IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLI- OF NEW MATERIALS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, AND YARN FOR TEXTILE FABRICS, CORDAGE, &C.
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William George Plunkett, of Belvidere Place,
Dublin, Gentleman, for the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLI-
OF NEW MATERIALS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, AND
YARN FOR TEXTILE FABRICS, CORDAGE, &C.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William George Plunkett
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th July 1857.
I, WILLIAM GEORGE PLUNKETT, of Belvidere Place, Dublin, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
APPLICATION OF NEW MATERIALS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP, AND
YARN FOR TEXTILE FABRICS, CORDAGE, &c.," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, in the first place, in preparing the materials herein-
after specified, and applying them to the manufacture of paper pulp capable
of being converted into paper, millboard, pasteboard, papier maché, carton
pierre, and other articles made from pulp; and, in the second place, in
preparing the material, herein-after specified, and applying it to the manu-
facture of yarn suitable for being made into textile fabrics, ropes, cords, mats,
and other like articles.
With reference to the manufacture of paper pulp, the following materials

page_text: are employed, viz, the bark, leaves, roots, and the wood of the "lavatera
arborea (sea tree mallow), "mallow arborem marina nostras;" also the bine
or straw of the "humulus lupulus," or hop plant; and the "trifolium pratense,"
or common clover.
The preparation of these materials consists in reducing them, and separating
from them the portions which are not required, or other matter, and cleaning,
by ordinary chomical or mechanical means, the portions required to be manu-
factured into pulp. These materials may be mixed together, or with rags,
or other material suitable for the manufacture of paper.
And with reference to the manufacture of yarn, the fibrous portion of the
bark of the "lavatera arborea" (sea tree mallow) is employed. The bark is
separated from the wood, reduced to fibre, cleaned, and bleached. The
particular treatment and preparation of the material will be varied to suit its
different qualities, and to adapt it for particular uses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William George Plunkett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GEORGE PLUNKETT, of Belvidere Place, Dublin, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the-year of our Lord-One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William George Plunkett, Her special license that I, the said William George
Plunkett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William George Plunkett, 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF NEW MATERIALS TO THE MANUFACTURE OP
PAPER PULP, AND YARN FOR TEXTILE FABRICS, CORDAGE, &C.," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William George Plunkett, by an
instrument in writing under my band and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: 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 William George Plunkett, 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):-
:-
My Invention of "Improvements in the Application of New Materials to
the Manufacture of Paper Pulp, and Yarn for Textile Fabrics, Cordage, &c.,"
consists, in the first place, in preparing the materials herein-after specified, and
applying them to the manufacture of paper pulp capable of being converted
into paper, millboard, pasteboard, papier maché, carton pierre, and other
articles made from pulp; and, in the second place, in preparing the material
herein-after specified, and applying it to the manufacture of yarn suitable for
being made into textile fabrics, ropes, cords, mats, and other like articles.
With reference to the manufacture of paper pulp, the following materials
are employed, viz, the bark, leaves, and stems or wood of the "lavatera
arborea" (sea tree mallow), otherwise called "arborem marina nostras;" also
the bine or straw of "humulus lupulus," or hop plant; and the "trifolium
pratense," or "rubeus" (common red clover).
The preparation of these materials consists in reducing them, and separating
from them the portions which are not required, or other matter, and cleaning,
by ordinary chemical or mechanical means, the portions required to be manu-
factured into pulp. These materials may be mixed together, or with rags, or
other material suitable for the manufacture of paper.
And with reference to the manufacture of yarn, the fibrous portion of the
bark of the "lavatera arborea" (sea tree mallow) is employed. The bark is
separated from the wood, reduced to fibre, cleaned, and bleached. The
particular treatment and preparation of the material will be varied to suit its
different qualities, and to adapt it for particular uses.
Such being the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe the
manner in which I carry it into effect, (that is to say,) the manner in which
I reduce the said materials to fibre suitable for yarn, and also to pulp for the
respective manufactures produced therefrom.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS.
In order to obtain the required fibre suitable for yarn from the lavatera
arborea" (sea tree mallow), I cut down the plants at any age of their growth,
from three months to three years, and. I either steep the bark which I separate

