IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOD CAPABLE OF VIRIDING MAMERTATS CHITARER PAR MUR MANURACTURE OR PADER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Matthiessen, of Saint Bartholomew's
Hospital, in the City of London, Lecturer on Chemistry, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOD CAPABLE OF
VIRIDING MAMERTATS CHITARER PAR MUR MANURACTURE OR PADER"
T
Sealed the 4th June 1869, and dated the 10th December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Matthiessen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th December 1868.
I, AUGUSTUS MATTHIESSEN, of Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, in the
City of London, Lecturer on Chemistry, do hereby declare the nature of
my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF WOOD CAPABLE
OF YIELDING MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation and treatment of wood
capable of yielding woody or ligneous fibre or filamentous and fibrous
materials suitable for the production of paper, and consists,--
First. In submitting wood in a state of division, such as shavings,
sawdust, or disintegrated wood, to what is known as a retting process,

page_text: that is to say, the wood in a state of division is steeped in water, and is
allowed to undergo a retting or fermenting process, by which certain
constituents of the wood are decomposed and removed, and the sub-
sequent treatment of the ligneous fibre is thereby rendered more
economical, and is more easily effected.
Second. In submitting wood in a disintegrated state to the repeated
and successive action of water at a temperature below 212° Fahrenheit,
in order that those constituents which are soluble in water may be
removed either before the retting process is adopted or before the said
ligneous fibre is further operated upon, so as to render it suitable for the
production of pulp or paper. The fibrous material after having under-
gone either the retting process or the water process before described, or
both of them, may be submitted to the action of an alkaline ley and to
the process of bleaching, as is well understood.
Third. In submitting timber or wood in bulk to the action of water
or of an alkaline solution either at the ordinary or at an elevated
temperature, and either at the normal or at an increased pressure, in
such a manner as that the water or the alkaline solution shall purge
the cells and other portions of the vegetable structure from the sap and
other fluid constituents contained therein. The timber or wood so
purged or purified may then be employed for the production of paper in
the manner as herein-before described or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Augustus Matthiessen in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
MATTHIESSEN, of Saint Bartholomew's Hospital, in the City of London,
Lecturer on Chemistry, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Augustus Matthiessen, Her special license
that I, the said Augustus Matthiessen, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus Matthiessen, my executors,

page_text: administrators, or 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
TREATMENT OF WOOD CAPABLE OF YIELDING MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Augustus Matthiessen, my executors or administrators, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Matthiessen, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 :-
This Invention relates to the preparation and treatment of wood
capable of yielding woody or ligneous fibre or filamentous and fibrous
materials suitable for the production of paper.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I submit wood when in
a state of division, such as shavings, sawdust, or disentegrated wood, to
what is known as a retting process, that is to say, the wood in a state of
division is steeped either in running or stagnant water, and is allowed to
undergo a retting or fermenting process, by which process certain con-
stituents of the wood will be decomposed and removed, and the
subsequent treatment of the residual ligneous fibre for the production of
pulp or paper will be thereby rendered more economical, and the
process of boiling and bleaching be more easily effected.
The time necessary for effecting the process of retting will depend
upon the temperature of the water and the nature and state of division
of the wood operated upon; the higher the temperature the shorter is
the time required.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention I submit wood when
in a disentegrated or divided state to the repeated and successive action
of water at a temperature below 212° Fahrenheit, in order that those
constituents which are soluble in water may be removed either before or

page_text: subsequently to the retting process, such, for example, as herein-before
described, by which additional process the ligneous fibre will be rendered
better capable of being more economically treated by any of the
processes usually employed for the boiling and bleaching of the ligneous
fibres and materials which are to be employed for and in the production
of pulp or paper. The ligneous materials after having undergone either
or both of the processes before described, viz., the retting and the water
process, or both of them, may be submitted to the action of an alkaline
ley and to the processes of boiling and bleaching, as is well understood.
In carrying out the third part of my Invention I submit timber or
wood in bulk, either at the ordinary or at an elevated temperature, to
the action of water or of an alkaline solution in a manner similar to that
which is known as the Boucherie process, and at such a pressure as that
the water or the alkaline solution shall purge the cells and other
portions of the vegetable structure from the sap and other fluid con-
stituents contained therein. The timber or wood so purged or purified
may then be employed for the production of paper in the manner as
herein-before described or otherwise.
The processes herein-before referred to may be applied either to dry or
seasoned wood or to green or fresh wood, preference being given to the
latter.
Having now described' and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what
I consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
First. Submitting wood when in a state of division to what is known
as a retting process, substantially in the manner herein described, so as
to render the same more suitable for the production of pulp or paper.
Second. Submitting wood when in a state of division, and either
before or after having undergone a process of retting, to the repeated and
successive action of water, so as to render it more suitable for the
production of pulp or paper, as herein described.
Third. The submitting wood or timber in bulk to the action of water
or of an alkaline solution in a manner similar to what is known as the

page_text: Boucherie process, so as to render the same more suitable for the
production of pulp or paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Matthiessen, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
AUGUSTUS MATTHIESSEN. (L.S.)