IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OR TREATING HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER TESTILE PLANTS
Year: 1844

page_text: POOLE, of Lincoln's Inn, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of December, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Moses Poole, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Moses Poole, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Moses Poole, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING OR TREATING HEMP,
FLAX, AND OTHER TESTILE PLANTS," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Moses Poole, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Moses Poole, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention relates to certain chemical means in treating hemp. flax, and
other textile plants for the purpose of effectually separating the fibres of the
plants from the resinous gummy matters which are mixed up with the
plants, and which is known by the name of "retting." According to the
ordinary plan, the plants are submitted to maceration, either in still or running
water, and the change of the temperature to which the flax is exposed produces
more or less a state of decomposition of the glutenous parts, and it is difficult
to ascertain the state of the material under operation. The putrid decompo-
sition of these matters affect the water, and render it prejudicial to cattle.
Mechanical means have been suggested for the purpose of replacing the
decomposition, but it was found that, although the vegetable fibres were sepa-
rated from the stalks, yet the glutinous matters which join together the
filaments was not separated. And various other methods have been attempted,
but without success.
This Invention consists of a mode of performing the operation of retting by
steeping flax, hemp, &c. in a solution of acid and water, by which the process
is rapidly carried through without any offensive smell, and continually under
the controul of the workman, as he is enabled to see how the process is going
on. The manner of operating upon hemp is as follows, and may be carried
either in the open air or in a covered place, and in any seasons of the year, but
when in the open air the upper layer or bed of the material under operation
should be covered over, either with leaves or straw, so as to prevent them
drying too rapidly--I use sulphuric acid, and it is to be mixed in the propor-
tion of two hundred parts of water to one part of ordinary sulphuric acid of
commerce at 66 ditto, the whole to be well mixed together, and placed in
a wooden trough of sufficient depth, so that when the sheaves of hemp are
placed therein there will be sufficient acid and water to cover over them. The
sheaves of hemp are first to be loosened, and moistened in any convenient
manner. The mode I prefer is to lay the bundles or sheaves on pieces of
wood, placed a little distance above the ground, (the heap of hemp can, without
inconvenience, be three feet high), and, by pouring on water, have them
thoroughly moistened; or, if it is convenient to carry on the process near a
river, they may be immersed therein, for the purpose of being thoroughly
soaked through. It it then to be allowed to remain in that state for eight or

page_text: nine hours, and then the process of moistening is to be repeated. To carry
on the process with convenience, I prefer that the first operation should be
performed in the morning, and the second in the evening, then it is to remain
until the next morning, and then it will be in a fit state to be immersed in the
sulphuric acid and water. The bundle of hemp in the loosened state is then
to be immersed in the trough containing the sulphuric acid water before
spoken of, and pressed down, so that the acid and water wiil penetrate all
through; when it is taken out and drained, it is again placed upon the pieces
of wood. In order to render the action of the acid uniform and regular, the
position of the bundles of hemp should be changed after each immersion, in
such manner that when operating with two or more bundles of hemp, that the
upper layer of the heap be placed underneath, after the following immersion, and
vice versa. About five or six hours, more or less, the bundles are to be again
moistened, and allowed to stand till the next morning, and then they are to be
again submitted to the acid water, and five or six hours afterwards moistened,
and so on every day, until the operation of retting is perfected. When the
hemp has been sufficiently treated by the above process the stalks will present
some black spots at different parts, which at first are very small, but which
rapidly increase as the process goes on. At this stage the operator should be
watched with great care, and the process of retting is complete, when, by
bending the hemp, the filaments will readily separate on all the surface of the
stalk, which it leaves free. The process of immersing in the acid water is
then to cease, and all that remains to be done is to well wash them with water.
At this part of the process it is better that the bundles should be wholly
immersed in water to destroy the effect of the acid. If it is feared, after this
immersion, that the hemp still retains some parts of acid, it will then be
advisable to submit it to an alkaline bath, and again be watered two or three
times. It is then to be dried and crushed by the ordinary means. The
alkaline bath is a weak solution of soda or potash, in the proportion of one
part of soda or potash for ten thousand parts of water. When the acid and
water is used by the continued action of the process, the quantity is to be
supplied, as before explained. In operating upon flax the process is the same,
with the exception that the solution of acid and water is weaker. There is
only one part of acid to three hundred and eighty to four hundred parts of
water; and more care is necessary in the process, as the fibres of flax are more
easily destroyed by the acid than hemp. I do not confine myself to the use
of sulphuric acid, as other acid may be used. The same process is applicable
to all other textile plants, care being observed that the quantity of acid be in
proportion to the strength of the outer skin of the plant to be operated upon.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim as the
Invention communicated to me is, the mode of treating hemp, flax, and other
textile plants with acid and water, as herein described.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
Enrolled the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-five.