AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI- NERY FOR MAKING PAPER
Year: 1825

page_text: J. AND C. PHIPPS' SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PHIPPS, of Upper Thames Street, in the City of London, Stationer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of January now last
past, did give and grant unto me, the said John Phipps, together with Christo-
pher Phipps, of the Parish of River, in the County of Kent, Paper Maker,
His said Majesty's especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that we, the said John Phipps and Christopher Phipps, our executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the said John Phipps and
Christopher Phipps, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, our Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY FOR MAKING PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging us, the said John Phipps and Christopher Phipps, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Phipps and Christopher Phipps, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained by the following description thereof in writing,
and by the annexed Drawings, to which said Drawings we shall herein-after
occasionally refer, that is to say :-
Our said Invention of an Improvement or Improvements in the Manhinery
for Making Paper consists in the employment of a roller, the superficies or
cylindrical part of which is formed of laid wire, in conjunction with certain
machinery for making paper, well known among paper makers, and commonly
called by the name of Fourdrinier's Patent Paper Machine.
We shall describe first, the manner of making the said roller; secondly, the
manner in which we apply and use it in conjunction with the said machinery;
and, lastly, the effect which is produced by its use."
In order that we may be more clearly understood in describing the appli-
cation and use of our Invention, we have hereunto annexed a Sheet of outline
Drawings, containing a plan and elevation of the said paper machine, in
conjunction with which the cylindrical roller is to be employed. Fig. 1 is
the plan, and Fig. 2 the elevation. The said Sheet of Drawings also exhibits
an exterior and a sectional view of the said cylindrical roller, as shewn by
Figs. 3 and 4; Fig. 3 being the exterior view, and Fig. 4 the sectional view.
In the plan Fig. 1 and elevation Fig. 2, we have, where practicable, made
use of the same figures of reference to denote the same thing, and we have
done the same in Figs. 3 and 4 relatively to each other. In Fig. 1 and 2, the
vat of the paper machine is marked 1, 1, 1, 1; the shaking bar 2, 2; the
ruler bars 8, 3. The situation of the brass carriages for keeping the said
cylindrical roller in its proper place is shewn at c and d in Fig. 1, and at d,
in Fig. 2. The wet press cylinders are maked 5, 5; the endless web of
wove wire with 6, 6, &c.; the second press cylinders with 7, 7; the endless
web of flannel or felting with 8, 8, &c.; the dickle or deckles with 10, 10;
the deckles straps with 11, 11, &c. The sutation of the reels is pointed out
by the two circles 12, 12; and the situation in which the said cylindrical
roller is placed, when applied to and employed in conjunction withe said 9
paper machine, is shewn at 13, 13, where the said roller is represented.
14, 14, &c. are the small copper rollers which support the web of wove wire
below the deckles. 15, 15, &c., are the larger rollers which support the said
web between the ends of the deckles and the wet press cylinders. All these

page_text: particulars are parts of the original machine, except the cylindrical roller and
the brass carriages for keeping the same in its proper place. Our Invention
consists in the addition of the cylindrical roller. We make the cylindrical
roller in the following manner; that is to say, the body of the roller is fixed
upon an axle or spindle made of iron or other metal, of about five eighths or
three quarters of an inch square, such as we have represented at Fig. 4 on
the annexed Sheet of Drawings. At one end of the said spindle we make a
collar bearing, as at a, and at the other end thereof we make a plain bearing,
as at b. We make the length of the said spindle to correspond to the width
of the particular machine to which the roller is to be applied (for paper
machines of the kind herein-before mentioned are made of various widths),
and such as that the said bearings may respectively fall into or apply them-
selves to the forked carriages shewn at c and d in Fig. 1, and at d in Fig. 2.
The said carriages are fixed by screws or otherwise to the ruler bars 3, 8,
and 3, 3, on each side of the paper machine, so that when the bearings of
the said spindle are applied to or put into the said forked carriages, the said
spindle may lie across the machine at right angles with the line of direction
in which the aforesaid endless web of wire, upon which the paper is made,
moves. The two ends of the said cylindrical roller, as shewn at e and f, we
prefer making of some of the tougher kinds of wood, such as elm, ash, &c.;
we make the said ends round, and of the same diameter as the cylindrical
roller is intended to be of. We generally make the said ends from three
quarters of an inch to an inch thick, but we vary the thickness according to
the diameter; for when the said ends are of a larger diameter, a propor-
tionately greater strength, and consequently thickness, is required; but as this
must be obvious to every competent mechanic, and as no great precision is
required, we need not state more as to the appropriate thickness of the said
ends to various diameters, than that the thicknesses we have herein-before
mentioned are sufficient for the said ends when the diameter varies from four
to six inches. We fix one of the said ends, as at e in Fig. 3, upon the said
spindle by wedges, or by any of the well-known means employed for hanging
or fixing wheels upon spindles, taking care that in fixing or in adapting the
said ends upon or to the said spindle, the circular part or periphery of the
said ends shall be concentric with the axis of the said spindle. The end, as
shewn at fin Fig. 4, has two brass plates marked i and m, affixed to it by
screws or rivets. The brass plate i has a square hole made through it, of
a size corresponding to the size or square of the spindle, so as that when the
said spindle is introduced or put into the said hole, they may fit each other,
and that the said plate may be free to move backward or forward along. the

