AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING OR PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE MANUFACTURED INTO PAPER, APPLICABLE TO LIE WASHINGS IN GENERAL
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Emile Alean, of 4, Coleman Street Buildings, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF TREATING OR PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE MANUFACTURED INTO PAPER,
APPLICABLE TO LIE WASHINGS IN GENERAL."-A communication.
Sealed the 29th March 1859, and dated the 8th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Emile Alcan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th November 1858.
I, EMILE ALCAN, of 4, Coleman Street Buildings, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING OR PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE MANUFACTURED
INTO PAPER, APPLICABLE TO LIE WASHINGS IN GENERAL," to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of paper from straw, alpha, or other vegetable sub-
stance, the materials are prepared by boiling in a solution of alkali, in order to
open out and soften them, and to free them from the gum or resin contained
in them. This lie washing is commonly effected in a vat, in which the
materials are arranged in layers with chalk interposed; the vats are nearly
filled with water or with partly spent lie; the liquid is brought to boil (com-
monly by steam), and is maintained at that point as long as required to open
out the materials.
This manner of operating is long and expensive, the action of the lie is
neither sufficiently energetic, nor is the lie brought into sufficiently close contact.

page_text: By my mode of operating, the lie washing or any opening-out bath penetrates
instantly and spontaneously all parts of the materials to be operated upon.
For this purpose instead of operating in open vessels and under the ordinary
pressure
I withdraw the materials to be operated upon from the action of the
atmosphere, by hermetically closing the vats or vessels containing them, so as
to form a vacuum by the condensation of steam, which 1 introduce at pleasure
by means of a stop-cock placed on a pipe communicating with a steam
generator, supposing the apparatus to be composed as follows:-1stly, a close
vessel containing the materials to be operated upon; 2ndly, another vessel,
open to the air, and containing the lie or other dissolving liquid, heated either
by steam or otherwise, this vessel communicating with the first by means of a
stop-cock; 3rdly, a steam generator communicating by stop-cocks with the
two vessels.
Things being thus arranged, I operate as follows:-The materials being
disposed in the close vessel, I admit steam for a time and drive out the air,
and I produce a vacuum either by allowing the vessel to cool of itself or by an
injection of cold water into the interior, or in any other convenient manner. A
vacuum being thus formed in the first vessel, a communication is formed
between it and the second vessel, by means of the stop-cock; and the dissolving
liquid in the second vessel, which has been heated, penetrates spontaneously
and thoroughly the materials to be prepared, which are contained in the first
vessel. The operation may be repeated several times, and the action prolonged
as much as necessary, the repetition of the operation and the duration of it
varying necessarily with the greater or less resistance of the materials operated
The process is equally applicable to lie washing of yarn and of woven
stuffs in their manufacture, or of linen for domestic use.
upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Emile Alcan in. the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EMILE 3
ALCAN, of 4, Coleman Street Buildings, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of 3
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto

page_text: me, the said Emile Alean, Her special licence that I, the said Emile
Alcan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Emile Alcan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-.
after 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 IMPROVED
METHOD OF TREATING OR PREPARING MATERIALS TO BE MANUFACTURED INTO PAPER,
APPLICABLE TO LYE WASHINGS IN GENERAL," a communication, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Emile Alcan, 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 Emile Alcan, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
In the manufacture of paper from straw, alpha, or other vegetable sub-
stance, the materials are prepared by boiling in an alkaline solution, in order
to open out and soften them, and to free them from the gum or resin con-
tained in them. This lye washing is ordinarily effected in a vat in which the
materials are arranged in layers, with lime interposed; the vats are nearly
filled with water or with partly spent lye; the liquid is brought to boil (com-
monly by steam), and is maintained at that point as long as is required to open
out the materials.
This manner of operating is long and expensive; the action of the lye is
neither sufficiently energetic, nor is the lye brought into sufficiently close
contact with the materials to be operated upon. By my improved method of
operating the lye washing or other opening-out liquid penetrates instantly and
spontaneously all parts of the materials to be operated upon. For this purpose
instead of placing the materials to be operated upon in open vessels exposed to
the pressure of the atmosphere, I enclose them in a vessel the upper surface of
which is closed from the atmosphere, but communicating below with the vessel
containing the alkaline lye or other opening-out liquid, which is exposed to the
pressure of the atmosphere or of steam. In the close vessel I establish a
vacuum by the condensation of steam, which I can introduce at pleasure by

