IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES MADE FROM PULP
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Godfrey Anthony Ermen, of Eccles, in the County
of Lancaster, Manufacturer,, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND OTHER
SIMILAR SUBSTANCES MADE FROM PULP."A communication from abroad
by Louis Horst, of Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 17th. April 1866, and dated the 8th November 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Godfrey. Anthony Ermen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on.
the 8th November 1-865..
I, GODFREY ANTHONY ERMEN, of Eccles, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING. VEGETABLE FIBRES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PAPER AND OTHER. SIMILAR SUBSTANCES MADE PROM PULP," a communication
to me from abroad by Louis Horst, of Cologne, in the Kingdom of Prussia,
to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the manufacture of paper, papier maché,
paper board, and similar substances made from pulp, and is designed for
the purpose of producing or obtaining the pulp (from which they are
made) from straw, dried grasses, sea-weed, and other similar material con-
taining vegetable fibres. The improvements consist in treating the
vegetable fibres in the following manner, and according to the following.
formula, or thereabouts:-Take about one hundred parts of straw or

page_text: vegetable fibre and reduce it to pieces of about half an inch long, then
add thereto about two hundred parts of muriatic acid, and allow the straw
to steep or saturate for about eighteen hours, after which separate the
unabsorbed acid from the straw by pressure, and wash the straw in water
until no coloring matter can be obtained therefrom; mix about five parts
of line with sufficient water to cover the straw, and immerse the straw in
the mixture in order to neutralize the acid contained therein. Now take
about twenty-five parts of caustic soda, and mix it with sufficient water to
cover the straw, and boil the straw therein for two or three hours; then
wash the straw again until no free coloring matter is eliminated, then
take forty parts of chloride of lime, mix it with sufficient water, and put
the straw into the solution, mix all well together, and leave it for two
hours. Take fifteen parts of sulphuric acid and add it to the last solution
gradually, in small quantities, stirring all continually; the object being to
neutralize the liquor, which must be neither acid nor alkaline, therefore
the quantity of sulphuric acid added must be regulated accordingly. By
the addition of the sulphuric acid gypsum is formed in the pulp, which is
advantageous to the color, and smoothness, and firmness of the paper; and
after the pulp has remained in this state for about four hours it may be
pressed and freed from the liquor, and used as ordinary pulp in the
manufacture of paper. I would remark that I am aware that straw and
grasses have been previously treated for the manufacture of pulp, but not
by the same economical means and method as. herein described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Godfrey Anthony Ermen in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GODFREY.
ANTHONY ERMEN, of Eceles, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer,
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 bundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Godfrey Anthony Ermen, Her special license that I, the
said Godfrey Anthony Ermen, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
QE such others as I, the said Godfrey Anthony Ermen, my executors,

page_text: 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
TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND
OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES MADE FROM PULP," a communication to me from
abroad by Louis Horst, of Cologn, in the Kingdom of Prussia, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Godfrey Anthony Ermen, 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 Godfrey Anthony Ermen, 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 (that is to say) :-
-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of paper, papier maché, paper
board, and similar substances made from pulp, and is designed for the
purpose of producing or obtaining the pulp (from which they are made)
from straw, dried grasses, sea-weed, and other similar material containing
vegetable fibres. The improvements consist in treating the vegetable
fibres in the following manner, and according to the following formula, or
thereabouts-Take about one hundred parts of straw or vegetable fibre
and reduce it to pieces of about half an inch long, then add thereto about
two hundred parts of muriatic acid, and allow the straw to steep or
saturate for about eighteen hours, after which separate the unabsorbed.
acid from the straw by pressure, and wash the straw in water until no
coloring matter can be obtained therefrom; mix about five parts of lime
with sufficient water to cover the straw, and immerse the straw in the
mixture in order to neutralize the acid contained therein. Now take about
twenty-five parts of caustic soda, and mix it with sufficient water to cover
the straw, and boil the straw thesein for two or three hours; then wash
the straw again until no free coloring matter is eliminated, then take forty
parts chloride of lime, mix it with sufficient water, and put the straw into.
the solution, mix all well together and leave it for two hours. Take fifteen
parts of sulphuric acid and add it to the last solution gradually, in small

page_text: quantities, stirring all continually; the object being to neutralize the
liquor, which must be neither acid or alkaline, therefore the quantity of
sulphuric acid added must be regulated accordingly. By the addition of the
sulphuric acid gypsum is formed in the pulp, which is advantageous to the
color, and smoothness, and firmness of the paper, and after the pulp has
remained in this state for about four-hours it may be pressed and freed
from the liquor, and used as ordinary pulp in the manufacture of paper.
I would remark that I am aware that straw and grasses have been previously
treated for the manufacture of pulp, but not by the same economical means
and method as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Godfrey Anthony Ermen, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GODFREY ANTHONY ERMEN. (L.S.)