IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN FABRICS, YARN, CORDAGE, ROPES, PAPER, AND PASTEBOARD, BY THE APPLICATION OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR SUCH PURPOSES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Dehau, of 39, Rue Pigale, Paris, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN
FABRICS, YARN, CORDAGE, ROPES, PAPER, AND PASTEBOARD, BY THE
APPLICATION OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED IN GREAT BRITAIN
FOR SUCH PURPOSES."
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 15th June 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Dehau at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1853.
I, JULES DEHAU, of 39, Rue Pigale, Paris, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WOVEN FABRICS, YARN, CORDAGE, ROPES, PAPER, AND PASTEBOARD, BY THE
APPLICATION OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR
SUCH PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of employing the fibres of the stipa tenacissima,
which grows extensively in Africa, in the manufacture of woven fabrics,

page_text: yarn, cordage, ropes, paper, and pasteboard. The fibres of this plant
are readily obtained by boiling with alkali, pressure, and hackling, or
like treatment, and the fibres are spun and fabricated in like manner to
hemp and flax, and may be bleached or not according to the nature of
the intended article to be made therefrom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jules Dehau in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 15th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JULES DEHAU, of 39, Rue Pigale, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jules Dehau, Her special licence
that I, the said Jules Dehau, my executors, administrators, and as-
signs, or such others as I, the said Jules Dehau, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOVEN FABRICS, YARN, CORDAGE, ROPES, PAPER,
AND PASTEBOARD, BY THE APPLICATION OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED
IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR SUCH PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Jules Dehau, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jules Dehau, do hereby de-
clare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of employing the fibres of the stipa tena-
cissima, which grows extensively in Africa, in the manufacture of woven
fabrics, yarn, cordage, ropes, paper, and pasteboard. The fibres of this
plant are readily obtained by boiling with alkali, pressure, and heckling,
or like treatment, and the fibres are spun and fabricated in like manner
to hemp and flax, and may be bleached or not according to the nature
of the intended article to be made therefrom.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I will now
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed. In
employing this plant the lower part near the root, say for two inches, is
to be removed, and the upper part only employed. And in order
to obtain the fibre the plant is boiled for about six hours in water,
having dissolved therein about one ounce of American pearlash for
each pint of water. The plant having been thus boiled is taken from
the water and immediately crushed, which is best accomplished by
means of a pair of rollers whilst the plant is quite hot. And when the
fibres are to be spun they are to be next boiled with tallow or grease, in
the proportion of one ounce of tallow to a pint of water, for about two
hours, and afterwards in water again, the water having dissolved
therein about half an ounce of ordinary potash for each pint. The
fibres are then to be washed in water, and when dry they are to be
heckled or combed out; by this means the fibres are separated, and
they will be the more completely separated according to the fineness of
the points used in separating the same. The fibre thus obtained
is then to be treated as when treating other fibres of like length and
character in order to spin and weave the same. When the plant is to
be used for making paper and pasteboard the fibres are to be reduced
to pulp, and used in like manner to that practised when using rags or
other fibre for making pulp, but in this case the boiling in tallow may
be omitted.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the application of the fibres of the stipa tenacissima in the
manufacture of woven fabrics, yarn, cordage, ropes, paper, and paste-
board.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Dehau, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JLES DEHAU. (L.S.)