IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRES TO MANUFACTURE A NEW DESCRIPTION OF FABRIC OR STUFF APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL AND DECORATIVE PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Pavy, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
but now temporarily of London Street, in the City of London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND PREPARING CERTAIN
VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRES TO MANUFACTURE A NEW DESCRIPTION
OF FABRIC OR STUFF APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL AND DECORATIVE
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd December 1868, and dated the 2nd July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugene Pavy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1868.
I, EUGENE PAVY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, but now
temporarily of London Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING AND
PREPARING CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRES TO MANUFACTURE A NEW
DESCRIPTION OF FABRIC OR STUFF APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL AND DECORATIVE
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to certain processes or modes of treating and
preparing certain vegetable and animal fibres in order to produce pulp,

page_text: and to manufacture from the pulp a felted paper fabric or stuff
applicable to various useful and decorative purposes.
The vegetable matters which I prefer to employ are plants of the
nettle, corchorus, musa or plaintain tribes, the barks of the mulberry
tree and others, crotolarias, hibiscii, malvacious plants or plants of the
mallow tribe, asclepiades, yercum calatropsis, daphne cannabina, brous-
sonetia papyrifera, saccharine plants, flaxes, hemps, cottons, and in
general all indigenous or exotic plants possessing a sufficiently felty
texture, to be employed either alone or mixed with others in the
manufacture of felted paper fabric or stuff. The animal matters which
I employ are wool, silk, bulls' pizzles, skins, and others. I also employ
mineral matters, viz., powdered gold, silver, mica, or others capable of
producing for certain purposes brilliant sparkling effects, such as are
seen on japanned papers. When the matters of which I compose my
felted stuff are too long I cut or divide them in order to facilitate their
lixiviation or lye washing, but this operation can be dispensed with
when desired. The lixiviation or lye washing can be accomplished in
two manners, according to the matters operated upon, or the time at
disposal. When the matters disintegrate easily, such as plants of the
nettle tribe, flaxes, hemps, cottons, and barks of the mulberry genus, I
wash them simply with milk of lime, or preferably with caustic alkali
at 2° or 3° Beaumé, and as nearly as possible under a pressure of steam
of from 3 to 4 atmospheres for about 3 hours; they are then washed
in passing through the washing trough until the parts are reduced to a
length of from th to th of an inch; they are then bleached in the
bleaching trough by any of the processes used for rags. When matters
which are hard and not easily disintegrated are to be operated upon,
such as plants of the musa or plaintain genus, corchorus, hibiscii,
crotolarias, certain barks, daphne cannabina, waste stalks of flax and
hemp, I submit them in a close vessel to a pressure of steam of from
6 to 8 atmospheres for about 4 hours, employing preferably a solution
of caustic soda at about 6° to 8° Beaumé, when the matters become
sufficiently disintegrated and are ready for bleaching immediately.
This mode having the disadvantage of somewhat affecting the strength
of the fibres I prefer the system of washing in milk of lime or weak
alkali, as in operating with ordinary rags; but as this mode only half
disintegrates the matters it is impossible to proceed directly to the
bleaching process, I therefore proceed as follows:-The matters are

