A NEW PROCESS OF CONVERTING WOOD SHAVINGS, FLAX, Tow, HEMP, JUTE, ESPARTO GRASS, STRAW, HAY, AND OTHER MATERIALS OF A FIBROUS NATURE INTO PAPER PULP
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Reinhold Schloesser and James Irving, both of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Drysalters, for
the Invention of "A NEW PROCESS OF CONVERTING WOOD SHAVINGS, FLAX,
Tow, HEMP, JUTE, ESPARTO GRASS, STRAW, HAY, AND OTHER MATERIALS OF
A FIBROUS NATURE INTO PAPER PULP."
Sealed the 1st January 1870, and dated the 19th July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Reinhold Schloesser
and James Irving at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 19th July 1869.
We, REINHOLD SCHLOESSER and JAMES IRVING, both of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Drysalters, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW PROCESS OF CONVERTING
WOOD SHAVINGS, FLAX, Tow, HEMP, JUTE, ESPARTO GRASS, STRAW, HAY, AND
OTHER MATERIALS OF A FIBROUS NATURE INTO PAPER PULP," to be as follows:-
The materials above enumerated, or any of them, are steeped in a
solution of hydrochloric acid in proportion of about one gallon (more or
less) of the solution of hydrochloric acid to one hundred and twelve

page_text: pounds of the fibrous materials for eight or ten hours or thereabouts.
The next process is to boil the materials with about 8 per cent. of
caustic soda at 60 per cent. strength, or with about 12 per cent. of
soda ash, or in any similar solution of soda, or other ingredients
possessing the same properties. The fibrous materials may be then well
washed, then bleached in chlorine at about 4 degrees Twaddle's hydro-
meter, then again washed, then soured in a weak solution of sulphuric
acid, and then treated in the usual manner on the paper maker's
ordinary rag and beating engines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Reinhold Schloesser and James Irving in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 18th January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, REINHOLD
SCHLOESSER and JAMES IRVING, both of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Drysalters, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Reinhold Schloesser and James Irving, Her
special licence that we, the said Reinhold Schloesser and James Irving,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Reinhold Schloesser and James Irving, 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 "A NEW PROCESS OF CONVERTING
WOOD SHAVINGS, FLAX, Tow, HEMP, JUTE, ESPARTO GRASS, STRAW, HAY, AND
OTHER MATERIALS OF A FIBROUS NATURE INTO PAPER PULP," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Reinhold Schloesser and
James Irving, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the sala
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Reinhold Schloesser and James
Irving, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
Our improved process is applicable in converting into paper pulp any
of the materials referred to in the title of our Invention, but as it is
particularly beneficial when operating upon wood shavings or strips, we
will confine ourselves to that material in the following description:-
The form of wood we find best adapted for being acted upon by the
chemicals, is either thin shavings, or by preference rasped into thin fine
strips of about five or six inches in length, this latter form admits of a
more easy penetration by the chemicals, as well as obtaining a greater
weight for being operated upon in a given compass. We first steep
these shavings or strips of wood in hydrochloric acid of four degrees of
Twadell's hydrometer for about twelve to sixteen hours, which operation
should be done in a wooden vat provided with a tap below, so as to allow
the acid to be drawn off when the steeping operation is performed, as
this acid having now lost only a small portion of its strength can after
being made up again into the strength required be used for a following
steeping. The wood is now taken out of the vat, and after a rough wash
it is placed in a rag engine or other equivalent, in which it must by
washing with cold water be perfectly freed from the acid. We now boil
the wood in caustic soda of sixty per cent. strength, that is to say, in the.
proportion of from twenty to twenty-five pounds of caustic soda to one.
hundred and twelve pounds of wood, according to the nature of wood
under operation; for example, wood naturally containing much resinous
matter requires to be boiled in a larger quantity of caustic soda than
wood which naturally contains less resinous matter; the boiling should
continue for about twelve hours under pressure of about twenty pounds
to the square inch; or instead of boiling in caustic soda, as above
specified, we boil the wood after steeping in hydrochloric acid (as before
described) in slacked lime, namely, in the proportion of about twenty-
five pounds of quick Buxton, or other pure lime, to one hundred and
twelve pounds of wood for about eight or ten hours, then drain off the
liquid and boil the wood in clear water for about one hour, then boil it

page_text: in soda ash of about fifty per cent. strength in proportion of about
twenty-five pounds of soda ash to one hundred and twelve pounds of
wood for about cight or ten hours, after which it must be washed well.
When the wood has arrived at this stage by either of the processes above
described, it must be placed into the ordinary rag or beating engine, and
well beaten up until the fibre is drawn out, after which it undergoes
the bleaching process usually applied to pulp obtained from rags or
other materials. The strength of chlorine to be used for bleaching the
wood pulp prepared in the manner above described would require to
be about two degrees of Twadell's hydrometer.
Pulp obtained by the processes above referred to will be found of great
strength of fibre and suitable for white paper of the better qualities.
Should it, however, be intended for inferior qualities of paper, the
steeping in hydrochloric acid may be dispensed with, and the process
can otherwise be much simplified, namely, the shavings or strips of
rasped wood may be boiled in slacked lime in the proportion of about
thirty pounds of quick Buxton or other pure lime to one hundred and
twelve pounds of wood for about ten or twelve hours. After the lime
water has been run off the wood must be boiled up in clear water, then
the water is run off, and the wood must then be boiled in soda ash of
fifty per cent. strength, in the proportion of about twenty-five pounds
of such soda ash to one hundred and twelve pounds of wood for about
ten or twelve hours. The boiling in soda ash is intended to clear the
wood from the lime and also to assist in desolving the resin contained
in the wood. The wood must now be washed perfectly clean and then
beaten into a fibrous pulp in the rag and beating engine. It is
then ready for bleaching, if its intended purposes render this process
necessary.
Having thus described the manner of performing our Invention, we
wish it to be understood that we do not intend to limit ourselves to the
proportions and details given, as the same may be varied or modified
according to the nature of the fibrous materials to be operated upon and
the quality of the pulp to be produced; but what we claim as our
Invention is,-
First. The use of hydrochloric acid to dissolve the silicates contained
in wood and other materials of a fibrous nature, thus rendering them
susceptible of being freed from their resinous matter, and loosening their
natural fibres.

page_text: And, secondly. The use of lime to assist in clearing the resin contained
in wood and other materials of a fibrous nature, thus obtaining paper
pulp at a less cost than by boiling in caustic soda exclusively.
In witness whereof, we, the said Reinhold Schloesser and James
Irving, have hereto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth
day of January, One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
R. SCHLOESSER. (L.S.)
J. IRVING.
(L.S.).
R. SCHLOESSER. (L.S.)
J. IRVING.
(L.S.).