THE MANUFACTURE OF POPPY PAPER
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Emile Durand, of Paris, in the French
Empire, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "THE MANUFACTURE OF
POPPY PAPER."
Sealed the 7th August 1860, and dated the 8th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Emile Durand
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the
8th February 1860.
I, JULES EMILE DURAND, of Paris, in the French Empire, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE
OF POPPY PAPER," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing paper from the dried stalks of any
of the varieties of the field poppy after the seeds thereof have been separated
therefrom, thus converting into an article of considerable commercial value a
part of the plant which has hitherto only been employed as manure
for fuel.
The following is my method of treating the stalks:-I first pass them
between rollers in order to partially crush them and effect a division of their
fibres, I then chop them up in a machine suitable for the purpose, for example
an ordinary chaff-cutter, I next submit them to the action of steam in a

page_text: closed vessel in order to swell out the cellular portions thereof, and dissolve
such extractive and soluble matter as the plant may contain; they are thus
rendered more open to the cleansing or detergent action of a caustic bath
prepared in the proportion of about 20 per cent. of lime of the weight of dried
fibrous substance, which renders the process more efficacious. I then allow
the stalks to remain about 10 hours in the aforesaid solution at a temperature
of from 115° to 120° centigrade = 239° to 248° Fahrenheit, keeping the mass
in constant agitation by means of a stirrer. The cellular portions are by
these means sufficiently opened out and partially freed from extraneous
substances, and may be subsequently entirely cleansed by repeated washings
in water to prepare them for undergoing in the vats the pulping, purifying,
and bleaching operations, which may be effected by the means commonly
employed in the manufacture of paper. The pulps obtained from the poppy
plant by the above method may be employed either alone or mixed with other
kinds of pulp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jules Emile Durand in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JULES
EMILE DURAND, of Paris, in the French Empire, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jules Emile Durand, Her special licence that I, the said Jules Emile
Durand, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Jules Emile Durand, 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
"THE MANUFACTURE OF POPPY PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Jules Emile Durand, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals

page_text: 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 Jules Emile Durand, do hereby declare
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 in manufacturing paper from the dried stalks of any
of the varieties of the field poppy after the seeds thereof have been separated
therefrom, thus converting into an article of considerable commercial value
a part of the plant which has hitherto only been employed as manure or
for fuel.
In order to explain this Invention as completely as possible I now proceed
to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect as follows:-I first pass the dried stalks, aforesaid, between
rollers, in order to partially crush them and effect a division of their fibres;
I then chop them up in a machine suitable for the purpose, for example an
ordinary chaff-cutter, I next submit them to the action of steam in a closed
vessel in order to swell out the cellular portions thereof, and to dissolve such
extractive and soluble matter as the plant may contain, they are thus
rendered more open to the cleansing or detergent action of a caustic bath
which I propose to employ, said bath being prepared in the proportion of
about 20 per cent. of lime of the entire weight of the dried fibrous substance,
which renders the process more efficacious. I then allow the stalks to remain
about 10 hours in the aforesaid solution at a temperature of from 115° to
120° centigrade, equal to 239° to 248° Fahrenheit, keeping the mass in
constant agitation by means of a stirrer; the cellular portions are by these
means sufficiently opened out and partially freed from extraneous substances,
and may be subsequently entirely cleansed by repeated washings in water to
prepare them for undergoing in the vats the pulping, purifying, and bleaching
operations, which may be effected by the means commonly employed in the
manufacture of paper. The pulp obtained from the poppy plant by the above
method may be employed in the manufacture of paper, either alone or it may
be mixed with other kinds of pulp.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "The Manufacture of Poppy Paper," together with the best
means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect,

page_text: I would remark in conclusion that I hereby declare my Invention to consist
in and I claim manufacturing paper from the dried stalks of any of the
varieties of the field poppy as above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Emile Durand, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
F. B. COLLARDÉ,
Employé, 42, Rue St. Sébastien,
à Paris.
JULES E. DURAND. (L.S.)