Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Marine Plants for Obtaining Materials Designed for Various Industrial Purposes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Apr., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 21st Dec., 1894-Accepted, 16th Feb., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Marine Plants
for Obtaining Materials Designed for Various Industrial
Purposes.
I, GEORGES LAUREAU Fils, of Quiberon, Morbihan, in the Republic of
France, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to the treatment of marine plants for obtaining materials
designed for various industrial purposes.
Marine plants are formed of a fibrous organic material which forms the
framework of the same and of gelatinous vesicles filled with saline materials.
After various treatments by acids and alkalies the fibrous material gives cellulose
and amylaceous materials.
The gelatinous vesicles give a pectic material insoluble in water, and acids
which according to the mode of operation form a kind of starch or horu or
shell.
The saline materials have potash as an alkaline base in the fucus digitatus and
saccharinus, soda in the fucus globulus serratus, and iodides and bromides in all
cases.
By my process for the rational and complete treatment I extract from marine
plants all the elements which they contain, and loose only the water with which
they are impregnated. I commence by removing the saline portion in order to lay
bare the organic part, not only for operating rationally, but also for giving to the
manufactured products all the properties desired for commercial purposes.
With fresh plants I obtain a greater yield and less coloured products than with
plants dried in the air where rain lixiviates them often; but for laying in a stock
of fresh plants I subject them to a first decomposition in the air, sheltered from the
weather. For this purpose the wrack must be washed in sea water at the coast or
in vessels in proximity to the sea, to free it from sand, if it is not reaped on rocky
strands, then sprinkled with water acidulated with 5 per cent. of sulphuric or hydro-
chloric acid, or preferably introduced into vessels containing acidulated sea water,
drained and afterwards put in a heap. When the wrack contains mixtures of
potassic or sodie plants it is expedient to sort or separate them and at the same
time cut off the thick stalks of leaves, if there are any, in order to be treated
separately.
The second treatment consists in passing the preserved sea-wrack already acidified
into vessels containing water acidulated with 5 per cent. of sulphuric acid or with
10 per cent. of hydrochloric acid, from one vessel to the other for a week allowing
it to drain a little after its removal from one vessel and its passage into the next,
then introducing it into vessels containing sea water or fresh water and allowing it
to drain completely before putting it in a heap, or lixiviating the wrack first with
acidulated water and terminating with sea water or fresh water. Under these
circumstances the sea wrack is freed from its saline part and is only a fibrous
framework impregnated with gelatine. The acid water saturated by the passages
of the wrack are filtered upon ashes of marine plants to neutralize them completely,
then successively evaporated and crystallized in order to extract therefrom the salts

page_text: or potash and soda and to obtain in the mother liquors iodine and bromine by the
ordinary processes.
With
The third treatment is effected upon lixiviated sea plants from which the salt has
been removed. It consists in dissolving the gelatinous material by alkalies, either
by the open fire or by steam in wooden vessels having a double bottom.
sodic carbonate the proportion to be employed is from 10 to 30 per cent. of the
lixiviated sea wrack, according to its kind and its state of desiccation, with a
proportion of water three or four times the weight of the de-salted sea wrack.
When ammonia is used it will be necessary to operate with essence apparatus
by which the fat of the bones is dissolved. The recovery of this alkali takes place
by simple distillation of the alkaline jelly.
Under the action of the alkalies, aided by heat, the gelatinous material of the
lixiviated sea wrack is dissolved immediately which is not obtained with sea wrack
in the natural state. The pasty mass is filtered in linen bags or in filter presses
and washed with fresh water, which serves with an addition of alkali for the other
alkaline operations. The sirupy liquid obtained marks from 5 to 7 degrees Baumé.
It is treated in wooden vessels by a mineral or organic acid which precipitates the
gelatinous material in the form of jelly or in that of coagulated albumen, or better
coagulated fibrine, according to the state of concentration of the liquor. When
very concentrated it gives a coagulum which forms into a single mass and assumes
the shape of the vessels or mould in which the operation takes place.
I may employ either nitric or sulphuric or bydrochloric acid and even carbonic
acid in concentrated solutions. Bleaching liquor and pyroligneous acid also give a
coagulum in this case.
By operating in the cold state with concentrated alkaline solutions on sea plants
little attacked by the acidulated water I obtain a material of horny appearance, but
which in contact with water swells much and takes again the natural state of the
material in the fucus and which has its use in pharmacy for cataplasm. By treating
the alkaline jelly with bleaching liquid before the employment of the acid, I may
also obtain an opaque white substance, which, well washed with fresh water, may be
used, like sea lichens, for finishing fabrics, and in the drug-trade.
By operating in the hot state upon plants lixiviated with acidulated water the
gelatinous material is transformed; it gives a material which does not assume its
natural state again by water and which when suitably pressed gives a material
having all the properties of the horn of animals. The fresh material is grey, more
or less dark, according as the wrack has been treated in a more or less fresh state,
but by desiccation and polishing it may be rendered more or less black according to
the sort of horn to be obtained. For rendering it a clear grey or little coloured I
add bleaching liquor to the dissolved jelly before the precipitation by the acid, or
pass a current of chlorine into the same. For obtaining it marbled or speckled like
shell combine decoloured jellies with undecoloured jellies, or add ochres or
derivatives of alkaline and press the whole together.
In all cases the products obtained break and are cut with difficulty, but can be
sawn, turned, polished easily and may be extensively used in the fancy turnery and
brush-making trades, and in the manufacture of buttons, toys and the like. They
replace economically horn, waxed leather and in certain cases shell and gutta-
percha. They may be obtained in the form of plates of great thickness, such
as 0.08 to 0-10 metres and more, and of large dimensions, such as 0.50 by
0.20 metres and more if requisite, for this is only a question of mould and
pressure.
The fibrous and amylaceous material which has remained on the filters is washed
with fresh water and has chloride of lime and a little sulphuric acid added to it.
Thus, according to the proportion of chloride and acid employed, 1 obtain a
material which has more or less long fibres and is more or less mineral. A separation
by the sieve is needful when it is desired to have the most fibrous material separated
from that which contains the amylaceous portion. The first has its use in the

