IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER."-A communication from
abroad by Mademoiselle Jeanne Françoise Marie de Cassan and Monsieur
Jean Baptiste Meyer, both of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 18th February 1862, and dated the 22nd August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1861.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER," a communication
from abroad by Madamoiselle Jean Françoise Marie de Cassan, and Monsieur
Jean Baptiste Meyer, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improved processes in the preparation of
pulp for paper. We make use of certain materials, such as grass, especially
damaged grass, beet root, pulp, and sea weed, which we steep in a bath of
lime water for a space of from two to twenty-four hours. These materials

page_text: may either be used separately or together, or mixed with other suitable
materials. After they have been removed from the lime bath they are to be
steeped for the space of from 8 to 12 hours in a mixture of lime, salt of soda,
salt of potass, or salt of ammonia, marine salt, nitric, or muriatic acid, and
water. The proportions of these different ingredients may be varied, but as
an example of a suitable mixture, we give the following:-Take of lime 20
per cent., of salt of soda 5 per cent., of marine salt 5 per cent., and add to them
nitric acid in the proportion of from 10 to 15 parts to 100,000 parts by weight
of the solid ingredients. When removed from this mixture, the materials
under treatment must be dried, either in the open air, or in a close vessel, the
latter being preferred, on account of the more rapid action. The materials
must then be treated with phenic acid, or with trinitro-phenic acid, or with
carbazolic acid. Finally, after they have been well washed with water to free
them from the acid, they may be bleached by any known bleaching process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the City of Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson, Her special licence that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR PAPER," a communication
to me from abroad by Mademoiselle Jeanne Françoise Marie de Cassan, and
Monsieur Jean Baptiste Meyer, both of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my

page_text: 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 per-
formed, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the preparation of pulp for paper,
and consists in making subservient for this purpose and suitably treating hay,
(preferring for the sake of economy hay damaged by rain or damp, and which,
consequently, may be obtained at a low price,) the residuum or pulp of beet-
root from sugar manufactories, after the sugar has been extracted therefrom,
and sea wrack, grass, either of which substances are first immersed for about
2 to 24 hours, more or less in a lime bath, the strength of which must vary
according to the nature of the above-mentioned substances to be treated, each
of which will by the present process give rise to pulp, which may be used
separately or combined together, or with any other description of pulp hitherto
made use of for the manufacture of paper. After this the substances are left
to soak in an alkaline lye or liquid composed of lime, soda, potash, or ammonia,
common sea salt, and nitric or hydrochloric acid and water; the proportions
of the components of this liquid vary likewise according to the nature of the
substance to be treated, the following composition may, however, be given as
an example:-Lime 20 per cent., soda salt 5 per cent., nitric acid 150 to 230
grains troy for every 200 lbs. of the substance, sea salt 5 per cent. The lye
once well made to act during 8 to 12 hours, more or less, the thus lixiviated
substances are boiled, either in an open or a closed boiler, by preference,
however, in a closed boiler, under a pressure of about 3 to 4 atmospheres for
about 12 hours. The substances are then washed, either with phenic or tri-
nitro-phenic or carbazotic, and finally well washed in water, after which they
may be bleached by any of the known bleaching processes, by preference by
means of chlorine or sulphurous acid. The pulp thus obtained from either of
the above-mentioned substances may then be used either of them alone or
mixed together, or with any other pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper,
and in any suitable proportions.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of the Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be put into effect, I wish it

page_text: to be understood that I do not intend to restrict or restrain myself to the exact
composition and length of time of acting on the substances to be treated, of
the lime bath, and the lye or liquid, as those parts are essentially variable
according to the nature of the substances to be treated; but what I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
1ly, the above described process of preparing pulp for the manufacture of
paper from hay, sea wrack, grass, or the pulp or residuum from the manu-
facture of sugar from beetroot.
2ly, the combined action on the above-mentioned substances, for the
purpose of obtaining therefrom pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper, of
lye or liquid composed of lime, an alkaline salt, a suitable acid, sea salt and
water, and the boiling of the said substances to be manufactured into paper
pulp, either in an open or in a closed vessel under suitable pressure, whilst
either before or after this combined action of the lye and the boiling any
suitable chemical or mechanical operations may be made use of for the
purpose of reducing the above-mentioned substances into pulp for the manu-
facture of paper.
3ly, the washing of the boiled and lexivated substances in phenic or in
carbazotic acid.
In witness whereof I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
year of
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)