AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER OR PAPER PULP
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fraser, of Jermyn Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER OR PAPER PULP."-A communication.
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER OR PAPER PULP."-A communication.
Sealed the 4th March 1856, and dated the 16th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fraser at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th October
:*1'855.
I, JAMES FRASER, of Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex; Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER OR PAPER PULP" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of treating straw, grass, salt
hay, and other vegetable substances, for the purpose of preparing therefrom
pulp for the manufacture of paper of good quality; and consists in treating the
vegetable substances with certain chemical agents, which will, when properly
applied, reduce the 'said substances to a state of disintegration, and suitable
for being manufactured into paper without the addition of other fibrous mate-
rials. The vegetable substances are first to be cut up into suitable lengths,
and then submitted to a solution of soda and lime in boiling water, to which is
to be added a suitable quantity of common rosin. The mixture is then to be

page_text: boiled until the rosin is dissolved and the mixture is uniform. The materials
to be operated upon are then put in the mixture and boiled therein for three
or four hours, after which the materials should be submitted to the action
of nitric, sulphuric, hydrochloric, or other acid, which will have the effect of
greatly improving the quality and appearance of the pulp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FRASER, of Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Fraser, Her special license that I, the said James Fraser,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Fraser, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER OR PAPER PULP." being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Fraser, 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 Fraser, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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):-
This Invention of an improvement in the manufacture of paper or paper
pulp relates to an improved mode of treating straw, grass, salt hay, and other

page_text: vegetable substances, for the purpose of preparing therefrom pulp for the
manufacture of paper of good quality; and consists in treating the vegetable
substances with certain chemical agents, which will, when properly applied,
reduce the said substances to a state of disintegration, and suitable for being
manufactured into paper without the addition of other fibrous materials.
The vegetable substances are first to be cut up into suitable lengths, and
then submitted to a solution of soda and lime in boiling water, to which is
to be added a suitable quantity of common rosin, as will be hereafter more
fully explained.
The alkaline lye is prepared as follows:-I take one pound of soda or pot-
ash, and dissolve it in about two gallons of water, and when dissolved I add
about one pound of common lime. The lime should, by preference, be added
in small quantities at a time, and the liquor kept well stirred, so as to render
it perfectly caustic. It has been found advisable in practice to dissolve the
soda or potash in boiling water, and to keep it boiling about one hour after
adding the lime. The liquor may then be allowed to settle, and afterwards
strained, and to every one hundred gallons of the clear liquor about two
pounds of common resin (or rosin) must be added. The mixture should then
be boiled again until the rosin is dissolved and the liquor is uniform. The
liquor being thus prepared, a vat or receptacle should be about half filled
with the same, and then as much straw or other vegetable fibre as the
liquor will thoroughly saturate may be placed in the vat, care being taken
to have the straw or other material all immersed in the liquor. The con-
tents of the vat should then be boiled three or four hours, or.if the materials
are operated upon with cold liquor, they must be steeped therein for from
twenty to twenty-four hours, after which the straw or other material may be
taken out of the vat, and all the liquor possible drained from it, so as to
prevent loss of the liquor. The straw is then to be washed with water, and
it will be ready to be ground into pulp. The straw or other vegetable fibre
may be used entire, or, if preferred, it may be cut into long or short pieces, at
the option and to suit the convenience of the manufacturer."
:
I would observe that it is desirable that the straw or other vegetable fibres
should be as free as possible from grains or seeds, and in washing the straw
care must be taken to allow the grains or seeds from the straw to be carried
away, so that they may not be ground up with the straw into pulp. When
the pulp is ground it will be ready for manufacture into paper in an ordinary
paper mill.
By this improved process the liquor above described may be used many
times over, by merely adding thereto from time to time a highly concentrated

page_text: caustic lye, made without resin, as follows:-Take one pound of soda or pot
ash to about two or three quarts of water, and dissolve, as above described;
then add one pound of lime, and boil it, as above described; of this concen-
trated lye add twenty per cent., more or less, to restore the liquor to its original
strength, or thereabouts. When by frequent use the liquor becomes too much
charged with "gluten and other impurities; it may be purified by filtering it-
through lime.
.
Instead of proceeding precisely in the order above described, the object' of
the Invention may be effected by steeping the straw or other vegetable fibre
in a much stronger liquor than that above mentioned, and then subsequently
boiling it in plain water. For this purpose the alkaline lye should be: made
very strong, say, about the strength indicated by eight degrees of the hydro-
meter. The straw or other vegetable fibre should be steeped or soaked in
this liquor for sixteen or eighteen hours, after which it must be taken out and
carefully drained over the vessel to prevent the loss of liquor, and then the
straw may be boiled in simple water about two or three hours, and that water.
can be thrown away as worthless. By this mode the strong liquor will be kept
free from the gluten or other impurities from the straw, no loss will be made of
the liquor, and the latter can be constantly renewed when required.: .
When it is desired to impart color to the paper, an acid must be added to
the pulp while the latter is being ground. This addition should be. made
about half an hour before the grinding is finished. This acid (say, sulphuric
acid,) must be diluted in water in the proportion of one pint of sulphuric acid
to two gallons of water, and must be added little by little. Muriatic acid,
also diluted in water, may be used instead of sulphuric acid, and will produce
a different color, as will also nitric acid, or nitric and muriatic acids mixed
together. If the pulp be steeped in chloride of lime for about four hours,
the paper produced will be nearly white.
Having now described this Invention of an improvement in the manu-
facture of paper or paper pulp, and also the manner of carrying the same into
effect, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, as aforesaid; I
would observe, in conclusion, that I do not mean or intend to confine myself
rigidly to the precise proportions herein given, as they will admit of variation
and yet produce an advantageous result; nor do I intend to claim as new the
treatment of straw or vegetable fibres with alkaline lyes, except when the same
is effected in the manner above described; but what I consider to be new in
the above-described process, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, is, the application of the com-
bination of materials above described for the purpose above mentioned.

page_text: I claim particularly the use of rosin for the treatment of straw or other
vegetable fibre, whether the same be used in combination with the materials
above mentioned, or their equivalents, for the disintegration of straw or other
vegetable fibres, and the conversion of the same into pulp for the manufacture
of paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Fraser, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
JAMES FRASER. (L.S.)