page_text: submitted to the action of gaseous chlorine, as is the custom with rags;
the matters instead of becoming bleached directly assume a bright yellow
red colour; in this state they are subjected to the washing and bleaching
troughs, and after a thorough washing I pour into the trough for 2 cwt.
of pulp about 2 to 5 gallons of caustic alkali at about 4° Beaumé.
This second washing or lye, which may be either warm or cold, rapidly
causes the most perfect disintegration of all the intercellur bodies of
the vegetable matters, and the operation is so complete that the waters
rapidly change from a white to a black tinge. I finish by a thorough
washing and by pouring into the trough when the water has again
become clear about one-fourth of a pint of sulphuric acid. The cellulose
or cellular matter being now pure, for about 2 cwt. of pulp from 3 to 6
pails of chloride of lime or of soda of about 4° Beaumé are poured into
the trough, and when it is nearly white it is washed a little and
about 2 lbs. of crystals of soda and a like quantity of sulphate of alumina
previously dissolved are added to the trough; the bleaching is terminated
by pouring into the trough one-fourth of a pint of sulphuric acid. The
matter is washed for a moment, and there is obtained in this manner a
most beautiful white. I employ the same bleaching process after the
two first modes of lye washing before described.
I should mention here another method of bleaching the matters the
lixiviation of which is not complete, or the bleaching of which can only
be produced by the action of hydrochloric acid gas. This is an operation
which however perfect in principle is nevertheless rather costly. After a
washing either in milk of lime or alkali when the matters will not bleach
in the ordinary processes, or in chloride of lime at 4°, and after having
thrown into the pulp half a pint of sulphuric acid the matter is not of
a satisfactory whiteness I wash it immediately, and I pour into the
trough from 2 to 5 gallons of caustic soda in order to effect the
decomposition of the gummy resinous matters which prevent the
bleaching, and when the liquid of the bath has become black I wash
again and recommence the bleaching as before described. As is
evident the last process is intended to effect the bleaching in the
troughs of the more strongly resisting matters by means of an artificial
action of gas, which permits the alcali to act with almost as much
efficaciousness as by the action of gas in the close chamber, and to
provide for in all cases the ill success of lye washing operations.

page_text: The employment of the chemical matters indicated is nothing new;
what is new is what I call the second washing in caustic alkali after
the gascous chlorine; for this operation, so simple in appearance, will
permit henceforth of the extraction of pure cellulose matters from all
vegetable materials, and even from all those which industrial science has
hitherto considered as impracticable; and it is by the aid of these processes
that I have been enabled to make with the most common substances,
such as jute or corchorus, waste of flax or hemp, and all other matters
thrown aside, felted fabrics or tissues having all desirable strength
and elasticity to replace other fabrics in a great number of uses.
I disintegrate bulls' pizzles and skins with milk of lime, and I bleach
them by sulphur vapors, as also wool and silk.
The matters of which I compose my felts are reduced or triturated
by beating engines or by grindstones, pestles, mallets, or otherwise.
Care should be taken that the filaments in separating be kept to a
length of from th to th of an inch at least, in order that very
strong felts may be obtained, whether by means of vegetable matters
separately or mixed, or animal matters, according to the solidity, the
consistence, the pliancy, elasticity, and silkiness I desire to obtain and
the application I desire to make. Thus for my best qualities of felts
for clothing, furniture, and tablecloths I preferably use China grass
mulberry, plaintain, and corchorus to give silky effects to the felted
fabric; and I use hemp, flax, cotton, and great many other matters to
imitate cotton, linen, and hempen stuffs. For the most part I dye or
color the felts in the troughs, and size and render them non-inflam-
mable there also when desirable, and I use the ordinary processes.
When I desire to obtain very supple felts I pour in the finishing
trough for 200 lbs. of pulp about 2 to 6 lbs. of white palm soap or any
other soap before the descent of the pulp in the vessel. The pulp in
this state, composed of animal or vegetable matters, or a mixture of
both, is converted into felt either by means of a paper machine, by
hand apparatus, or by the processes employed in ordinary felting.
I proceed now to describe more fully the different applications of my
felt fabrics.
My object in manufacturing these fabrics is to dispense with spinning
and weaving in some applications where this work is not indispensable,
and to add in all cases to that which exists already a new natural

