IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP OR HALF STUFF USED IN THE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sellars, of Pendlebury, near Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP OR HALF STUFF USED IN THE
Sealed the 2nd June 1863, and dated the 8th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sellars at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the .8th
December 1862..
I, JOHN SELLARS, of Pendlebury, near Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP OR HALF STUFF USED
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of using potatoe fibre and the skins or peel of the
potatoe, either separately or mixed together, in the manufacture of the pulp
or half stuff, and also the farina or starch of the potatoe may be mixed with
the skin or fibre in any suitable proportion, as may be found desirable,
according to the kind or quality of material required; or the said substances
may be used in conjunction with any other material or materials now in use
for the manufacture of paper, such as rags, cotton waste, surats, rope, straw,
Spanish grass, or any other article suitable for the purpose; or, if found

page_text: desirable and economical, I use mangold wurtzel and plants of the same
species, either alone or in conjunction with the potatoe or farina of the potatoe
and other substances now used in the manufacture of pulp or half stuff used
in the manufacture of paper, pasteboard, and similar articles. The material
derived from the potatoe, when mixed with rags and other materials now in
use for the manufacture of paper, is used in proportion to the quality required,
and is variable at pleasure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Sellars in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
June 1863:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SELLARS, of Pendlebury, near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Sellars, Her special license that I, the said John Sellars, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Sellars, 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 PULP OR HALF STUFF USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER,
PASTEBOARD, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Sellars, 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 John Sellars, 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 (that is to say) :-

page_text: My Invention consists of using the fibrous portion of potatoes, either with
or 'without any portion of the skins and farinaceous part thereof, in the manu-
facture of paper pulp or half stuff. If used in conjunction with linen or other
half stuff the proportions must be regulated, at the discretion of the manu-
facturer, according to the quality of paper, pasteboard, or similar articles
required to be made, because if the whole of the skins are worked up in the
pulp the product will be suitable only for the manufacture of inferior paper or
other articles.
For the manufacture of the common kinds of paper I first wash the potatoes
well, so as to free them thoroughly from all earthy matter, which can be done
by hand. or by the usual machines well known in farina works; I then put
them in a strong solution of salt and water, strong enough to make them float;
and if there be (as is often the case) stones among them, those will sink to
the bottom of the saline bath, whilst the others may be lifted out, either by
hand or by an endless chain of buckets worked by power, to the well known
rasping machine, or they may be crushed by means of wooden or metal rollers,
or disintegrated by any other suitable means. In this case the skins will be
amongst the pulp or half stuff, and cannot altogether be afterwards separated,
and consequently will not be so valuable as if freed from the skins; therefore;
to obtain the best quality of pulp suitable for fine paper, after the potatoes are
separated from the stones in the saline bath they must be stripped of their
skins, either by hand or suitable machinery. The peeled potatoes having been
rinsed of the loose skins in their passage over a grating to the rasp or crushing:
rollers or other machinery for disintegrating them, being thoroughly rasped or
disintegrated, the pulp must have a plentiful supply of pure spring water,
either mixed with it as it passes through the disintegrating process or imme-
diately after, so as to. thin it down to such a consistency as will allow the.
farina to pass through the usual sieving apparatus now in general use among
farina manufacturers; some of the smaller fibre will pass along with it, and
some of the farina will also pass with the coarser part of the fibre which passes
out at the end of the sieve. And if it so happens that there is not a sufficient.
quantity of the farina taken out of the fibre, the fibre will have to be still.
further disintegrated, either by rollers, millstones, 'or other suitable means, so
as to open the celules and allow the farina to be extracted therefrom and
passed through the sieves as before. The fibre now having been freed suffi-
ciently from the farina must be collected and placed in a suitable vessel,
which vessel must have an agitator fixed in the centre to stir up the fibre and
water, and thus thoroughly wash and cleanse by repeated washings until 'the
fibre is of sufficient whiteness, which for many sorts of good paper can be:

page_text: sufficiently whitened by water alone; but when a very pure white is required
I throw into the vessel a weak solution of chloride of lime or other bleaching
agent, which soon brings it to the desired color. I then wash out some of the
bleaching agent, but not all of it, because by leaving a portion of it in the pulp
will keep in better condition for the paper mill, and when it is placed in the
beating engine mixed with other materials, the remainder of the bleaching
agent can easily be neutralized by any of the well-known means. The pulp
is then taken out of the vessel and placed in a hydro-extractor or an hydraulic
or screw press to extract as much of the water as possible so that it may be
conveniently conveyed to the paper mill in a damp state instead of incurring
the expense of drying it by heat. The farina being thus extracted from the
potatoes, and left in a traverser or starch run, is taken out and placed in tuns
and well washed, the small quantity of fibre that will be found in it is carefully
separated and mixed with the fibre already obtained, and when the farina is
of sufficient whiteness and freed from the fibre it is drained and dried either
in a stove or upon the drying machines in ordinary use in farina' works. The
residuum of farina manufactures, after the farina is extracted from the potatoes
as generally practised, can be made into an inferior sort of pulp by being well
washed and bleached; but if the paper is required to be of a superior quality
the skins must not be allowed to mix with the fibre, as I find that the ordinary
bleaching agents, although they will bring up the fibre to a very good clean
white color, have very little effect on the skins. However, in working up the
residuum of farina mills it is almost impossible to separate the skins from the
fibre, therefore that article must be used for inferior paper only.
Mangold wurtzel, and plants of the same species, although I named them in
my Provisional Specification, I do not now lay any claim to them, because,
although I can make them into good half stuff, they cannot be used profitably.
In using my pulp or half stuff (as heretofore described) mixed with the
pulp made from rags or other articles, I do not confine myself to any definite
proportions of each pulp, as they will depend entirely on the quality of the
article desired to be produced, and therefore must be left to the discretion of
the manufacturer.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be carried into practical effect, I desire it to
be understood that I do not confine myself to the use of the fibre of the
potatoe only in the manufacture of paper and similar articles, as in some cases
there may be some portion of the farina left in it, and which would not be
worth the expense of separating; but I claim as my Invention, and which to
the best of my knowledge and belief has not been hitherto used within the

page_text: realm, the manufacture of pulp or half stuff for making paper, pasteboard,
and similar articles, from the fibrous and skinny portion of potatoes, whether
they may be mixed with some small portion of the farina or not, or mixed
with other pulps or substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sellars, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Sellars, in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
JOHN SELLARS. (L.S.)
Patent Agent,
Manchester.