EXTRACTING THE FIBRE FROM ZOSTERA MARINA AND OTHER AQUATIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS
Year: 1863

page_text: Sealed the 19th February 1864, and dated the 21st November 1863.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said James Steart at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 21st November 1863, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent
Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
STEART, of No. 5, Saint James Road, Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "EXTRACTING THE FIBRE
FROM ZOSTERA MARINA AND OTHER AQUATIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same,, and have made solemn
Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Steart, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal fully
describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed in and by the following statement, that is
to say:―
"My Invention has for its object to extract fibre from zostera marina and
other similar aquatic vegetable productions, and this object is effected by
causing the decomposition or removal of the saccharine or gelatinous or
flesby portion of the plant or weed through the action of a "pure" bath, as
herein-after described, in which the plant or weed is placed for a suitable
length of time, and then subjected to pressure or friction by motion created
by suitable apparatus, so as to detach any foreign or extraneous matter from
the fibre. After having been subjected to this process the fibre is dried, and
is then fit for manufacturing purposes.
Such being the nature of my Invention, I perform the same in manner fol-
lowing, that is to say:-I submit the plant or weed to various degrees of
pressure by means of rollers or beaters for the purposes of bruising or loosening
the outer sheath or skin and the saccharine matter; but this part of the
process, tho' useful, is not indispensable, and need not necessarily be adopted,
as it encreases the labour required, and the plant or weed may at once be
placed in a wash bath of cold water till it is cleansed from all external
impurities. It is then removed and placed in a bath known in tanning as
the "pure," with or without water. The pure bath which I prefer is that
obtained by digesting fish in a vessel subject to the action of heat or steam.
This pure bath may also be made from various animal substances or chemicals,
as is well understood by persons conversant with the tanning of leather.
When the plant or weed has been exposed to the action of this bath for a
sufficient length of time the fibre will be freed, and it may then be detached
by notion, washing, or friction by means of suitable apparatus. By this
process the saccharine or gelatinous or fleshy part of the plant or weed is
decomposed and removed, leaving the fibre in an uninjured state. And I find
by experience that two hundred or two hundred and twelve degrees of
Fahrenheit is the most suitable and effective temperature for all the opera-
tions in the bath. The plant or weed is then finally dried and fit for manu-
facturing purposes.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim as the Invention
intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, the obtaining fibre from

page_text: zostera narina and other similar aquatic vegetable productions by subjecting
the same to the treatment above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Steart, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
HENRY D. PHILLIPS,
11, Abchurch Lane,
Solr.
J. STEART.
(L.S.)