RENDERING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USEFUL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND THE FORMATION OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND CORDAGE OR ROPES
Year: 1855

page_text: Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 23rd July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theophilus Henry Hastings
Kelk at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd July 1855.
I, THEOPHILUS HENRY HASTINGS KELK, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "RENDERING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USEFUL FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND THE FORMATION OF TEXTILE FABRICS AND CORDAGE OR
ROPES," to be as follows:-
I take the vegetable substance to be treated, elm bark, for instance, which
I utilize by first well drying the same from the sap, and then removing the
exterior bark or epidermis, if necessary, which being thus prepared is boiled or
retted in water, or water containing one or more of the following substances,

page_text: viz., lime, soap, potash, soda, salt. Having properly prepared same, I select
portions for textile fabrics, ropes, or cords, and for paper, and then operate
upon them in any known and suitable manner. Although I have above
instance clm bark only, still the Invention might be applied to other bark,
and several other vegetable substances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEOPHILUS
HENRY HASTINGS KELK, of Osgathorpe, near Loughborough, in the County of
Leicester, Clerk in Holy Orders, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, Her special licence that I, the said
Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, 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 "RENDERING CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
USEFUL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND THE FORMATION OF TEXTILE FABRICS
AND CORDAGE OR ROPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The nature of the said Invention, which has been described generally in
and by the Provisional Specification filed on application for the said Letters
Patent, is, in compliance with the said condition, particularly described and
ascertained, as also in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
this present Specification thereof, as follows:-
The vegetable substances which I render useful for the manufacture of
paper, and the formation of textile fabrics and cordage or ropes, are the
fibres extracted (as hereafter described) from the bark of elm, of lime, of
poplar, of willow, and of marsh mallow canes or rods; the leaf stalk of
horse radish, and the root of horse radish; the shrubby cane or rod of marsh
mallow; the wood of elm, of poplar, of willow, and of lime.
The marsh mallows are ready for treatment, according to my Invention,
when the flower has fallen; the leaf stalks of horse radish soon after they
appear to have reached their full size, and (as there are successions of growths
it is desirable to pluck them at two or three periods as they reach maturity, so
as to obtain them of different growths.) I remove the exterior or non-fibrous
portion of the four first-named barks, it being useless and retarding the process
for liberating the fibre. The easiest time for this operation is while the sap is in
the bark, as the fibrous part may then be readily torn from the exterior coat.
also take away the leaf part of the horse radish stalks, and likewise remove
the leaves and small branches from the marsh mallow canes. After these
preparations, the whole of the articles above mentioned (except such horse
radish stalks as are collected in autumn, which need not be dried,) are dried
from the sap or other moisture, and (including the marsh mallow rods with
the bark on them) are then immersed (with the exception of the woods of
elm, poplar, lime, and willow, which, as also the shrubby stem or rod of marsh
mallow, are further spoken of hereafter,) in water (but no two kinds together),
which water may continue without artificial heat, or be kept in a boiling
state or nearly so, and which may also, whether cold or heated, contain one or
more or be without any of the following chemicals or agents for hastening the
liberation of the fibre, (viz.) quick lime, soda, potash, salt; (or in the place of
the salt, borax might be used, and I have found it preferable). The pro-
portions of the agents to be employed in each case and the time required
for each operation must necessarily vary considerably, according to the age,
strength, and thickness of the material containing the fibre; but the following
is an approximate tabular statement thereof:-
and one

page_text: The time of steeping as
below:-
cold water without these
chemicals, about 30 days
or more.
hot water without these
chemicals, about 12 hours
or more.
cold water with these
chemicals, about 20 days
or more.
hot water with these
chemicals, about 6 hours
or more.
When the substances have remained long enough in the water or mixture,
whether heated or cold, to admit of the fibre being easily washed or removed
by wringing or other treatment from the refuse matter, they are withdrawn
from steeping, and when the fibre has been separated, as above stated, and
has been further cleaned (if necessary) by being combed, or by being boiled in
a solution of potash, from oz. to 2 ozs. of potash, (the state of cleanness or
otherwise of the fibre determining the quantity,) to cach 4 gallons of water,
or by both operations, it is then divided into portions, according to the quality
of the fibre, for textile fabrics, for ropes or cordage, and for paper, to be
subsequently operated upon, according to some of the methods adopted for the
manufacture of the above-named articles from fibrous materials. The woods
of elm, poplar, lime, and willow are reduced to slender pieces or shavings, and
the shrubby stem of the marsh mallow rods, after the removal of the fibre and

page_text: bark, as above stated, are also broken into slender pieces. These articles are
then boiled (but no two kinds together) in water, containing a handful or
more of quick lime and 6 ounces or more of soda to each 4 gallons of water,
for 6 hours or more, when they are passed to the paper maker to be acted
upon by the mill, to be bleached and to be made into paper.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim the sole right of rendering useful for the manufacture of paper, and the
formation of textile fabrics, and cordage or ropes. the before-named vegetable
substances (with the exception of the woods of clm, poplar, lime, and willow,
for the purposes above stated, and as herein-before set forth; and I claim the
sole right of utilizing the woods of elm, poplar, lime, and willow by the means
and in the manner before mentioned for the making of paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theophilus Henry Hastings Kelk, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
T. H. HASTINGS KELK. (L.S.)