page_text: product to occupy a place in substitution for ordinary fabrics and
colored papers. Thus I apply these felts to the production of dresses,
petticoats, mantles, table linen, linendrapery, hats, bonnets, caps,
shoes, curtains, hangings, tapestry, blinds, furniture coverings, table-
covers, carpets, linings, substitutes for leather, hat linings, imitations
of China paper for engraving, lithography, and printing. Curtain bands,
cords, and fringes, as well as the tassels of ornamental trimmings, may
be made with the felted paper colored, twisted, and arranged as is the
custom in ordinary trimmings. The felt fabrics for the greater part of
the applications above mentioned are white, tinted, colored, or printed in
any shade and design; they are smooth, velvety, embossed, in order to
imitate lace, guipure, goffer, and filigree work, in such manner as to
produce the effects of embroidered, embossed, damascened, and velveted
fabrics. The linings of the dresses, petticoats, and curtains are pre-
ferably made of felted fabric, but they can be lined with tarlatan,
muslin, or light calico, or in the same manner the original fabric can be
used in the production of the fabric, and also the felted fabrics may
predominate; and for furniture covers, for example, it would be
necessary to strengthen them by lining. The felt fabrics are stitched
or pasted; in their use as hangings or tapestry in replacing colored
paper I have the object of preventing for the most part the use of
paste by nailing or hanging like stuffs, so that the hanging is all one
piece, curtain, wall hangings, table cover, furniture cover, and carpet
all being a perfect match. I obtain imitations of leather and parch-
ment by causing the felt fabrics to imbibe siccative oils, such as tar,
linseed, isinglass, india-rubber, naphtha, or varnishes or acids. The felts
are manufactured of different thicknesses; they are printed with oil in
all shades and designs; they are punched or stamped in imitation of
Cordovan leather, moroccos, moleskins, oilcloths, and parchments, and
they fulfil all the uses of these products. I also make impermeable
blinds with them perforated with holes, so that one can see from within
without being seen from without, and which allow the air to penetrate;
they can be painted or printed in all colors or designs. I can also
make bags to preserve fruit, and carpets with oil paintings. Felt fabrics,
whether of animal or vegetable matters, answer equally well for small
or large cartridges, leather bottles, caulking of ships, and other purposes.
The felts composed of bulls' pizzles are prepared as the vegetable
matters as to the trituration and fabrication; they are unbleached, white,

page_text: or of all shades, in imitation of parchment, morocco, asses' skins, and
constitute an application entirely new of this matter to clothing,
furniture, and bookbinding. Powdered gold, silver, or mica are
employed mixed with the pulp in the troughs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Eugene Pavy in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd January 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
PAVY, of Paris, in the Empire of France, but now temporarily of London
Street, in the City of London, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Eugene Pavy, Her special licence that
I, the said Eugene Pavy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Eugene Pavy, 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 TREATING AND
PREPARING CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FIBRES TO MANUFACTURE A NEW
DESCRIPTION OF FABRIC OR STUFF APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL AND
DECORATIVE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Eugene Pavy, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Eugene Pavy, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to certain processes or modes of treating
and preparing certain vegetable and animal fibres in order to produce
pulp, and to manufacture from this pulp a felted paper fabric or stuff
applicable to various useful and decorative purposes.
The vegetable matters which I prefer to employ are plants of the
nettle, corchorus, musa or plaintain tribes, the barks of the mulberry
tree and others, crotolarias, hibiscii, malvacious plants or plants of the
mallow tribe, asclepiades, yercum calatropsis, daphne cannabina, brous-
souetia papyrifera, saccharine plants, flaxes, hemps, cottons, and in
general all indigenous or exotic plants possessing a sufficiently felty
texture to be employed either alone or mixed with others in the
manufacture of felted paper fabric or stuff. The animal matters which
I employ are wool, silk, bulls' pizzles, skins, and others. I also employ
mineral matters, viz., powdered gold, silver, mica, or others capable
of producing for certain purposes brilliant sparkling effects, such as are
seen on japanned papers. When the matters of which I compose my
felted stuff are too long I cut or divide them in order to facilitate their
lixiviation or lye washing, but this operation can be dispensed with
when desired. The lixiviation or lye washing can be accomplished
in two manners according to the matters operated upon or the time
at disposal. When the matters disintegrate easily, such as plants of
the nettle tribe, flaxes, hemps, cottons, and barks of the mulberry
genus, I wash them simply with milk of lime, or preferably with caustic
alkali at 2° or 3° Beaumé, and as nearly as possible under a pressure of
steam of from 3 to 4 atmospheres for about 3 hours; they are then
washed in passing through the washing trough until the parts are
reduced to a length of from th to th of an inch; they are then bleached
in the bleaching trough by any of the processes used for rags. When
matters which are hard and not easily disintegrated are to be operated
upon, such as plants of the musa or plaintain genus, corchorus, hibiscii,
crotolarias, certain barks, daphne cannabina, waste stalks of flax and
hemp, I submit them in a close vessel to a pressure of steam of from
6 to 8 atmospheres for about 4 hours, employing preferably a solution
of caustic soda at about 6° to 8° Beaumé, when the matters become
sufficiently disintegrated and are ready for bleaching immediately.
This mode having the disadvantage of somewhat affecting the strength