page_text: means of a stop-cock or valve placed on a pipe in communication with a steam
generator. A vacuum being thus formed in the close vessel, the alkaline lye is
admitted and penetrates spontaneously and thoroughly the materials to be.
operated upon in the first vessel. The operation may be repeated several
times and prolonged as much as necessary, the repetition of the operation and
the duration of it varying with the greater or less resistance of the materials
operated upon. The process is equally applicable to lye washings of yarn
and of woven stuffs in their manufacture, or in the washing of linen for
domestic use.
:
The apparatus for carrying out my Invention may be variously arranged.
Figures 1 to 4 represent an arrangement which will serve to illustrate the
Invention; Figure 1 being a vertical section of the apparatus upon the line
X, Y, in Fig. 2; Figure 2 a plan of the same; Figure 3 au elevation of the
inverted bell or receiver; and Figure 4 a plan of the same. A, a vat or tank
of masonry open at top, containing the lye or opening liquid; B, a pipe to
convey the steam; C, an inverted bell or vessel suspended like a gas holder
by cords passing over the pulleys E, E; F, a counterbalance to facilitate the
movement of the bell which rests upon the bottom of the tank; I, a vessel
placed under the bell to receive the materials to be operated upon, and resting
upon a stand or tripod so as to admit the passage of the liquid; H, H, keys
(worked by the handles p', p.) for holding down the bell to steady it against
the shocks of the steam; T, a pipe for the escape of the vapor of the hot
liquid in the exterior vessel.
The bell is
j
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The materials to be operated
upon are placed in the vessel I, having first removed the bell C.
then replaced and lowered, and steam is admitted by the cock S. The pipe B
has two branches, one opening under the vessel I, and the other merely
entering the exterior vat or tank for the purpose of heating the opening liquid
contained therein. During a part of the time that the steam is entering, the
air-cock G is kept open. When the air is expelled (which is known by the
escape of the steam), the air-cock G and the steam-cock S are shut, and a
condensation of the steam in the vessel I takes place. This condensation may
be expedited by means of a jet of cold water through the cock K into the bell
from a vessel suitably placed. The effect of this condensation is to produce a
vacuum in the bell, and the liquid contained in the exterior tank, the level of
which is shown at N, being pressed upon by the atmosphere will rise spon-
taneously into the bell, and will intimately and uniformly penetrate the
materials in the vessel I, and if this liquid is boiling it will act still more
energetically. When the liquid has thus penetrated the materials, and has

page_text: been left in contact with them for any desired time, it may be withdrawn by a
fresh admission of steam, and again allowed to enter by a reproduction of a
vacuum, and so on, and when the materials have been sufficiently operated
upon the air-cock is opened, the bell raised, and the materials withdrawn.
As I have before stated, the form of the apparatus may be varied, an
example of which is shown in Figures 5 and 6. This apparatus consists of a
close cylindrical vessel, which can be opened and closed at one end by the
cover O, O, in Figure 6. Let it be supposed that the materials to be operated
upon have been put into the cylinder, and the cylinder shut, and all is ready for
working, I admit steam by the cock R, and I drive out the air at the cock Z.
I then shut these two cocks, and the condensation of the steam in the cylinder
will take place; then if the cock S which communicates with a vessel con-
taining the lye or opening liquid be opened, the liquid will rush into the
cylinder and penetrate the materials. If it is deemed requisite to repeat the
operation the liquid can be returned to its source by opening the cocks R and
S, and then forming a vacuum and proceeding as before.
Having thus described the Invention and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would observe that I do not claim any particular form of
apparatus, but I claim,-
First, the employment of a vacuum in the process of opening out the
vegetable materials employed in the manufacture of paper, by placing the
materials in a vessel in which a vacuum is formed, and connecting the said
vessel with another vessel containing the lye or opening-out liquid, which
liquid is exposed to the pressure of the atmosphere or of steam.
Second, the employment of the same method in the lye washing of yaru
and of woven fabrics in their manufacture, and in the washing of linen for
domestic use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emile Alcan, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and fifty-nine.
E. ALCAN. (L.S.)