IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Evans, of Nash Mills, in the Parish of King's
Langley, in the County of Hertford, Paper Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE. MANUFACTURE OF PAPER."
Scaled the 12th August 1859, and dated the 23rd March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd March 1859.
I, JOHN EVANS, of Nash Mills, in the Parish of King's Langley, in the
County of Hertford, Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN. THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to glaze or polish webs of paper, more
especially writing paper, by a burnishing process instead of by rolling it
between metallic plates or by callendering it in the ordinary manner.
The
burnishing I effect by bringing the paper into contact with one or more
polished rolls driven rapidly as compared with the surface speed of the paper
under operation. During the glazing process the paper is supported and
carried forward by a polished metal roller, it being kept at tension on that
roller by the aid of a pressing roller and the drag of the reel, which takes up
the polished paper. I provide means for regulating the pressure of the
burnishing rolls, and also for raising the rolls, so as to prevent their coming.

page_text: into contact with the supporting roller when no paper is being passed between
them, and thus to avoid cutting or scratching the surface of the rolls. This
arrangement of rolls I propose to apply to the paper machine, and to lead the
paper off from the drying cylinder directly to the burnishing rolls; or in case
of writing papers, I may subject the paper to the action of the rolls as it leaves
the drying chamber. I may find it desirable to combine two or more sets of
these rolls, and submit the paper to their action in succession. When it is
desired to glaze both sides of the paper, two or more sets of rolls may be
employed, so arranged as to burnish the opposite surfaces of the paper
alternately.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN EVANS,
of Nash Mills, in the Parish of King's Langley, in the County of Hertford,
Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, 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, givo and grant unto
me, the said John Evans, Her special license that I, the said John Evans,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Evans, 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,
excrcise, 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Evans, 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 John Evans, 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

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to the glazing or polishing of webs of paper by
means of a burnishing process, in lieu of obtaining the glazed or polished,
surface by the common method of simple rolling pressure or of calendering
between metal and paper rolls. The Invention applies mainly to the treat-
ment of writing papers, and the advantages which I propose to secure are a
better finish than heretofore, with an economy of cost both in machinery and
wages of workmen, while at the same time I am enabled to operate upon
wider webs of paper than it was heretofore advisable to submit to the
calendering process. The burnishing I effect by bringing the paper into
contact with one or more polished rolls or sets of polished rolls driven rapidly
as compared with the surface speed of the paper under treatment, and by
independent gearing, the paper being supported and held during the
burnishing process by other hard and polished rolls, instead of as heretofore
resting upon rolls constructed of wood or paper.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn in side elevation at Fig. 1,
and in plan view at Fig. 2, the simplest form of machine which I
propose to
employ in carrying out my improvements; and inasmuch as the more complex
machines will differ only in the multiplication of the sets of rolls, the arrange-
ment shewn will suffice to illustrate the manner of carrying my Invention
into operation, whether for the glazing of one or both sides of the paper.
a, a, is the main framing of the burnishing machine; and b, 6, 62, are
three polished metal rollers, made preferably of chilled cast iron and heated
by steam in the ordinary manner, the same being set one above the other in
the standards of the framing. The rollers 6', 6, turn in plummer blocks,
which are capable of sliding vertically in the standards, and are connected
together to jointed saddle pieces c, c, by rods d, d, as shown best in the
detached view, Fig. 3. These rollers are weighted by means of weighted
levers e, e, which are jointed to the upper part of the framing and communicate
their pressure in the ordinary way to the upper plummer blocks. The paper,
to be operated upon may be taken directly from the drying cylinder of the
paper machine or from the drying chamber after sizing, or it may have been
wound on a reel at the machine in the ordinary manner. In the arrangement.
shewn the burnishing apparatus is fixed at the end of the paper machine, and
the paper is guided into the burnishing apparatus from the cylinder A, over a.
guide roller f to the roller b, under and around which it passes in its course to
the second roller b', which forms the bed roll, and is intended to sustain the
pressure of the weighted burnishing roller &³, while at the same time, by its.

page_text: contact with the roller 6 beneath it, it holds the paper tightly strained over its
surface, and prevents it from being dragged forward by the burnishing roller:
The paper having had its upper surface burnished by the friction of the
rolls, passes to the reel, which is driven in the ordinary manner from the
main driving shaft g, through the intervention of spur gearing and a friction
clutch on the intermediate shaft h. The lower rollers b, b', are geared together
by spur wheels; that on the roll 6' communicating its motion to its roll by
means of friction between two flanges, the pressure between which can be
adjusted by screws so as to transmit sufficient power to keep the roller revolving
when not in contact with the roller 6 below, but allowing of the roller b¹
receiving its surface speed from 6 when brought into contact with it. These
two rollers 6 and 6¹ receive their motion from the shaft g, but the burnishing
roller I prefer to drive by means of a strap from an independent source, giving
it a speed considerably superior to that of the paper, which takes the speed of
the conducting and sustaining rollers. The relative speeds of the sustaining
and burnishing rollers will vary somewhat, according to the quality of the
paper under operation, but I prefer to give the latter a surface speed about one
half greater than that of the sustaining roller. When the paper has been
passed once through, the machine, it may be submitted to a repetition of the
burnishing process by passing it again through the same machine, or through
another placed in the rear thereof; or the machine may be fitted with two or
more .sets of burnishing and supporting rollers set in the same frame, and.
driven from the sources above indicated. When the web of paper has passed
from between the polished rollers it is requisite to part the rollers instantly, to
prevent their surfaces becoming injured by contact while in motion, the
weighted levers are therefore raised, when the check nuts on the rods d, d, will
lift first the upper roller 6 free of the second roller 6', and then this roller 6'
free of the roller b, and in starting the machine the rollers are not brought into
contact until the paper 'has been led through them. From the above expla-
nation it will be readily understood that webs of paper may be glazed on one
or both sides by the action of one burnishing roller, the opposite faces of the
paper being alternately brought into contact with that roller as the web is
passed and repassed through the machine. When, however, it is desired to
acts simultaneously on the opposite faces of the web of paper, the machine
must be provided with two sets of burnishing and sustaining rollers, and the
second set of rollers must be driven with a reverse motion to that of the first
set, so as to bring the under side of the paper uppermost and in contact with
the second burnishing roller. But inasmuch as the reversed motion of the
rollers would deliver the paper away from the reel, it will be requisite to lead

page_text: back the paper over the burnishing roller to the reel by means of guide rollers.
I
I may further remark, that by using a hard polished roller for sustaining the
pressure of the burnishing roller, and by driving the latter at a superior speed,
I am enabled, while ensuring the efficient action of the machine, to reduce
the nipping pressure of the rollers, and remove that liability to spring which
glazing rolls (especially where rolls composed of paper have been used) have
been found to possess, thereby producing unequal and unsatisfactory work,
and confining within narrow limits the width of web that could be effectually
operated upon.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
the Manufacture of Paper," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I make no exclusive claim to the
use of friction rollers for finishing paper; but that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim the application to writing and other papers
requiring such treatment of the burnishing process, as herein described, for
the purpose of imparting thereto a glazed or polished surface.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Evans, have hereunto set my
-hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN EVANS. (L.S.)