surface is to be observed in the case of straw, branches of trees, stalks
and vegetable stems of all descriptions capable of being reduced to a
fibrous pulp. The wood is cut into suitable lengths, which are put into
the frame D, in the position described, and pressed down or held with
the grain of the fibre parallel to the direction in which the stone
rotates by a lever and weights or by any other convenient means ou
the grinding cylinder. The fibres when separated from the wood are
carried away by the stream of water, and falling downwards pass through
the case H, into a vessel I, which is furnished with a partition K, and
after having passed the partition K, they flow gradually into a sieve L,
which by means of tappets z, z, is jogged or shaken in order to separate
or divide the finer from the coarser particles of the pulp. The finer
particles in the same way pass again into a sieve M, where a second

page_text: separation takes place, and proceeding onwards they are allowed to
flow over the sieve n', which allows water to escape, and from whence
the fine pulp is conveyed into the reservoir N². The separation may
be carried on to a greater extent, as may be found requisite. The
sieves are of different gauges from coarse to fine, and they are shewn
in the Drawing on a larger scale than the rest of the machinery for the
purpose of indicating more clearly the proportionate sizes of their
meshes. The different qualities of pulp thus obtained may be
employed for the manufacture of paper, pasteboard, &c. alone or
mixed with any pulp of the sort ordinarily used, and with such
ingredients as are generally employed in manufacturing pulp into
paper, pasteboard, &c.
When desired, it may be bleached by any ordinary process, or by
means of a solution of bi-carbonate of soda or soda ash followed by a
solution of alum.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim
as the said Invention is,-
First, the reducing of wood and other vegetable fibres to fibrous pulp
by means of mechanical agents acting in the direction of the length or
grain of the said fibres and parallel thereto, or as nearly so as may be,
together with water or other suitable liquid, applied in the manner
herein-before described.
And secondly, the particular arrangement of machinery represented
in the Drawings annexed, and herein-before described, for the purpose
of reducing wood and other vegetable fibres to fibrous pulp.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)