IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH TREATMENT AND PREPARATION, APPLICABLE ALSO WHOLLY OR IN PART TO THE BLEACHING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Adam Fyfe, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Paper Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT AND PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH
TREATMENT AND PREPARATION, APPLICABLE ALSO WHOLLY OR IN PART TO THE
BLEACHING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS."
Scaled the 11th January 1871, and dated the 13th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Adam Fyfe at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th July 1870.
I, DAVID ADAM FYFE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE
EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED
IN SUCH TREATMENT AND PREPARATION, APPLICABLE ALSO WHOLLY OR IN PART TO
THE BLEACHING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES OR MATERIALS," to be as follows :-
My Invention relates more particularly to means and apparatus to be
employed in the preparation from wood of a pulp or fibrous material

page_text: suitable to be employed in the manufacture of paper in lieu of the pulp
made from rags or other material, or in combination therewith; and
my said Invention is also applicable either wholly or in part to the
treatment of other materials employed in the manufacture of paper, or
to the bleaching or treatment of substances or materials not employed
as aforesaid.
When producing the said pulp or fibrous material from wood it is
necessary to disintegrate the said wood, that is to say, to cause a sepe-
ration of the fibres of the said wood, and for this purpose I principally
make use of the action of chlorine gas; and my said Invention has for
its principal object to reduce the cost of the application of the said
chlorine gas both in the preparation of paper pulp and in the treatment
of other substances or materials as aforesaid, and for this purpose I make
use of such apparatus as enables me to recover the greater portion of
the chlorine gas eliminated from the chlorine solution, as, for example,
from the solution of oxychloride of calcium during its action on the
materials which are in process of being treated therewith, or otherwise
to recover the greater portion of the chlorine gas after.it has acted on
the said materials.
When carrying my Invention into effect I place the wood or other
substances or materials which are to be acted upon in a vacuum kier,
or in a closed vessel in which a vacuum may be produced, and I admit
the chlorine solution, which I will call a solution of chloride of lime,
into the said kier or vessel, and after the solution or gas has been
allowed to act upon the contents of the said kier or vessel for a suitable
time I pump the uncombined gas which may be in the kier or vessel
or the greater portion of the said gas into the vessel containing the said
chloride of lime solution, or into a seperate vessel or chamber, and I
cause the said gas to combine with the said solution or with lime or
other substance or substances, in order that the said gas may be available
to be employed again.
The method of proceeding when operating upon wood for the purpose
as aforesaid which I have found to be suitable may be described as
follows-The wood after being reduced to shavings is washed and
beaten in an ordinary or suitable beating engine, and is then placed in
a vacuum kier, and is therein boiled in water, by preference under
steam pressure, and is then washed with clean water. This operation of
boiling in water may be repeated with advantage when operating on

page_text: some descriptions of wood. A vacuum or partial vacuum is then formed
in the kier, and a solution of chloride of lime is allowed to flow from a
cistern or chamber into the kier until the woody fibre is entirely sub-
merged. After the said solution has remained in the kier a suitable
time it is allowed to flow back, or is pumped into the said cistern or
chamber, and the chlorine gas or mixture of chlorine gas with atmo-
spheric air is then pumped out of the kier until a suitable vacuum is
again formed therein, the gas so removed being discharged into the
cistern or chamber containing the solution of chloride of lime, and by
preference into the said solution. The said cistern or chamber is
enclosed or covered over, and is fitted with a. revolving agitator, which
facilitates the absorbtion of the chlorine gas by the said solution, the
object being to cause the said absorbtion to be effected as entirely as is
practicable. It will now be found that a comparatively small amount
of chloride of lime will be required to restore the said solution to its
former strength. The contents of the kier, after being well washed, first
with hot water and afterwards with cold water, are then boiled in a
solution of soda ash, and after being well washed are again treated with
the solution of chloride of lime, with the employment of the afore-
mentioned means for the recovery of the chlorine gas, and after being
again washed with hot and cold water as aforesaid, are finally again
boiled in a solution of soda ash. The contents of the kier will now be
found to be in a suitable state to be placed in the beating engines,
wherein they may be beaten into a pulp suitable to be employed in the
manufacture of paper. I would mention that I prefer to form a vacuum
or partial vacuum in the kier at each stage of the process, and before
admitting the water or alkaline solution in which the materials have to
be boiled, and also before admitting the solution of chloride of lime.
When operating upon other substances or materials employed in the
manufacture of paper, as, for example, straw or esparto, or when
bleaching other substances or materials, as, for example, cotton yarns,
I operate upon such substances or materials with the same materials
and in the same order as when operating upon wood within the kier,
the chlorine gas being recovered in the same or in a similar manner, as
hercin-before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Adam Fyfe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
ADAM FYFE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Paper Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said David Adam Fyfe, Her special license
that I, the said David Adam Fyfe, executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said David Adam Fyfe, 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 AND PREPARATION OF MATERIALS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH TREATMENT AND
PREPARATION, APPLICABLE ALSO IN PART TO THE BLEACHING OF OTHER SUBSTANCES
OR MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
David Adam Fyfe, 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 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 David Adam Fyfe, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention relates more particularly to means and apparatus to be
employed in the preparation from wood of a pulp or fibrous material
suitable to be employed in the manufacture of paper in lieu of the pulp
made from rags or other material, or in combination therewith, and my
said Invention is also applicable either wholly or in part to the treatment