page_text: of the fibres, I prefer the system of washing in milk of lime or weak
alkali as in operating with ordinary rags; but as this mode only half
disintegrates the matters it is impossible to proceed directly to the
bleaching process, I therefore proceed as follows:-The matters are
submitted to the action of gaseous chlorine as is the custom with
rags; the matters instead of becoming bleached directly assume a bright
yellow red color; in this state they are subjected to the washing and
bleaching troughs, and after a thorough washing I pour into the trough
for 2 cwt. of pulp about 2 to 5 gallons of caustic alkali at about
4° Beaumé. This second washing or lye, which may be either warm or
cold, rapidly causes the most perfect disintegration of all the intercellular
bodies of the vegetable matters, and the operation is so complete that
the waters rapidly change from a white to a black tinge, I finish by a
thorough washing and by pouring into the trough when the water
has again become clear about th of a pint of sulphuric acid.
The cellulose or cellular matter being now pure, for about 2 cwt. of
pulp from 3 to 6 pails of chloride of lime or of soda of about 4° Beaumé
are poured into the trough, and when it is nearly white it is washed a
little and about 2 lbs. of crystals of soda and a like quantity of sulphate
of alumina previously dissolved are added to the trough; the bleach-
ing is terminated by pouring into the trough th of a pint of
sulphuric acid. The matter is washed for a moment and there is
obtained in this manner a most beautiful white. I employ the same
bleaching process after the two first modes of lye washing before
described.
I should mention here another method of bleaching the matters the
lixiviation of which is not complete, or the bleaching of which can
only be produced by the action of hydrochloric acid gas. This is an
operation which however perfect in principle is nevertheless rather
costly. After a washing either in milk of lime or alkali, when the
matters will not bleach in the ordinary processes, or in chloride of lime
at 4°, and after having thrown into the pulp half a pint of sulphuric acid
the matter is not of a satisfactory whiteness I wash it immediately, and
I pour into the trough from 2 to 5 gallons of caustic soda in order
to effect the decomposition of the gummy resinous matters which
prevent the bleaching, and when the liquid of the bath has become black
I wash again and recommence the bleaching as before described.
As is evident the last process is intended to effect the bleaching

page_text: in the troughs of the more strongly resisting matters by means of an
artificial gassing or action of gas, which permits the alkali to act
with almost as much efficasiousness as by the action of gas in the
close chamber, and to provide for in all cases the ill success of lye
washing operations.
The employment of the chemical matters indicated is nothing new;
what is new is what I call the second washing in caustic alkali after
the gaseous chlorine; for this operation, so simple in appearance, will
permit henceforth of the extraction of pure cellulose matters from
all vegetable materials, and even from all those which industrial science
has hitherto considered as impracticable; and it is by the aid of these
processes that I have been enabled to make with the most common
substances, such as jute or corchorus, waste of flax or hemp, and all.
other matters thrown aside, felted fabrics or tissues having all desirable
strength and elasticity to replace other fabrics in a great number of uses.
I disintegrate bulls' pizzles and skins with milk of lime, and I bleach
them by sulphur vapours, as also wool and silk.
The matters of which I compose my felts are reduced or triturated
by beating engines or by grindstones, pestles, mallets, or otherwise. Care
should be taken that the filaments in separating be kept to a length
of from th to th of an inch at least in order that very strong felts may
be obtained, whether by means of vegetable matters separately or mixed,
or animal matters, according to the solidity, the consistence, the pliancy,
elasticity, and silkiness that I desire to obtain, and the application I
desire to make. Thus for my best qualities of felts for clothing,
furniture, and tablecloths I preferably use China grass, mulberry,
plaintain, and corchorus to give silky effects to the felted fabric, and
I use hemp, flax, cotton, and a great many other matters to imitate
cotton, linen, and hempen stuffs. For the most part I dye or color
the felts in the troughs, and size and render them non-inflammable
there also when desirable, and I use the ordinary processes. When I
desire to obtain very supple felts I pour into the finishing trough
for 200 lbs. of pulp about two to six lbs. of white palm soap or any other
soap before the descent of the pulp in the vessel. The pulp in this
state, composed of animal or vegetable matter, or a mixture of both, is
converted into felt either by means of a paper machine, by hand
apparatus, or by the processes employed in ordinary felting.

