IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING AND PREPARING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Henry Cobley, Manufacturing Chemist, of
Dunstable, Beds, and George Tidcombe, junior, Paper Makers' Engineer, of
Watford, Herts, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING AND
PREPARING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Henry Cobley
and George Tidcombe, junior, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
on the 4th November 1881.
"
THOMAS HENRY COBLEY, Manufacturing Chemist, of Dunstable, Beds, and
GEORGE TIDCOMBE, junior, Paper Makers' Engineer, of Watford, Herts. IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CLEANSING AND PREPARING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Our process consists, first, in cleansing all substances of a fibrous nature or
containing fibrous matter available for the manufacture of paper, such as straw,
manure, tan waste, cane, beet root, and other residues, by passing it through a
machine or apparatus for first washing and cutting the fibre, and then treating tho
same in a steam jacketed or fire heated vessel or engine having a triturating roller
therein; and the engine itself has a cover to suppress or contain the froth caused
by the process.
The straw or other material is shaken by a revolving drum or other such means
for the purpose of equalizing it, and is then spread out on a travelling wire table
so as to have one layer or as few layers as possible to deal with continuously.
Across the travelling wire cloth or coarse web are pipes having fine perforations
or slits set at different angles above and below the wire through which blasts of
steam, water, or other suitable fluid are directed against the material in all
Price 1

page_text: directions, thereby giving to it a similar action to dews and rain, but with any
required force, so as to wash off dust, dirt, or ashes adhereing thereto.
The material may be damp or dry before treatment. The travelling wire is also
worked in conjunction with another such wire running in the same direction, and
the materials carried between the wires.
There may be more single or double wires than one for successive treatinent.
There is a water sink or trough below to collect the washings, which may be
filtered, cleansed, or precipitated, and the clear liquid used again for washing the
material may be driven through a trough of water or other suitable fluid and
washed.
At the end of the travelling wire or wires upon which the washing process is
carried out are rollers, between which the material is pressed and carried forward
for the purpose of cutting it continuously into the required lengths by strong cross
cut knives.
The operation or treatment being conducted in its own liquor until such liquor
has become sufficiently strong to admit of its being treated for such constituents
of the liquor as are worth recovering; the back water returning to keep up the
supply of liquor to work the apparatus is passed through a filter press, and the
cakes formed by the insoluble matter in the liquor are removed from time
to time.
The liquor may be also charged with a suitable or convenient salt or acid to
suppress or remove any objectionable fumes or smell arising from the treatment,
and at the same time precipitate the more valuable part of the liquor removed in
the process of cleansing.
The materials thus cleansed or any materials requiring chemical treatment, as
_ wood, cane, straw, esparto, and grasses are then brought into our boiling-engine.or
digesting triturator constructed as follows (subject to modifications according to
the requirements of the materials under treatment.
We make a steam jacketed pulping or triturating engine, and fit it with a roll
or rolls having equidistant bars, or with the triturating molar teeth engine roll or
rolls made according to the Specification of Letters Patent, No. 5108, dated 13th
day of December 1879, granted to the said George Tidcombe, junior, and fit a
portable cover to the engine made to raise or lower over the same so as to prevent
the froth caused by the process from overflowing; or we fit an annular space or
inside jacket to the inside of the engine around its sides. The bottom can also be
steam jacketed in the same manner; or in some instances we use a steam coil
instead of a jacket so constructed that the material may travel without impediment
in the engine, and having enough surface to boil or properly treat the materials;
or we may place under or surround such an engine with fire or gas heat for the
purposes claimed.
The effluent steam or hot water can be used again economically in another
engine, and when the material requires a gradual treatment. The material is
knotted or screened continuously in the engine, or after it has been treated as
required for the kind of pulp or paper to be made. The solutions employed in
this operations, whether caustic soda, potash, or lime, or combinations of the same,
are introduced into the apparatus in any convenient manner, the strength of the
solutions depending upon the nature of the material under treatment; the material
is then fed in and additional material supplemented as fast; it is reduced in bulk
by the joint action of the chemical agent and heat employed combined with the
physical disintegration produced by the action of the roll, the solution being kept
at the boiling point from two to three hours more or less.
The contents are then discharged or run off into percblators or washers of any
convenient form or construction, and after the primary or black liquor bas been
run off it is washed in the ordinary manner with hot or cold water, or both inter-
mittently, and then bleached and finished by passing through a finishing engine
as also in an unbleached state, and proceeded with as relates to the chemical

page_text: discharging, sizing, and loading in the ordinary way or otherwise, and then made
into water.