page_text: of other materials employed in the manufacture of paper or to the
bleaching or treatment of substances or materials not employed as
aforesaid.
.
When producing the said pulp or fibrous material from wood it is
necessary to disintegrate the said wood, that is to say, to cause a seperation
of the fibres of the said wood, and for this purpose I principally make
use of the action of chlorine gas, and my said Invention has for
its principal object to reduce the cost of the application of the said
chlorine gas both in the preparation of paper pulp, and in the treatment
of other substances or materials as aforesaid, and for this purpose I
make use of such apparatus as enables me to recover the greater portion
of the chlorine gas eliminated from the chlorine solution, as for example
from the solution of oxychloride of calcium during its action on the
materials which are in process of being treated therewith or otherwise
to recover the greater portion of the chlorine gas after it has acted on
the said materials.
When carrying my Invention into effect I place the wood or other
substances or materials which are to be acted upon in a vacuum kier, or
in a closed vessel in which a vacuum may be produced, and I admit.
the chlorine solution which I will call a solution of chloride of lime
into the said kier or vessel, and after the solution or gas has been allowed
to act upon the contents of the said kier or vessel for a suitable time I
pump the uncombined gas which may be in the kier or vessel or the
greater portion of the said gas into the vessel containing the said
chloride of lime solution or into a seperate vessel or chamber, and I
cause the said gas to combine with the said solution or with lime or
other substance or substances in order that the said gas may be available
to be employed again.
In order that my Invention may be well understood I have furnished
to accompany this Specification a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the
apparatus which I have found to be suitable to be employed in the
preparation of paper pulp, the said Drawings being made to a scale of
about three-quarters of an inch to one foot. As all the portions of the
said apparatus can be greatly modified in form and character it has not
been considered to be necessary to enter into details of construction,
Referring to the said Drawings a is a spherical kier which is or may
be made of wrought iron and lined with lead, and is fitted with a per-
forated false bottom a¹. The said kier is formed with trunnions, which

page_text: are fitted to revolve in bearings in standards, one standard being shewn
at b. A worm wheel is fitted to one of the said trunnions, which wheel
gears with a worm fixed on the shaft c, by which means the kier may
be rotated on its axis. The said kier is provided with a man-hole a²,
and with air or gas valves d and e, and with a water valve f. The
valve e is represented as coupled to the pipe g, a portion g¹ of which is
composed of a flexible material, the said pipe being in communication
with the inlet valves of the air pump h, so that when the valve e is
opened and the air pump put in action a vacuum of a sufficient tension
may be produced.in the kier. The valve is capable of being placed in
communication by means of couplings and flexible pipes either with the
pipe as shewn or with the pipe k, or with another pipe or other pipes
not shewn in the Drawing, which pipe or pipes convey a supply of water
and of alkaline solution to the kier. The pipe i communicates with the
covered cistern 7, in which cistern the solution of chloride of lime is
made. The sáid cistern is fitted with a revolving agitator m, and with
a perforated pipe n which communicates through the pipe n' with the
delivery valves of the aforesaid air pump. The solution formed in the
said cistern is allowed to flow through the pipe o into the cistern p, from
which a pump q raises the said solution into the cistern from which it
is when required allowed to flow through the pipe / into the kier. The
valve wo is opened when it is necessary to admit air into or to discharge
air from the cistern b. The operation when producing pulp from wood
may be described as follows:-The wood having been reduced to thin
shavings, the said shavings are beaten in an engine for about one hour, or
until the said shavings are broken up into narrow strips or shreds. The
said shavings after the said treatment are introduced into the kier
through the man-hole, which is then secured in an air-tight manner.
The valve e is now to be coupled with the pipe g, and the air pump is
to be put in action, the valve u being opened to permit the air exhausted
from within the kier to be discharged into the atmosphere. When a
vacuum marking, say for example, twenty-six to thirty inches on a
mercury gauge has been obtained within the kier, the valve f is coupled
with a water pipe, and water is admitted into the kier until the shavings
are immersed therein; steam is then admitted through a passage in
one of the trunnions and flowing through the pipes enters the kier.
The contents of the kier are boiled by the action of the said steam under
a pressure of say twenty pounds per square inch for a period of about
three hours, after which the water is allowed to drain from the mass of
.
1