page_text: I proceed now to describe more fully the anerent applications of my
felt fabrics.
My object in manufacturing these fabrics is to dispense with spinning
and weaving in some applications where this work is not indispensible,
and to add in all cases to that which exists already a new natural
product to occupy a place in substitution for ordinary fabrics and colored
papers. Thus I apply these felts to the production of dresses, petticoats,
mantle, table linen, linendrapery, hats, bonnets, caps, shoes, curtains,
hangings, tapestry, blinds, furniture coverings, table covers, carpets,
linings, substitutes for leather, hat linings, imitations of China paper for
engraving, lithography, and printing. Curtain bands, cords, and fringes,
as well as the tassels of ornamental trimmings, may be made with the
felted paper colored, twisted, and arranged as is the custom in ordinary
trimmings. The felt fabrics for the greater part of the applications
above mentioned are white, tinted, colored, or printed in any shade and
design; they are smooth, velvety, embossed in order to imitate lace,
guipure, goffer, and filigree work, in such manner as to produce the
effects of embroidered, embossed, damascened, and velveted fabrics. The
linings of the dresses, petticoats, and curtains are preferably made of
felted fabric, but they can be lined with tarlatan, muslin, or light calico
in the same manner as ordinary fabrics can be used in the production of
the goods, and also the felted fabrics may predominate; and for furniture
covers, for example, it would be necessary to strengthen them by lining.
The felt fabrics are stitched or pasted; in their use as hangings or
tapestry in replacing colored paper I have the object of preventing for
the most part the use of paste by nailing or hanging like stuffs, so that
the hanging is all one piece, curtain, wall hanging, table cover, furniture
covers, and carpet, all being a perfect match. I obtain imitations of
leather and parchment by causing the felt fabrics to imbibe siccative
oils, such as tar, linseed, isinglass, india-rubber, naphtha, varnishes, or
acids. The felts are manufactured of different thicknesses; they are
printed with oil in any shade or design; they are punched or stamped
in imitation of Cordovan leather, moroccos, moleskins, oilcloths, and
parchments, and they fulfil all the uses of those products. I also make
impermeable blinds with them perforated with holes so that one can sec
from within without being seen from without, and which allow the air to
penetrate; they can be painted or printed in any color or design. I can
also make bags to preserve fruit, and carpets with oil printings. Felt

page_text: fabrics, whether of animal or vegetable matters, answer equally well for
small or large cartridges, leather bottles, caulking of ships, and other
purposes. The felts composed of bulls' pizzles are prepared as the
vegetable matters as to the trituration and fabrication; they are un-
bleached, white, or of all shades, in imitation of parchment, morocco,
asses' skin, and constitute an application entirely new of this matter to
clothing, furniture, and bookbinding. Powdered gold, silver, or mica is
employed mixed with the pulp in the troughs.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim
generally, the combination of processes or operations herein-before
described for treating and preparing the fibres herein-before referred to
with the object of producing a sort of paper pulp, and of manufacturing
from this pulp a felted paper, fabric, or stuff applicable to various useful
and decorative purposes.
And I claim specially submitting the fibres to what I have hercin-
before called the second washing in caustic alkali after the gaseous
chlorine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Pavy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.