CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MCMURRAY, of Kinleith Mill, near Edinburgh, in the County of Edinburgh,
in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of July, in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
McMurray, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said William McMurray, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William McMurray, my exors, adññiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the terin of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said William McMurray, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with said proviso, I, the said
William McMurray, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to a mode of removing water from a suitably con-
structed rotatory strainer during the process of reducing rags when working
pulp for the manufacture of paper. And in order to give the best information
in my power I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, in the
different Figures of which the same letters are used to indicate similar parts.
Figure 1 represents a plan of the engine; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section
thereof; Figure 3 is a transverse section, taken through the strainer; and
Figure 4 shews part of a longitudinal section of the engine, in order to shew a
transverse sectional view of the strainer and apparatus applied thereto in order
to remove the water therefrom. The construction of the paper engine being
well understood by paper makers, and by machinists engaged in the con-
struction of such descriptions of machinery, and as the construction thereof is
clearly shewn in the Drawing it will not be necessary to enter into any
description thereof, but confine my explanation to the mode of applying appa-
ratus to a rotatory strainer used for separating water from the rags or mate-
rials as they are reduced to pulp. a, a, represents the rotatory strainer. It
consists of the two close ends a', which I construct of wood, and apply brass
bushes 6 thereto, as is shown in the Drawing. The two ends a¹ of the strainer
are connected together by bars a², and a³ represents a strong wire which
is wound spirally around the open cylinder formed by the bars a² and the
ends a', there being grooves formed in the bars a, in which the wire lies,
and by which it is retained in its place. Over the cylinder thus formed
a covering of fine wire cloth, such as is used by paper makers as strainers, is
applied. I would, however, here remark, that although I believe that the
above arrangement is best for constructing rotatory strainers for such purposes
I do not confine myself thereto, and I am aware that it is not new to use
rotatory strainers for such purposes, others of a different construction and mode
of action having been before used, I do not therefore make any claim thereto,
my Invention relating to a mode of removing the water thereupon, and such
apparatus acts on the principle of the syphon, as I will now proceed to explain.
c is a tube which is fixed in bearings d, one on the midfeather and the other
on the side of the engine, as is shewn in the Drawing, and on this tube

page_text: the rotatory strainer moves freely, and the flow of the pulp in the engine
is sufficient for giving the requisite rotatory motion to the strainer, owing to
the slight friction there is in the bushes which move on the tube c, the
end a¹ of the strainer a being perfectly free to move, thus rendering any
driving apparatus to the strainer a unnecessary. c' is a continuation of the
tube c, and may be said to be the longer leg of the syphon. I generally make
this tube c' about six feet long, but this may be varied, and at the lower end I
apply a stopcock e, and at the upper end I apply an air escape cock, and in
order to fill the tube c¹ with water at starting I have a tube g with a funnel
top and a stopcock at h, the use of which will be hereafter explained.
c², c, are two short tubes descending from the tube c, and they may be called
the shorter legs of the syphon. They descend to as low a position as possible in
the strainer, yet allowing the strainer to revolve freely.
Having thus explained the nature of the apparatus employed, I will shortly
describe the mode of action, and in doing so I will suppose the engine to be
stopped, and that the tube c' is empty. In setting the apparatus for with-
drawing the water from the strainer to work the cock e is closed, and the air
cock f is to be opened, and water is poured into the tube c through the tube g
till the water flows into the tubes c, the cocks h and f are then to be closed,
and the cock e opened, when the water will continue to flow down the tube c¹,
and thus, by a tail column in the way of a syphon, be the means, together with
the pressure of the atmosphere on the water in the strainer a, of causing a
constant withdrawal of water from the interior of the rotatory strainer a, all
which will readily be understood on a careful examination of the Drawing.
I would, in conclusion, remark, that although I believe the apparatus above
explained to be the best arrangement for carrying out my improvements, yet I
do not confine myself thereto so long as the character of my Invention
be retained, that of withdrawing the water from a rotatory strainer in a paper
engine by means of a syphon.
And I would have it understood, that what I claim as my Invention is the
mode of withdrawing water from suitable constructed rotatory strainers of
paper engines by means of syphons, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William McMurray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
W MC (L.s.) MURRAY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1841, the aforesaid William McMurray came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the First day of January, in the year of our Lord One thou-
Inrolled the First day of January, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-one.