IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTIFICIAL PARCHMENT, AND OF GELATINE APPLICABLE TO THE SIZEING OF THE SAME AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Constantine Jennings, of 8, Great Tower
Street, in the City of London, Practical Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTIFICIAL PARCHMENT,
AND OF GELATINE APPLICABLE TO THE SIZEING OF THE SAME AND OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 17th June 1859, and dated the 3rd February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Constantine
Jennings at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd February 1859.
I, HENRY CONSTANTINE JENNINGS, of 8, Great Tower Street, in the City
of London, Practical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FAPER AND ARTIFICIAL PARCHMENT,
AND OF GELATINE APPLICABLE TO THE SIZEING OF THE SAME AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:
First Part. The first part of my Invention relates to the conversion of the
fibrous parts of fish into a material suitable to the manufacture of different kinds
of paper, which material may be employed either alone or mixed with the pulp
manufactured in the ordinary manner from vegetable substances.
In order to carry out the objects of this part of my Invention, I treat fish
in the following manner:-I cover it with hydrated or slaked lime (as recently
וגם מן

page_text: slaked as possible) mixed with water to the consistency of cream or there-
about, and being brought to the temperature of about 100 or 120 Fahrenheit,
and in this mixture of lime and water I keep it during from 12 to 24 hours,
according to the thickness and size of the fish employed; caustic soda or
potassa may be also used. After the fish has been digested with the line,
caustic soda or potassa in the manner described, I cause it to be mashed up
in soft water to remove the lime, and to bring the mass into such a state that
tp skin and bones can be easily separated and removed. After this I cause
the fish to be brought into a pulp by means of the pulping engine of the paper
maker, or by any other convenient method. When the substance of the fish
is thus divided, I cause it to be immersed in a cold solution of hyposulphate
of soda, common salt, and alum (preferring soda alum). When the fish has
been for some hours macerated in this solution, I draw the liquid off, and sub-
stitute for it a solution of alum, nitric acid, and sulphurous acid, and for some
kind of fish I employ the hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.
After a
further maceration in the acid liquid, the fish fibre must be drained, and then
pressed, to remove as much as possible of the acid and water. Lastly, I cause
it to be treated with a solution of bichloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate)
and alum, thoroughly stirring up the mixture occasionally until the fibre is
sufficiently acted upon.
Second Part. The second part of my Invention relates to the production
from fish of a kind of gelatine or size applicable to the sizeing of paper, and to
the same purposes generally as the size obtained from skins, bones, &c. To
effect this, I boil the fish in a weak solution of nitric acid, and when it is par-
tially dissolved I add a certain quantity of sulphuric acid. The operation of
the acids is best conducted in a close vessel under slight pressure, say 6 or
8 lbs. to the square inch. When the fish is sufficiently dissolved I strain the
liquid, while hot, through flannel or some other convenient medium, and after
it has become cold I treat it with oxalic and sulphurous acids, for the purpose
of depriving it more or less completely of color. After this I cause it to be
evaporated to such a consistency that it will set or become solid upon cooling
to the pemperature of the air. The operation is best carried on. in vacuo, as it
is desirable that it should be effected at as low a temperature as possible.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Constantine Jennings in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CONSTANTINE JENNINGS, of 8, Great Tower Street, in the City of London, Prac-
tical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, Her special licence that I,
the said Henry Constantine Jennings, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, 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 MANU.
FACTURE OF PAPER ADD ARTIFICIAL PARCHMENT, AND OF GELATINE APPLICABLE
TO THE SIZEING OF THE SAME AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, 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 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 Henry Constantine Jennings, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture from the fibrous parts of fish of a
paper or parchment, and of a gelatine suitable for sizcing the same. For the
manufacture of paper or parchment I proceed as follows:-I cover the fish
with a dilute solution of sulphuric acid and water in or about the proportion of
one to one and a half per centum of the common sulphuric acid of commerce,
and allow the fish to remain in the solution until the skin becomes loosened
from the flesh of the fish, and also disposed to separate from the bones and