page_text: from the plant by gently beetling it; or I steep the plant with the bark on
from ten to fourteen days, or as many days as may be found necessary,
according to the season of the year and the quality of the water used. The
steeping is continued until the fibrous portions thereof become sufficiently
saturated and softened so that the bark will readily separate, and by frequent
washings with spring or running water may be deprived of the outer skin and
the gelatinous matter which it contains, and the fibres separated and freed
therefrom. I then spread the cleansed fibre to dry in the open air, as hemp
or flax are dried, and when sufficiently dried in the open air (which I prefer)
or by artificial heat, when required, I beetle, scutch, and hackle the fibre,
either by band or by suitable machinery, in the manner in which hemp or flax
is prepared for spinning. The material when thus prepared is intended to be
spun in the ordinary manner, so as to form yarn for textile purposes or for
manufacturing into ropes, cordage, mats, &c.
In order to obtain pulp for the manufacture of paper, millboard, &c., from
the fibre or the scutchings, hacklings, or waste thereof, it is only necessary
after the first process of steeping and washing above described to boil the
fibrous portions of the bark, roots, and stems, and also the leaves, in a caustic
alkali composed of soda ash, potash or pearlash, and lime water of a strength
adapted to the quality of the fibre; but I do not confine myself to any
particular strength of caustic alkali. After the fibres or fibrous portions of
the plants have been sufficiently boiled therein, so as to cleanse them without
destroying or impairing their fibrous strength, I wash the whole material
thoroughly with spring or running water, and then submit it to a bleaching.
process in a bath of chloride of lime, or the chlorine process usually adopted
by paper manufacturers, and when it is sufficiently bleached, I wash it again
until it is freed from all bleaching and alkaline solutions, when I grind it in a
pulp mill, and thereby reduce it to pulp to be made into paper in the ordinary
way. The several portions of the bark, stems, and leaves are either manu-
factured together or put through the process separately, as may be required,
to suit the particular quality of paper intended to be produced.
In order to obtain pulp from the stem or wood of the "lavatera arborea"
(sea tree mallow) after the bark has been taken off the plant, and the wood or
stem sufficiently dried, I reduce it to chips or shavings, either by hand or by
machinery, taking care to separate the inner portions or pith of the plant from
the chips or shavings. I then boil the latter in a suitable caustic alkali,
composed of the materials above named, and of such strength as may be
adapted to the age and quality of the wood. After boiling in the alkali, the
chips or shavings are washed thoroughly and submitted to the bleaching and

page_text: washing processes above described, and subsequently passed through the pulp
mill, as above described.
In order to obtain pulp for the manufacture of paper, millboard, &c., from
the "humulus lupulus" or hop plant, I take the bine or straw of the plant,
either in its green state or in a dried state, after the blossoms have been picked
therefrom, or at other periods of its growth, and I beetle it or pass it through
rollers, so as to crush and separate the fibres of the bark and wood or straw of
the plant, in order that they may be more readily acted upon by the caustic
alkali, already described, in which I boil the bine or straw until it is
sufficiently softened and prepared for the bleaching process, as before
described for the "lavatera arborea," and when bleached I mill it in the usual
manner. For the convenience of more readily handling the bine or straw,
I cut it into lengths of from eight to fourteen inches, but for the purpose of
making a superior kind of paper, millboard, &c., after the bine has been boiled
in the caustic alkali and washed therefrom, I separate the bark from the
straw, and submit either to the bleaching process separately. In this case
I do not roll or beetle the bine, but for general purposes I prefer that mode of
preparation.
And in order to obtain pulp for the manufacture of paper, millboard, &c.,
from the "trifolium pratense," or "rubeus," (common red clover,) I take the
clover, either in its green state or when dried into hay, and I first submit it to
a rippling process, which I accomplish by means of a common ripple, such as
is generally used for rippling the seed from the flax plant, and by this means
I save the leaves and blossoms or seeds as fodder for horses or cattle. I then
boil the green stalk of the plant or the rippled hay produced therefrom in a
suitable caustic alkali, as above described, and when sufficiently softened,
I wash the material from the alkali and bleach it as before described; then
pass it through the pulping mill in the usual manner, so as to reduce it to
pulp.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not claim
as of my Invention the process or processes and machinery above described
and referred to, nor do I confine myself to their use; but I claim,
.
First, the application to the manufacture of pulp for paper, millboard,
pasteboard, papier maché, carton pierre, and other articles made from pulp, of
the plants or portions of the plants above described, whether they are used
separately or mixed together, or with rags, or other material suitable for the
manufacture of paper.
Secondly, in the application to the manufacture of yarn or hemp, for textile

page_text: purposes, and for ropes, cordage, mats, and other like purposes, of the fibre or
fibres produced from the plant or portions of the plant above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Plunkett have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
In presence of
JOHN BONER.
WILLIAM GEORGE PLUNKETT. (L.S.)