It is to be understood that the boiling engine or digesting triturator is employed
for all fibrous substances requiring boiling with chemical solutions, and by the
joint chemical and physical action without hydrostatic or thermal pressure there is
produced a pulp of greater strength, larger yield, and with a similar amount of
chemical agent than by any other known method of treatment, because the action
of the solvent is accelerated by removing as fast as it is formed the gelatinous
surface or coating formed by the matters of incrustation and the chemical agent
employed, thus presenting always a new surface without the damaging or deterio-
rating action of hydrostatic or thermal pressure.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Thomas Henry Cobley and George Tidcombe, junior, in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 4th May 1882.
"IMPROVE-
THOMAS HENRY COBLEY, Manufacturing Chemist, of Dunstable, Beds, and
GEORGE TIDCOMBE, junior, Paper Makers' Engineer, of Watford, Herts.
MENTS IN CLEANSING AND PREPARING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Our process consists, first, in cleansing all substances of a fibrous nature or
containing fibrous matter available for the manufacture of paper, such as straw,
manure, tan waste, cane, and beet root residues, and so forth, by passing such
substances through an apparatus of the following construction and treating the
same. Referring to Fig. 1, the straw or other material is shaken by a revolving
drum A or other such means for the purpose of equalizing it, and is spread out on
a travelling wire table B supported upon rollers 6 so as to have one layer of the
material under treatment at one time or as few layers as possible, and to deal with
such layers continuously.
Across the travelling wire B are pipes C, more or less in number, and having
fine perforations or slits set at different angles above and below the travelling wire,
through which blasts of steam, water, or other suitable fluid are directed against
the material in all directions directly up or down and at angles thereto, thereby
subjecting it to a similar action to rain, but with any required force, so as to wash
off dirt adhering thereto. In the Drawings but one set of four of these pipes C
are shown, and that only above the wire B, the mesh of the wire being coarse
enough to secure the effective action of the jets but fine enough so as not to allow
the fibre to pass. The travelling wire may be worked in conjunction with another
such wire D running in the same direction, and the straw be carried between the
wires. There is a water sink or trough E below the wire table to collect the
washings, which may be filtered, cleansed, or precipitated, and the clear liquid used
again for washing the straw or for boiling the same, or the wires are driven through
a trough of water or other suitable fluid for the purpose.
The travelling wire tables are carried on stretching rolls F, and at the end of the
travelling wire upon which the washing process is carried out are rollers F¹, between
which the material is delivered and pressed and carried forward for the purpose of
cutting it continuously into the required lengths by strong cross-cut knives G, that
is, a revolving knife edge running against a fixed knife edge, as indicated in the
Drawings at G.
The operation or treatment is conducted in its own liquor until such liquor has
become sufficiently strong as to admit of its being treated for such constituents of
the liquor as are worth recovering.
The back water returning to keep up the supply of liquor to work the apparatus
is passed through a filter press, and the cakes formed by the insoluble matter in the
liquor are removed from time to time.
The liquor may also be charged with a suitable or convenient salt or acid to
suppress or remove any objectional fumes or smell arising from the treatment, and
at the same time precipitate the more valuable part of the liquor recovered in the
process of cleansing.
Referring to Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the material thus cleansed, or any materials
requiring chemical treatment, as wood, cane, straw, esparto, and grasses, are then
brought into our boiling engine, Fig. 2, or digesting triturator, constructed as
follows (subject to modifications according to the requirements of the materials
under treatment) :-
We make a steam jacketed pulping or triturating engine, consisting of a casing

page_text: fitted with a roll or rolls H, having equidistant bars or teeth standing out
therefrom and working ngainst a suitable bed or reducing plate; the teeth are not
shown in the Drawings, Fig. 2, but partially shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and we fit a
portable cover I, Figs. 2, 3, and 5, to the same, made to raise or lower over the
engine, so as to prevent the froth caused by the process from overflowing, and on
annular space or inside jacket K is fitted to the inside of the engine around its
sides. The bottom can also be steam jacketed in the same manner, as shown in
Figs. 2, 3, and 5, or in some instances we use a steam coil M, as shown in Figs. 5
and G, within instead of a jacket, constructed so that the material may travel
easily in the engine, but having enough surface to boil or properly treat the
materials.
The effluent steam or hot water can be used again economically in another
engine and when the material requires gradual treatment. The material is now
strained, knotted, or screened continuously in the engine or after it has been treated
as required for the kind of pulp or paper to be made. The solutions employed in
this operation, whether caustic soda, potash, or lime, or combinations of the same,
are introduced into the apparatus in any convenient manner, the strength of the
solutions depending upon the nature of the material under treatment.
