A METHOD FOR THE REDUCING AND PREPARING VARIOUS VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES NOT HITHERTO IN USE FOR THE LIKE PURPOSES, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURING THEM INTO ARTICLES IN GENERAL USE, HERETOFORE USUALLY MADE FROM HEMP AND FLAX
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARRIS, of East Dulwich, in the County of Surrey, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of June, in the third year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George
Harris, His special licence that I, the said George Harris, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Harris, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A METHOD FOR
THE REDUCING AND PREPARING VARIOUS VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES NOT HITHERTO IN
USE FOR THE LIKE PURPOSES, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURING THEM INTO ARTICLES
IN GENERAL USE, HERETOFORE USUALLY MADE FROM HEMP AND FLAX;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George
Harris, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to.
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Harris, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
as follows, that is to say:-
The barks, the young stems, and young branches of the family of plants
called the Musacea, such as the Musa textalis and Musa sapientum, &c.; the
family of plants called Bromeliacea, in particular the silk or snake grass, and
wild pine or Pinguin; the family of plants called Palmæ, or the palm tribe; the
genus Yucca, such as Yucca gloriosa, flaxcida, stricta recurva, and fillamentosa,
&c.; the genus Sanseviera, such as Sansevira Zeylanica; the Abroma agusta,
a species of Banhinia; the family of Sterculiaceæ, in particular Sterculia
villosa; the family of Asclepiadeæ, in particular the Asclepias teneassima;
the genus of Corchorus, in particular Corchorus capsularis; the Urtica
tenacessima and Urtica nievra; the family of Cacteæ, in particular Cactustuna;
the Dracæna droco; the Phormium tenax; the genus Daphne, in particular
Daphne pontica; the genus' Agarvia, in particular Agarva Americana; the
Buonapartea which trees, plants, and vegetable productions are to be found
growing in the islands. of Jamaica, Antigua, and other the various islands in
the West Indies, on the coast of Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, in the
East Indies, in North and South America, and the parts of continents and
islands of the globe lying between the tropics. And such parts of those trees,
plants, and vegetable productions as are pulpy, and contain the more delicate
fibre, may be collected in their green or growing state, and after splitting longi-
tudinally such of them as inay be of a size inconvenient for the purpose of
submitting to pressure, as herein-after stated, the barks, leaves, stems,
branches, and parts so collected, may be steeped from twenty-four to forty-
eight hours in water, boiling water if practicable, and then submitted to
pressure by passing them between rollers' similar to those" èemployed in
expressing sugar from the sugar cane, the pressure being regulated so as not
to injure the fibres until the fibres are separated as far as practicable by that
process from the pulp and coating, and then, in order to complete the separation,
which may be incomplete by reason of the adhesion of some portion of the
pulp or coat which may adhere, even after the submission of the aforesaid
barks, leaves, stems, and fibrous parts to the roller pressure, the fibres may be
tied up in bundles, and in that state submitted to the action of a stream or
current of water passing through them, or washed in water until they are
entirely divested of the remaining adhesive matter. The fibres being entirely
cleansed by this operation, which is commonly perfected in twenty-four hours,
may be removed from the water, carefully dried by exposure to the sun and air,

page_text: and packed without bending them, for exportation to this country. The above
is one of the modes of separating and cleansing the fibres of the above-named
barks, leaves, stems, branches; and parts of the said trees, plants, and vegetable
productions, from the pulp and coat adhering to the same, and forms no part
of what I claim to be my Invention. The fibres of the above-mentioned
leaves, branches, and parts of many of the aforesaid trees,.. plants, and
vegetable productions, may be obtained in the above-mentioned separated and
cleansed state from the natives of the various countries in which they grow...;
My Invention consists in the following method of preparing and softening
the above-mentioned fibres in their separated and cleansed state, and increasing
the pliability, and thereby.rendering them fit, for being hackled and spun,into,
yarn, which are capable of being advantageously manufactured into such
articles as have been manufactured heretofore from hemp and flax.; .I .prepare
a mixture by dissolving an ounce of quick lime in ten gallons of cold sea
water, or if sea water, which is preferable, cannot be procured, in. ten gallons
of cold water, holding in solution the same quantity of salt as ten gallons of
sea water. I then make or place at the bottom of a copper or boiler a layer
or bed of the fibres of an inch or an inch and a half in depth, upon the top of
which I slightly sift a mixture of soda, or pot or pearl ash, and quick lime, in
equal parts, varying the quantity sprinkled over the layer or bed according to
the size of the vessel and the coarseness of the fibre in the layer or bed. I
then lay across the bottom layer or bed a second layer or bed of the fibres of a
similar description, strewing that also at the top in like manner. I then lay
across the second layer or bed a third of a similar description, strewing that
also at the top in like manner, and proceed in making and placing other
layers and beds until the vessel is full, strewing the top of each layer in a
similar manner to the first, and placing the fibres of each succeeding layer
across those of the next preceding one. I then pour at the top of the fibres,
through a watering pot, enough of sea water, or salt and water, to boil them.
I then boil the fibres until they are sufficiently softened, the duration of the
boiling to be regulated by the harshness of the fibre and the purpose to which
it is to be applied. Care must be taken to place fibres adapted for the same
purpose only in the same boiler. As evaporation proceeds I fill up the copper
or boiler with sea water, or salt and water, so as to keep the fibres well covered.
I have mentioned a process of boiling the fibres as the most convenient mode,
but I prefer submitting them placed in layers, as before described, on which,
in addition to the mixture before mentioned, I add a quantity of salt equal to the
lime strewed on the various layers, and then submit them to the action of steam
of about two hundred degrees heat, which is a quicker process of softening the

page_text: fibres. When the fibres are sufficiently softened, I immediately take them
from the boiler and wash them in sea water, or in cold salt and water, placing
the fibres in baskets to prevent the finer parts being wasted in the operation.
When cold enough to be handled I wash them in fresh water; and if they are
stained, and it is desired to have them particularly clean, I also use soap in
washing them. The fibres should then be hung up in bundles to dry, and
they will in this state, when dry, be fit for being hackled and spun. The fibres
being spun into yarns or thread, may be woven in the ordinary mode; but in
order to complete the manufacture for all purposes, where the fabrics are to
be white, it is essential that the yarns or fabrics should be submersed in a
weak solution of sulphate of lime and sea water, or salt and water, and dried
in the sun and air, the submersion and drying to be repeated until the requisite
degree of whiteness be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Harris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thouannd night bundvad and thinter thuan