AN ENTIRE NEW MODE OF BLEACHING PAPER BY A CHEAP AND EXPEDITIOUS PROCESS, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH THE COLOUR OF SUCH PAPER WILL BE SO EFFECTUALLY FIXED AS NOT TO BE AFFECTED BY HEAT, OR ANY LENGTH OF TIME
Year: 1795

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Bído, of Iping, in the County of Sussex, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the thirty-fifth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said John Bigg, His especial licence that
I, the said John Bigg, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN ENTIRE NEW MODE OF
BLEACHING PAPER BY A CHEAP AND EXPEDITIOUS PROCESS, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH
THE COLOUR OF SUCH PAPER WILL BE SO EFFECTUALLY FIXED AS NOT TO BE AFFECTED
BY HEAT, OR ANY LENGTH OF TIME;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said John Bigg, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereuno'had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW "YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jolin Bigg, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in manner
following, (that is to say) :-
Take of manganese eight pounds, of common sea salt twelve pounds, or any.
other quantity in the same proportion, which being mixed together, must be

page_text: well beat in a mortar, so as to be thoroughly incorporated; having a wooden
box or receiver made of the dimensions most convenient to the size of the
papers to be bleached, in which box, or receiver, may be contained ten, twelve, or
more wooden racks, which are to be made to slide in grooves, just clear of cach
other, on which lay your paper flat; if a thick paper; about six or seven sheets
thick; if a thin paper, nine or ten sheets thick. If it is to be bleached in tho
first state, as made from the vatt., it must be pressed as hard as is usual to
press the packs of fine papers the last time, after being parted in the pack;
then take it in the quantities as above, and lay it on the racks, taking care it
does not lay one quantity in the least over the other; then close up the door
of the receiver, and having a sand bath, or other method of conveying heat,
conveniently aflixed at the back of the box or receiver, place therein a glass,
lead, or other proper retort, being tubulated, in which first put cight ounces of the
above mixture of manganese and salt, to which add ten ounces of vitriolic or
sulphuric acid (the retort being previously fixed with its neck admitted through
a hole made as near the center in the back of the box as may be), inmediately
into the retort with some pipe or other soft clay, and the bleaching will imme-
diately commence, and in the course of two hours will be effectually complented.
Then open the door of the box or receiver, and take out the paper, and furnish
the racks with fresh paper, after which add the same charge again to the
retort, and proceed as before. The paper, after being bleached, must be laid
even together, and pressed just sufficient to make moisture appear at the edges
ini drops, after which hang up the paper to dry in lofts in the common way;
and after it is dry, previous to its being sized, it must be wet out in the follow-
ing liquor, which will effectually fix the colour:-Take of allum eight pounds,
and dissolve it in a gallon or two of warm water, letting it stand till quite cold,
mix it with one hundred gallons of cold spring water, then take the paper and
wet it out in the common way in the above liquor, and be it either thick or
thin paper, it must be pressed very hard, and after being again dried, it may,
be sized in the usual way; particular care should be taken that you do not use
any of the above liquor after being pressed out of the paper, or it may be done
in the dry water leaf state; to do it after it is sized, the paper may be done,
dry or wet out in cold water and pressed very hard, after which you are to:
proceed in every respect as above; but to succeed in this way it requires the paper
to be peculiarly well sized. By this process, paper that has become mildew'd,
or lost its colour, will be compleately restored, and fine papers rendered much
superior, both in quality and colour.
Another method is, take a tub or other receiver, fill it with cold water,
leaving a vacancy of about one tenth of the quantity it contains, into which

page_text: introduce the neck of a retort, the retort charged with a proportion of the
aforesaid mixture of the manganese and salt, then add thereto the same propor-
tion of vitriolic or sulphuric acid as before, the quantity in each retort, and the
number of retorts to be used, must be ruled by the quantity of liquor wanted,
in which liquor the paper is to be wet out and soaked in it till it is properly
bleached, which will depend on the quality of the paper to be bleached, after
which let the paper be well pressed and dryed, when dry, wet it out in allum'd
water, as in the other process.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bigg, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand seven hundred and ninety-five.