IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM STEAW
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Vital Helin, of No. 8, Rue des Douze Apôtres,
Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Chemist, for the Invention of
2
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Vital Helin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th October 1854.
I, LOUIS VITAL HELIN, of No. 8, Rue des Douze Apôtres, Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM STEAW" to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a mode of treating the straw of grain-
bearing plants, giving the preference to the straw of rye and wheat, so as to
produce a pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper at an economical rate.
The straw is macerated for at least 60 hours in water of the temperature of
from 55 to 80 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, rain or river water being
preferred. The straw is then taken out of the water, and exposed to the air
or sun until it is dry. It is then steeped for twelve hours in water of the same
temperature as before, and at the end of that time is again taken out of the
water and dried, as before. This operation of immersion for the space of

page_text: 12 hours in water of the temperature before mentioned, and the operation of
subsequent drying, are to be repeated five or six times. After the last immer-
sion, however, the straw must not be allowed to become more than half dry.
In this state it is placed in the mill, and divided into filaments of as great
a length as the straw is capable of yielding. It is then removed from
the mill and subjected to maceration, first, for some hours in solutions of
carbonate of soda or carbonate of potash, or of bicarbonate of soda or bi-
carbonate of potash, or of protoxide of soda or protoxide of potash; and then
for some hours in a solution of chloruret of protoxide of soda or potash,
or of chloruret of lime combined with chloruret of oxide of lime, or of
chloruret of oxide of lime only, or of chloruret of lime combined with
carbonate of soda or potash, (such chlorurets being sometimes termed
chlorites or hydrochlorides,) the solutions being made by placing the salts
in rain water. After maceration, as hereby directed, the straw is to be well
washed in rain water, so as to remove the salts in solutions which it has been
steeped. It is then of a white colour, and is suitable for making into pulp,
from which paper can be manufactured by methods previously in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Vital Helin in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
VITAL HELIN, of No. 8, Rue des Douze Apôtres, Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Louis Vital Helin, Her special license that I, the said Louis Vital
Helin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Louis Vital Helin, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM STRAW," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Louis Vital Helin, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same 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 Louis Vital Helin, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar treatment of the straw of grain-
bearing plants, for producing a pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper at
an economical rate. For this purpose I prefer the straw of rye and wheat; but
the same mode of treatment is equally applicable to various other vegetable
substances, such as jute, flax, and hemp. In carrying out my Invention, I first
steep the straw entire for sixty hours, which time may be exceeded without
inconvenience in spring, rain, or river water, of a temperature of from 55°
to 85° Fahrenheit, the temperature being varied according to the season of
the year. After some hours the water becomes gradually warm and dis-
colored, and an active fermentation takes place, arising from the azote con-
tained in the straw. After sixty hours the liquid should be suffered to run
off, and the remaining straw must then be washed with a plentiful supply of
water, in order to remove therefrom all the soluble coloring matter. The
straw is then drained, and while still in a damp state is subjected to the action
of millstones, rolling on a plain surface or passed between a pair of rollers, in
order to flatten the straw. It is then passed between other rollers, furnished
with cutters or other suitable apparatus, whereby the straw may be formed into
filaments or fibres, as long and continuous as possible. In this state, that is,
when reduced to long and continuous filaments, the straw is to be exposed to
the air and sun for the purpose of drying it; after which process the straw
will have assumed a paler yellow color. In cases where time is no object, I
prefer steeping the straw several times, and again exposing it to the air and
light. It will be found convenient in such cases to steep the straw at night,
and expose it to the air during the day, to obtain the full benefit of the air
and light. The first-described process of maceration is, however, the most
important. By subjecting the straw to the action of water, and subse-
quently exposing it to the air and light, it becomes bleeched to a certain
extent; but by means of the processes herein-after described, it is completely
divested of all coloring matter, and is rendered perfectly white.
After having
been submitted to the herein-before described processes, the straw is steeped

page_text: for one or more days, according as it is in a more or less filamentous state, in
one or more of the preparations which I shall herein-after fully describe; the
filaments being first treated either by the alkaline solutions, or by the solutions
of hypochloride of potash or of soda, and sometimes for a longer or shorter
period by the preparations of hypochloride of lime, until the straw has acquired
the requisite degree of whiteness. The filamentous straw, after it has been
submitted to the processes herein-before first described, and has been steeped
in the alkaline solutions of soda or potash, which take up a great portion of
its yellow coloring matter, assumes a darker tint, notwithstanding its being
washed in clean water. This darker tint disappears, however, on the straw
being exposed to the open air and light; and the process, if renewed, causes
the straw to become more and more white. By these processes the straw
becomes reduced to beautiful filaments, which may readily be converted into
pulp, and from their solidity and strength, the filaments might even be
employed in the manufacture of yarns or fabrics similar to cotton and hemp.
Jute, and many plants of the class triandria, in which is comprised the various
grasses and plants of the several classes pentandria, hexandria, tetrandia,
diæcia, pentandria, and others, when treated by the processes herein-before
set forth, lose their coloring principles, and become of a permanent bright
white. Hemp and flax may also be thus treated and employed in the
manufacture of paper.
The solutions or preparations herein-before referred to consist, first, of
carbonate of soda or of potash, 8 lbs.; and water, 20 gallons: second, bi-
carbonate of soda or of potash, 6 lbs. ; and water, 20 gallons: third, caustic
potash or soda, 4 lbs.; and water, 20 gallons: fourth, hypochloride of potash
cr of soda, 10 lbs.; and water, 20 gallons: fifth, bypochloride of lime or
bleaching powder, 1½ lbs.; water, 20 gallons; to which may be added, in
addition, if necessary, 1 lbs. of bleaching powder: sixth, bleaching powder,
or hypochloride of lime, 6 lbs.; and water, 20 gallons: seventh, bleaching
powder, 6 lbs.; carbonate of soda or of potash, 2 lbs.; and water, 20
gallons. With the same quantity of water all the chemical components of
the herein-before described seven solutions may sometimes be slightly in-
creased or diminished in their proportions. After the maceration in water,
the subsequent treatment of the straw by any of the before-mentioned processes
may thus be enumerated:-First, by alkaline solutions; second, by solutions.
of hypochlorides of soda or of potash; third, by the employment of the hypo-
chlorites of lime, potash, or soda, as described in processes (5, 6, and 7.)
When the alkaline liquids and the hypochlorides contained in the pre-
parations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, are too much charged with coloring matter, by

page_text: reason of the repeated immersions of the straw, they are filtered through a
layer of animal charcoal, reduced to a granulated or powdered state for the
purpose of obtaining a partial or total discharge of the coloring matter
therefrom.
The hypochlorites of soda and potash decompose after they have been long
in use, but they may be renewed from time to time by chlorine gas, or by a
solution of chloride of lime. The straw or vegetable filaments are well
washed with plenty of water after they have been perfectly bleached by the
above processes, or some of them, and may then be made into pulp in the
ordinary manner for the fabrication of paper. It is evident that hydrochloric
or sulphuric acids may, if deemed necessary, be used in conjunction with the
above bleaching materials, as is now well understood and generally adopted
in the bleaching of pulp in the manufacture of paper.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
First, the several systems or modes of treating filaments obtained from the
straw of grain-bearing plants, and preparing the same in a suitable con-
dition to be used in the manufacture of paper, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of the several solutions or preparations
herein-before described, for the purpose of rendering the filamentous material
obtained from the straw of grain-bearing plants suitable for the manufacture
of paper therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Vital Helin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the 21st day of April, in the year One thousand eight
bundred and fifty-five.
LOUIS VITAL HELIN. (L.S.)