page_text: cartilages. This will be effected in a few hours when the smaller kinds of fish
are treated, and longer when the fish are large and thick. The acidulated
water is now poured off, and strong lime water recently produced from quick-
lime, even while warm, is poured upon the fish, partly to remove or decompose
the sulphuric acid, and to combine with and remove the oil. This water must
be poured off and fresh saturated lime water must be added until all the oil is
removed. This operation, as to time, will depend upon the thickness of the
fish and the portion of oil contained in the substance, and is facilitated by cut-
ting or dividing the fish into small pieces. Potassa and soda will produce the
same effect, and may be used when these substances, can be obtained at a
cheap rate; and when very oily fish are to be treated, a solution of caustic soda
or potassa is most effective for removing the oil. After this operation the
fish must be well washed in common water to remove all the lime or other
impure matters. It is now to be divided by the common pulping machine of
paper makers, or any convenient machine for effecting the same object. When
the substance of the fish is thus divided, I cause it to be immersed in a cold
solution of hyposulphite of soda, common salt (muriate of soda), and alum, pre-
ferring soda alum of a strength sufficient to develope the fibre, and for which
I find that a density of about 1050 to answer. When the fish has been for
some days in this solution I draw off the liquid, and substitute for it a solution
of alum, dilute nitric acid, and sulphuric acid, frequently stirring and agitating
the same, for which purpose a rotative barrel is very convenient, as it also
helps to divide the substance.
Certain fish, such as the porpoise, the shark, sun fish and sturgeon, conger
eel, &c., must be reduced to small pieces by any mechanical means that will
effect the purpose. These pieces must now be treated with several solutions
of strong recently made lime water, and about 2 per cent. of caustic alkaline
ley from either soda or potassa added to the last lime water used, or until all
the oil is removed by partial lime and alkaline saponification. After these
operations the acids and: substances above recited must be used, but in larger
proportions than for the less oily and dense fish, so as to reduce the mass
operated upon to a very fibrous state, and then well washed to remove all the
chemical substances that may remain, and which might prove injurious to the
wire gauze and other metallic parts of the paper machine.
Other fish, such as the porpoise and whale, containing strong coloring
-matter, are advantageously acted upon by using a mixture of hydrochloric and
sulphuric acids, after which maceration in pure water will assist in removing
the skin, and detaching the fibre from the bones, &c. When the dark skin is
removed and the fibre drained, the fish is to be treated with a weak solution

page_text: of bichloride of mercury and alum, thoroughly stirring and incorporating the
same until the fibre become fine and distinct. The fish pulp, now free from
every impurity, is to be combined for the manufacture of paper with the
ordinary pulp of the paper manufacturer as now used by them, in different pro-
portions, varying according to the kind and quality of the paper to be produced,
whether white or brown, thick or thin, heavy or light, &c. About from 20 to
50 per cent. of fish fibre may be conveniently used, and it must be agitated or
mixed together in the pulping trough, after which it will be used in the ordinary
way either for hand or mechanically made paper, only remarking that I dry
it by the atmosphere, without passing over steam cylinders or employing super-
heated air.
If the fish pulp is used in any considerable quantity, it will not be necessary
to use any size for the paper, or much less may be used. By employing fish
pulp with from about 5 per cent. to 20 per cent. of bleached vegetable paper
pulp, I obtain a paper closely resembling parchment; this is placed on the
paper frame, but much thicker than for ordinary paper to allow for the shrinkage.
This artificial parchment, after being dried in the atmosphere, must be passed
between cylinders or pressed in the usual manner between copper plates,. &c., to
produce smoothness of surface.
For the manufacture of gelatine suitable for a size for paper manufacturers
and others, I subject the fish to a weak solution of sulphuric and sulphurous
acid, until the dark-colored skin is removed and the pulp is bleached; I then
drain off all the acid liquor, and immerse the fish in a strong solution of lime
water recently made, and while warm to remove all the oil, and I repeat this
operation until all the oil is expelled. I then expose the substance to the
action of dilute hydrochloric acid, and remove all the lime and acid by
repeated washing, and then boil the whole at as low a temperature as possible,
either by a steam coil, or jacket pan, or the vacuum pan, such as is used in
refining sugar. When a solution' is effected, I clarify with sulphurous acid and
alum, and at the last stage, after the heavy impure matters have precipitated
and are removed, I add a weak solution of bicarbonate of soda or potassa to
displace any acid that may remain. The gelatine is then to be concentrated
to such a degree that, when cold or at the temperature of the atmosphere, it
can be cut into discs of about half an inch thick and of any convenient size, and
dried upon nets as is usual with common glue. The gelatine so prepared may
be used as size in the usual manner.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
as of my Invention, or the exclusive use of the several processes hereinbefore

page_text: described or referred to when taken separately, or except when the same are
employed for the purposes of my said Invention, which I hereby declare to
consist in the manufacture of paper, parchment, and gelatine from the fibrous
parts of fish, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Constantine Jennings, have here-
unto set my hand and seal,, this First day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
H. C. JENNINGS. (L.S.)