IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE STRAW OF FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES PREPARATORY TO SPINNING THE FIBRE THEREOF
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Garth Marshall, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Flax Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATMENT OF THE STRAW OF FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES PREPARATORY TO SPINNING THE FIBRE THEREOF."
Sealed the 6th January 1863, and dated the 31st October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Garth Marshall at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st October 1862.
I, JAMES GARTH MARSHALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Flax
Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF THE STRAW OF FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER SIMILAR
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES PREPARATORY TO SPINNING THE FIBRE THEREOF," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in a new combination of processes by which fibre
may be obtained from the straw of flax, hemp, or other similar fibrous
material (either unretted or after the process of retting) freed from shive
or waste, and fitted for passing through preparing and spinning machinery.
The fibre thus obtained may be prepared and spun either for fabrics made
entirely of flax, hemp, or other similar fibres, or for fabrics made of an
admixture of such fibres with other fibres, or for fabrics made of such fibres
used as a substitute for cotton or wool or other similar fibres. I take the
straw of flax, hemp, or other material to be operated upon either in the green
or dried state, and either unretted or after the process of retting, and subject

page_text: it to well known chemical processes for cleaning the fibre and preparing it
for separation from the shive or waste by means of alkalis, soaps, and acids,
or any of them.
I then break the straw into suitable lengths by ordinary
breaking machinery, and pass it, when broken, over a flax carding engine or
a heckling machine of the usual construction either once or oftener as may be
desirable. This operation will separate the shive or waste and refuse from
the fibre, and will leave the fibre in a clean condition ready for the usual
preparing processes preparatory to spinning. In some cases, if the straw has
been retted, the chemical cleaning process may be omitted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Garth Marshall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GARTH MARSHALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Flax Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Garth Marshall, Her special license, that I, the said James
Garth Marshall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Garth Marshall, 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 TREATMENT OF THE STRAW OF FLAX, HEMP,
AND OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES PREPARATORY TO SPINNING THE FIBRE
THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Garth
Marshall, by an instrument in writing 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 James Garth Marshall, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: .
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 Treatment of the Straw of Flax,
Hemp, and other similar Vegetable Substances Preparatory to Spinning
the Fibre thereof," relates to a new combination of processes whereby
fibre may be obtained from the straw of flax, hemp, or other analogous
fibrous plants.
The object of the Invention is to obtain the useful fibres from the plant
without the necessity of scutching and heckling, and generally without resorting
to the process of retting. This latter process may sometimes however be
carried on to a certain extent, but I prefer to dispense with it altogether, as
the ordinary retting process is necessarily uncertain and irregular in its opera-
tion, and (by the spontaneous fermentation that takes place) is liable to dis-
colour and injure the fibres. In place of the retting process I employ a
chemical process to effect the desired object of softening the gummy, resinous;
and mucilaginous matter contained in the straw.
Various chemical compounds may be employed to produce the required
result, I do not therefore mean to confine myself to the use of any particular
preparation, but the compound and process I have found to answer the
purpose most effectually, and therefore propose to employ for the purposes
of my Invention, is similar to that described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to Francis Montgomery Jennings, bearing date November 15th,
1852, No. 756.
In carrying out this part of my Invention, I take the flax, straw, or other
vegetable substance and steep it in hot or cold alkaline solution for an hour
or two, after which I boil it in a solution of soap with an excess of alkali.
The fibres are then taken out and washed in a weak acid solution in order to
neutralize the alkali in the soap, after which the fibres may be washed in clean
water and dried. These operations may be repeated when a very fine fibre
is required, to which end the fibres may be alternately acted on by alkaline
and acid solutions. After the gummy, resinous, and mucilaginous matters
contained in the straw have been sufficiently softened, and the fibres have
been washed and dried, they are to be passed through a breaking machine
or apparatus consisting of two or more pairs of fluted rollers, between which
the plant passes, and the boon or woody matter will thereby be broken so
that it may be easily detached from the fine fibres in the subsequent operation
of carding. This operation may be carried on in a separate machine, such
as are in ordinary use for this purpose, or, if preferred, the fluted breaking rollers
may be adapted to the feeding end of the flax carding engine so as to combine

page_text: the two operations of breaking and carding in one machine. As the ordinary
processes of scutching and swingling are dispensed with, and the fibres are
only carded after passing through the breaking machine, the preparatory
chemical process above mentioned may be carried much further than when
the fibres are submitted to the operation of scutching. By thus allowing the
chemical agents to act on the straw for a longer time, or by subjecting the
straw to a greater number of operations than can be done if the straw is
intended to be scutched and heckled, very fine fibres may be produced by my
improved mode of treating the straw or vegetable fibres. The carding
operation will have the effect of clearing the fibres from all extraneous and
woody matter, and the cleaned fibres thus obtained without knots or noils may
be prepared and spun without heckling, and used either for fabrics made
entirely of flax, hemp, or other analogous fibres, or for fabrics made of an
admixture of such fibres with other fibres, or the fibres thus produced may
be used as a substitute for cotton.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Treatment
of the Straw of Flax, Hemp, and other similar Vegetable Substances
Preparatory to Spinning the Fibre thereof," and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I would observe that I lay no claim to any of
the processes separately, but I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent, as aforesaid, treating the straw of flax, 'hemp, and other
analogous vegetable substances by the combination of processes herein set
forth, whereby the ordinary processes of retting, scutching, swingling, and
heckling may be dispensed with.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Garth Marshall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JAMES GARTH MARSHALL. (L.S.)