page_text: shavings within the kier. A solution made from chloride of lime and
water will previously have been made in the cistern and the clear
solution of a strength of about ten degrees "Twaddle" will have been
raised into the cistern r. When a vacuum within the kier has again
been obtained the valve e is closed and the valve f previously coupled
with the pipe k is opened to allow the chlorine solution from the
cistern to flow into the kier until the shavings are immersed, the said
solution is allowed to act upon the said shavings for about one hour and
the said solution is then run into the cistern 7, the valve d being opened
to admit air. The agitator m is now put in motion, the valves d, f,
and v being closed and the valves e and t being opened. The air pump.
is now put into and maintained in action until a suitable vacuum is
again produced within the kier, the gases withdrawn from within the
said kier being discharged through the pipe n¹ and n into the solution
contained in the cistern 1, and the chlorine or the greater part thereof
becomes absorbed thereby, the action of the agitator m promoting the
said absorption partly by agitating the water in contact with the gas,
and partly by stirring up the sediment of lime and thus bringing the
said lime into contact with the said gas. The solution may now be
restored to its former strength by the addition of fresh chloride of lime
the required amount of which I have found to be about one ounce and
a half to each gallon of solution. The contents of the kier are now to
be washed with hot water and afterwards with cold water, that is to say -
with water that has not been artificially heated. The valve f is now to'
be coupled to a pipe through which a solution of soda ash in water may
be run into the kier, the said solution being of a strength such as would
mark about one degree "Twaddle." The woody fibre within the kier
is now to be boiled in the said solution for about two hours, after which
the said fibre is to be drained and to be well washed. The clear solution
from the cistern 7 having in the meantime been raised into the cistern r
a vacuum is again formed within the kier and the said solution is
admitted into the kier and is allowed to act upon the contents of the
said kier for the space of about three hours, and is then discharged into
the cistern 7, the same steps being taken for the recovery of the chlorine
as herein aforesaid. The woody fibre within the kier having again been
washed both with hot and with cold water, is to be again boiled in a
solution of soda ash, of the strength about as herein-before indicated
for about two hours. After being again drained and washed the woody
fibre will be found to be in a suitable condition to be removed from the

page_text: kier and placed in the beating engine wherein it may be reduced to
pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper.
The apparatus as shewn in the Drawings may be greatly modified, as
for example, an ordinary non-revolving kier may be employed, but I
prefer to use a revolving kier when making paper stuff, as I find it to be
of advantage to cause the said kier to revolve at intervals in order
that the contents thereof may be more equally acted upon. The said
kier is or may be fitted with a safety valve and with a, water guage and
with other suitable or ordinary fittings.
It will be found to be convenient and advantageous that a partial:
vacuum be produced within the kier when the solution of soda ash or
the washing waters have to be admitted to within the said kier. The
chlorine solution may be used for successive charges, its strength being
restored as aforesaid, but I prefer at intervals after having drawn off
the clear solution out of the cistern to wash out the said cistern and
to replace the sediment washed out with a portion of fresh lime.
When operating upon other materials not intended to be made into
paper, as for example, cloth, yarn, linen, or jute, I employ the same
apparatus or a modification thereof, and the same routine of opera-
tions with the exception that the strengths of the solutions and
the duration of the times of action of the said solutions and of the
boilings will require to be modified to suit different materials.
It will be seen that the main feature in my Invention is the recovery
of the chlorine gas or a portion of the chlorine gas remaining in the
kier after the discharge therefrom of the solution of chloride of lime.
Although chloride of lime has been herein-mentioned as the bleaching
agent I do not confine myself to that agent, as chloride of soda may be
used, but I may use any agent capable of retaining the chlorine in a
solution with water and suitable for the purposes herein-mentioned, and
although soda ash has been herein-mentioned, any suitable alkali may
be substituted for the said soda ash if desired.
It will be understood that when bleaching substances or materials not
required to be reduced to a pulp the preparatory treatment in the beating
- engine does not constitute a part of the process.
Having now described the nature of my Invention together with:
means for carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it to be
understood that I desire to claim,―

page_text: First. The pumping, withdrawing, or exhausting of chlorine or of
mixed gases containing chlorine from within the kier chamber or vessel
in which a solution containing chlorine has acted upon substances or
materials, and the discharging of the said chlorine or gases into the
said solution, or otherwise causing the said chlorine to be absorbed in
order that it may be available for re-employment.
Secondly. The combination of apparatus suitable for effecting the
recovery of chlorine substantially as herein-described and as illustrated
by the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. The process for the preparation from wood of a pulp suitable
for the manufacture of paper substantially as herein described and set
forth.
And lastly, the adaptation of the said process or of the said process
with the exception of the beating as aforesaid to the treatment of other
materials employed in the manufacture of paper and to the bleaching
of such substances or materials as herein set forth and indicated.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Adam Fyfe, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelvth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
DAVID ADAM FYFE.
(L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said
David Adam Fyfe, in the
presence of
•
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentec,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.