page_text: said spindle when required. The plate m, which is fixed to the other side
of the said end, has a round central hole made through it, so as that the said
plate m may be put upon and fit the round part of the brass nut g, close to
the collar or projecting part upon the end of the said nut at h. The nut 9 is
tapped and made to apply itself upon a screw cut upon the said spindle, as
shewn at g. The forms of the said two brass plates i and m, and the brass
nut g, are more clearly shown by the Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, drawn to
larger scale. By inspecting the several Figs., namely, the sectional Drawing
of the said cylindrical roller Fig. 4, together with Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11,
it will be sufficiently obvious how the said end f is made, and that when it is
put upon the aforesaid spindle, as shewn in Fig. 4, the nut g may be turned
in either direction, so as to cause the said end f to approach towards or recede
from the other end e, of the said cylindrical roller. We will now describe
the manner in which we apply to or fix upon the said ends the laid wire
herein-before mentioned, so as to form a cylindrical roller (that is to say):
We employ a sheet of laid wire, similar to those used for covering the paper
moulds in common use for making laid paper. The terms laid wire and laid
paper are terms well known to all paper makers, and it should be observed,
that the said paper machine, without the application of our Invention, can
only make wove paper. 'Sheets of laid wire, such as we have just mentioned,
are made by and may be obtained from the makers of paper moulds. The
length and width of the sheet of laid wire must of course depend upon the
dimensions of the roller intended to be made, because, as we have hercin-
before said, the superficies or cylindrical part of the said roller is formed of
laid wire, and we accordingly employ the said sheet of laid wire for that
purpose, by fastening the ends of the said sheet to the wooden ends of the
roller herein-before described, and by joining together the sides of the said
sheet by means of the twisting wires. It may be proper hero to state, that
the said sheet of laid wire is composed of a number of straight wires, held
together by other small wires twisted round them at certain intervals, so as
to form the whole into ono connected sheet, because we shall make the dis-
tinction by calling the former the laid wires and the latter the twisting wiros.
In the first place, then, we cause the laid wires, when applied to the aforesaid
wooden ends, to lie parallel with the axis of the said spindle. It therefore
follows, that the joining of the two sides of the said sheet, so as to form it
(the sheet) into a cylindrical shape, must be effected by the ends of the
twisting wires, and for this purpose we cause the ends of the said twisting
wires to be left a few inches longer than necessary for connecting or holding
the laid wires together; by this means, when the sides of the said sheet of