The material is then fed in, and additional material supplemented as fast as it is
reduced in bulk by the joint action of the chemical agent employed combined with
the physical disintegration produced by the action of the roll and heat, the solution
being kept at the boiling point from 2 to 3 hours, more or less, and the froth being
kept down by the cover I.
The contents are then discharged or run off into percolators or washers of any
convenient form or construction, such as indicated at N, Fig. 2, and after the
priniary or black liquor has been run off it is washed in the ordinary manner with
hot or cold water, or both intermittently, and then bleached and finished by passing
it through a finishing engine of required kind, as also in an unbleached state,
and proceeded with as relates to the chemical " discharging," "sizeing," and
loading" in the ordinary way or otherwise, and then made into paper.
"
We wish it to be particularly understood that we employ the boiler, engine, or
digesting triturator constructed as described for all fibrous substances requiring
boiling with chemical solutions, and be claim by the joint chemical and physical
action without hydrostatic or thermal pressure to produce a pulp of greater strength,
larger yield, and with a smaller amount of chemical agent than by any other
known method of treatment, as we accelerate the action of the solvent by removing
as fast as it is formed the gelatinous surface or coating formed by the matters of
incrustation and the chemical agent employed, thus presenting always a new
surface without the damaging or deteriorating action of hydrostatic or thermal
pressure.
The primary operation may however in some cases be carried out in a simple
and convenient manner by dividing the washing operation into two parts; first,
the beating and cutting of the straw manure, and afterward washing it in a
separate apparatus. To carry out this the parts of the original washing machine
employed are the feed rollers F (which will be corrugated), the beater drum A, and
the travelling apron B, the press rolls F, and the cross cutters G represented in
Fig. 7.
The beaters A separate the drippings and smaller impurities from the straw
which is carried forward to the cutter, and there cut to the proper length. The
straw thus cut is then removed to the washer, which is a large cylindrical vessel
supplied with wooden arms attached to a central spindle of the vessel which is
provided with a perforated double bottom, through which the insoluble portions of
the manure passes, and which has a separate discharge hole for collection.
The straw when washed is removed together with the manure liquor from
another discharge hole on to a floor or vat provided with perforations, so as to
render it possible to strain the manure liquor from the washed straw or fibre,
which manure liquor is pumped back again into the washer to be used for a fresh

page_text: quantity of manure straw, and so on continuously, until the manure liquor is
sufficiently strong for precipitation.
Or we put in at the time of washing the manure straw the necessary precipitant
during the time of washing the manure obtained from the washing of the straw.
The liquor obtained in this way, if passed through a filtering contrivance, will be
equally available for further use in the washing as fresh water.
The size of the cylinder, the number of arms, the speed, the supply of water and
precipitant, will all have to be varied according to circumstance, the nature of the
manure under treatment, and the purity of the straw to be arrived at.
As regards the treatment of the straw thus obtained, or any other straw or
fibrous matter to be disintegrated by this treatment, and for which we have described
the requisite apparatus, we may also employ steam jacketed vessels provided with
wooden arms so as to produce a rubbing or abrasive action during the time of
boiling or disintegration.
After the boiling is completed and the boiled mass is discharged or run from the
boiler, engine, or apparatus, as a means of closing the cellulose or fibrous matter,
we prefer to use a contrivance or apparatus similar to that already specified for
washing, and illustrated in Fig. 1, thus by the employment of double wires and
squeezing rolls we remove more effectually and economically the alkaline solution of
incrusting matter resulting from the boiling, and facilitate the recovery of the soda
contained in such solution by getting it in this way in a more concentrated form,
so necessitating less evaporation in recovering.
The viscid mass enveloping the fibre being in this way more completely removed,
the after washing, which we effect upon the same machine by means of steam or
water, is removed in a much shorter time, and with less detriment to the quality of
the fibre than when obliged to travel so long in an ordinary engine. We.keep.the
travelling wire clean by syringing it from the back with jets of steam or hot
water.
.
Having now described the nature and particulars of the said Invention in such
manner that the same may be readily carried into practical effect, we clain,-
The improvements in the treatment for cleansing and preparing of fibrous
substances for the manufacture of pulp by means of the breaking, washing,
cleansing, and cutting apparatus, as herein described and specified in reference to
Figs. 1 and 7, and the further treatment thereof by the digesting triturator con-
structed, operating, and employed, as and for the purpose herein set forth, and as
specified and described in reference to and shown by Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tidcombe, junior, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Thomas Henry Cobley, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty two.
In presence of
WALTER A. BARLOW,
Patent Agent & Engineer,
6, St. Paul's Churchyard,
London, E.C.
GEORGE TIDCOMBE, JNR. (L.S.)