IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Womersley, of the City of Norwich, Starch
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
Sealed the 30th August 1864, and dated the 16th May 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Womersley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
May 1864.
I, JOSHUA WOMERSLEY, of the City of Norwich, Starch Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
I take the esparto grass, and other similar straws or grasses, which if treated
by the rag machine would be cut or torn so as to lose the advantage of their
fibre, and after boiling the material I pass it through a series of rollers by
means of a band, whereby it is pressed while water flows upon it. The
material is next opened out and torn in pieces by an ordinary willow, and is
then bleached and afterwards cleansed by water drawn or forced through the
bleaching vessel by a pump, while, by steam in a coil of tubing or similar

page_text: means, the water in the bleaching vessel is heated and the material is then
ready for the beating machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joshua Womersley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
WOMERSLEY, of the City of Norwich, Starch Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joshua Womersley, Her special licence that I, the said Joshua Womersley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joshua
Womersley, 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 MANUFACTURE OF PAPER FROM CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the
.condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joshua Womersley, 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 Joshua Womersley, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:―
I take the esparto grass, and other similar straws or grasses, either separately
or in combination, which if treated by the rag machine would be cut or torn
so as to lose the advantage of their fibre, and after boiling the material I pass
it through a series of rollers, by means of a band, whereby it is pressed while

page_text: water flows upon it in the machine represented in the accompanying Drawings,
in which the same parts are denoted by the same letters throughout.
Fig. 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2, a plan, both partly in section.
A, A, is a vessel of a truncated cone shape wider at the bottom than at the
top. B is a vertical shaft turned by a drum C, and with its upper bearing in
the cross pieces D, such that the shaft can move for adjustment by raising or
lowering the lower bearing E by a screw F on the shaft of a wheel G, turned
by another H on a shaft I worked by the handle J. The shaft B carries a
drum or cylinder K, K, of the shape represented, which has vanes or blades
set obliquely at such an angle to the vertical that when the shaft and drum
rotate, the material placed in the vessel A will be mixed, pounded, and forced
downwards. The shaft B likewise carries the arms L, L, with curved vanes
(one shewn at M), and their rotation still further forces the material against
the sides of the vessel A, from when it passes by the long aperture N up a
passage O, which is curved at the top to deliver the material to the washing
rollers, which is done in a steady and regular manner by interposing the roller
P, furnished with projecting leaves like paddle vanes, so that the rate of delivery
can be regulated by the speed of its rotation. The material comes from P,
upon the endless band Q, supported by various rollers as representing and pass-
ing between others set in pairs. The band I propose to make of wire, and it
may be kept tight by a roller so set as to allow either end to be raised a little
when the band requires to be adjusted so as to travel fairly in its path. The
rollers for pressing the material may be arranged in five or six pairs or more, and
the Drawings represent only three of those pairs, as others would be similar to
either the first or second of these. R is the lower roller turned by a shaft
through appropriate wheels, and S is the upper roller turned by a wheel on R
at the end further from the main shaft. The pressure of this roller may be
regulated by a weight T and levers acting on its bearings. The material passing
between the rollers R and S, is pressed by them so as to expel the principal
part of the moisture in it, and on issuing from between them is sprinkled or wet
with water (preferred to be hot) from the pipe V in connection with a water
main and cocks to regulate the supply. The material is thus alternately pressed
nearly dry and then wet and soaked, while a scraper at U keeps it from being
carried away by the roller, until having passed through the series it issues forth
at the end W where it is fit to be subjected to the process of opening out
and tearing by an ordinary willow or other means, and is cleansed by water
drawn or forced through the bleaching vessel by a pump, while by steam in a
coil of tubing or similar means the water in the bleaching vessel is heated and
the material is then ready for the beating machine.

page_text: I claim as my Invention the machine for passing the material above-men-
tioned through rollers while water flows on it as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Womersley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four..
JOSHUA WOMERSLEY. (L.S.)