page_text: laid wire are brought round, or when the outside straight or laid wire on one
side of the said sheet is brought round and near to the outside laid wire on
the other side of the said sheet, and the opposite ends of each of the said
twisting wires are brought together, we proceed to join the two sides of the said
sheet together in the following manner :-It is well known to paper-mould
makers, and it will be seen by any competent workman who examines a sheet of
laid wire such as we have herein-before mentioned, that what we have called
the twisting wires are in pairs, or that there are two such wires twisted together,
and at every turn of such twist they are made to embrace one of the laid wires
between them. In order then to form a good joining of the two sides of the
said sheet, we begin with one pair of the twisting wires by first undoing the
twist on the outside of the marginal laid wires (for in making a sheet of laid
wire it is necessary to give each pair of twisting wires one or two turns at
each side of the said sheet, so as that the outside laid wires may be held fast) at
both ends of the said pair. In this state it will be found that one of the wires
in the pair will be above the marginal laid wire, and the other below it at both
sides of the sheet. We now take the upper one, or that which is above the
marginal laid wire, and pass its end down or through and between the first or
marginal laid wire and the second laid wire; we then
pass it up between the
second and third laid wire, and so on until we have undone the twist to the
distance of six or eight or more of the laid wires from the side of the sheet;
this being done the said twisting wire is cut off close to the laid wire. We
then proceed in the same manner to undo one of the twisting wires of the
same pair in the opposite side of the sheet, namely, that one of the said pair
which is on the upper side of the marginal laid wire, and cut that off also close
to the laid wire at about the same distance from the side of the sheet. We
have now one end of one wire of the pair remaining as it was at first, pro-
ceeding from each side of the sheet, that is, one on each side and both below
the marginal laid wire. We now take one of the said two ends proceeding
from one side of the said sheet, and bend or bring it upwards between the two
marginal laid wires; we then pass it downwards between the first and second
laid wires of the opposite side of the said sheet; we again bring it up between
the second and third laid wires, and so on in such a manner and to such
an extent from the marginal wire as that the said twisting wire is made to
occupy or supply the place of that which had previously been removed and to
the same extent, taking care that it shall form the same kind of twist as the
pair of twisting wires did originally; this done the said wire is also to be cut
off close to the laid wires. There now remains one twisting wire, which we
treat in the same manner, and make it supply the place of that which was

page_text: before taken out from the other side of the said sheet. This operation should
be performed upon every pair of twisting wires (and a good paper-mould
maker will find no difficulty in doing it) in such a manner that the distanco
between the two wires which were before the marginal wires of the sheet shall
be the same as between any other two contiguous laid wires in the said sheet.
We have herein-before stated that we took out one from each pair of twisting
wires to the distance of six, eight, or more of the laid wires from each side of
the said sheet, but we vary the distance in every consecutive pair, for, if all the
twisting wires through each side of the sheet were to be cut off at the same
laid wire, it would in that part be rendered weaker; we, therefore, at the
beginning with the first pair of twisting wires, for instance, make the distance
six of the laid wires, with the second pair eight, the third pair ten, the fourth
pair seven, and so on. We thus distribute the weak parts of each pair
of twisting wires at different distances from the marginal wires and from each
other. The joining of the two sides of the said sheet of laid wire have been
effected, as above described. Wo then fasten the ends of the laid wires to the
afore-mentioned wooden ends with copper tacks; and we further secure the
ends of the laid wires to the said wooden ends by wrapping round them
in the shape of a hoop, a thin slip of sheet copper, and securing the same
with copper tacks. After having secured or fastened the ends of the laid
wires to the said wooden ends, we cause the said wires to be stretched by
turning the screw nut g. In order more effectually to strengthen the said
roller and to keep it more perfectly in a cylindrical shape, we support the said
laid wire with thin and narrow rings of copper or other metal; that is, we make
the said rings about three eighths of an inch wide, measured in the direction
of the radius of the roller, and about one thirtieth of an inch thick; and we
make a number of small holes in the said rings, and around the same, at about
the same distance from each other, and for the same purpose as is done in
making the wooden bars in paper moulds. The application and use of the
said rings will be clearly understood by any paper-mould maker, when we
state, that they are used as substitutes for the bars in a paper mould, with this
differenco only, that whereas the wooden bars in a paper mould are fastened
or framed into the sides of the mould, the said rings are only fastened to
the twisting wires of the said cylindrical roller by sewing them thereto with
wire in a similar way to that in common use for fastening a sheet of laid wire
to a paper mould. We find it most convenient to sew in the said rings before
the laid wires are fastennd to the said wooden ends.
We shall now describe another manner of making the said cylindrical roller,
and of covering the same with laid wire, in which we cause the twisting wires

page_text: to be parallel with the axis of the said roller, and the laid wires to be wound
round the same in a manner somewhat resembling the threads of a screw. In
this case we use a spindle similar to that already herein-before described, and
upon this we fix two wooden ends, but without any screw or nut. To the said
wooden ends we affix a number of wooden bars, with their edges at such a
distance from each other as shall correspond with the distance between the
twisting wires. Fig. 12 is a view of one of the wooden ends, and a sectional
view of the bars, which are fixed in it in the same way as the bars are fixed in
the sides of a paper mould, and are shewn at a, a, &c. We take care to fix
the bars on the wooden ends in such a manner as that when the two wooden
ends are fixed upon the axle of the roller all the edges of the said bars shall
lie in the surface of a cylinder, concentric with the axis of the roller. We then
prepare as many pairs of twisting wires as there are bars in the said roller, and
we fasten one end of each of the said pairs of twisting wires by a copper tack
to one of the said wood ends, so that each pair shall be exactly in a line with
the edge of one of the bars. This part of the process is exactly similar to that
which is pursued in making a laid paper mould, that is, the twisting wires are
wound upon the same kind of bobbins as are employed by mould makers.
Each pair of wires is twisted until it arrives at the part where the laid wire
is to be first put in or near to the inside edge of the said wooden end, but
instead of previously straightening the laid wire, as is done for making paper
moulds, and cutting it into lengths, we take it in the coil or hank as it
comes from the wire drawer. And we would here observe, that it best
answers the purpose when the wiredrawer draws the wire intended to be
employed upon a circular block of the same diameter, or nearly so, as that of
the cylindrical roller intended to be made, and that it is also desirable that the
said coil of laid wire should contain enough in one piece to form the whole of.
the covering of the roller. We place the coil of wire upon a reel near to the
roller to be covered, and placing one end of the said laid wire between two of
the twisting wires, and nearly at right angles with the roller to be covered, and
make one turn round it with the twisting wires. In like manner we secure
the said laid wire between the next pair of twisting wires, and so on round the
roller, pair after pair, until the whole is completed from one end of the
said roller to the other. It may be proper to observe, that other modes than
those herein-before described may be adopted for supporting the exterior
covering of the said cylindrical roller, whether such exterior covering shall
consist of laid and twisting wires, of which the laid wires shall be parallel with
the axis of the roller, or of laid and twisting wires of which the twisting wires
shall be parallel with the axis of the roller; but the modes we have described
we have found answer the best.

page_text: Lastly, with regard to the dimensions of the said cylindrical roller, its length
between the said ends e and fought to exceed the width of the paper intended
to be made by five or six inches. With regard to the diameter of the said
cylindrical roller we have here to state, that we use rollers of from five to
twelve inches in diameter, and find them all to answer the purpose without
being able to say to which of-these various diameters we should give the pre-
ference, excepting that in making very thick paper we find that it requires to
be harder pressed upon by the said cylindrical roller; we, therefore, prefer the
larger rollers because they are heavier. From what we have herein-before
stated, and from the Drawings to which we have referred, the manner of
applying the said cylindrical roller to the aforesaid paper machine will be
clearly understood; we shall, however, further state, that when we make use of
and apply the said roller to the said machine we take care that it shall be with
its whole weight upon the endless web of wove wire, so as that when the said
paper machine is at work, and the said endless web of wove wire-is made
to revolve or circulate, the said cylindrical roller shall also be made by
the motion of the endless web to revolve or roll upon the sheet of paper.
or pulp formed thereon. We have already herein-before stated that the
bearings at the ends of the spindle of the said roller lie in the two forked
carriages c and d; these carriages bearing no part of the weight of the said
roller, and are only intended to keep it in its place relatively with that part of
the said machine over which it is most proper or convenient to place it.
In Fig. 2 of the said Drawings we have represented it at 18 as lying above
and a little on one side of one of the copper rollers (marked r) which support
the said web, between the end of the deckles and the first or wet press
cylinders 5. This is the situation relatively with the roller r, over which it
more immediately lies, in which we find it answers best. The said cylindrical
roller may
however be placed in a like relative position with and over any
other of the rollers 15, &c. (when it can be done with equal convenience) in
conjunction with the aforesaid paper machine. It only remains to observe that
the effect produced by the said cylindrical roller is that of making a permanent
impression upon the sheet of paper or pulp upon which the said roller presses,
and thus the paper so made has the appearance of laid paper.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Phipps, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
"One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
JOHN (L.s.) PHIPPS.

page_text: J. S. HARVEY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eleventh day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Phipps came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.