page_text: manufacture of packing paper, cardboard, while the second may be employed
in the manufacture of ordinary pasteboard, statuary pasteboard and cellulose
mouldings.
The fibre pressed into the form of plates, treated by immersion, with linseed oil,
resin or other siccatives and exposed to nitrous vapours or introduced into con-
centrated sulphuric acid gives a waterproof material which is adapted for a great
number of uses.
Marine plants lixiviated by acidulated water, treated with alkalies, passed to the
sieve in order to separate therefrom the thickest parts, give a complex material
composed of fibre and dissolved gelatine, which, when treated with an acid, forms a
fibrous jelly. When washed and pressed this material gives plates suitable
especially for the manufacture of common buttons and toys. This gelatine and
fibrous material, when treated with bleaching liquor before the employment of acid,
gives plates less coloured than the preeling ones and more marbled. When
impregnated with siccative oil or dissolved indiarubber this substance becomes
waterproof, suitable in the whalebone industry which may derive great benefit from
the same as compared with buffalo horn, and in the shoe and boot making industry
which may use the same for soles.
The medium quantities of the various products obtained from 5000 kilogrammes
of dry marine plants which correspond to the production of a ton of soda obtained
by the burning of sea wrack are approximately
100
250
350
kg. of sulphate of potash
kg. of chloride of potassium
kg. of chloride of sodium
4.500 kg. of iodine
0.500 kg. of bromine
705.00 kilogrammes.
1000
3200
kg. of horn or horny material
kg. of fibre
4905 kilogrammes with about 95 kilogrammes of loss for waste
of various kinds in the treatment.
Improvements in and relating to the Treatment of Marine Plants
for Obtaining Materials Designed for Various Industrial
Purposes.
I, GEORGES LAUREAU Fils, of Quiberon, Morbihan, in the Republic of
France, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained,
in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the treatment of marine plants for obtaining materials
designed for various industrial purposes.

page_text: Marine plants are formed of a fibrous organic material which forms the
framework of the same and of gelatinous vesicles filled with saline materials.
After various treatments by acids and alkalies the fibrous material gives cellulose
and amylareous materials.
The gelatinous vesicles give a pertic material insoluble in water, and acids
which according to the mode of operation form a kind of starch or horn or
shell.
The saline materials have potash as an alkaline base in the fucus digitatus and
saccharinus, soda in the fucus globulus serratus, and iodides and bromides in all
cases.
By my process for the rational and complete treatment I extract from marine
plants all the elements which they contain, and loose only the water with which
they are impregnated. I commence by removing the saline portion in order to lay
bare the organic part, not only for operating rationally, but also for giving to
the manufactured products all the properties desired for commercial purposes.
With fresh plants obtain a greater yield and less coloured products than with
plants dried in the air where rain lixiviates them often; but for laying in a stock
of fresh plants I subject them to a first decomposition in the air, sheltered from
the weather. For this purpose the wrack must be washed in sea water at the
coast or in vessels in proximity to the sea, to free it from sand, if it is not gathered
on rocky strands, then sprinkled with water acidulated with 5 per cent. of sulphuric
or hydrochloric acid, or preferably introduced into vessels containing acidulated
sea water, drained and afterwards put in a heap. When the wrack contains
mixtures of potassic or sodic plants it is expedient to sort or separate them and
at the same time cut off the thick stalks of leaves, if there are any, in order to be
treated separately.
The second treatment consists in passing the preserved sea-wrack already
acidified into vessels containing water acidulated with 5 per cent. of sulphuric acid or
with 10 per cent. of hydrochloric acid, from one vessel to the other for a week
allowing it to drain a little after its removal from one vessel and its passage into
the next, then introducing it into vessels containing sea water or fresh water and
allowing it to drain completely before putting it in a heap, or lixiviating the wrack
first with acidulated water and terminating with sea water or fresh water. Under
these circumstances the sea wrack is freed from its saline part and is only a fibrous
framework in pregnated with gelatine. The acid water saturated by the passages
of the wrack are filtered upon ashes of marine plants to neutralize them completely,
then sucessively evaporated and crystallized in order to extract therefrom the
salts of potash aid soda and to obtain in the mother liquors ioline and bromine by
the ordinary processes.
The third treatment is effected upon lixiviated sc2 plants. It consists in
dissolving the gelatinous material by alkalies, either by the open fire or by stean
in wooden vessels having a double bottom. With sodic carbonate the proportion to
he employed is from 10 to 30 pret, of the lixiviated sea wrack, according to its
kind and its state of desiccation, with a proportion of water three or four times
the weight of the de--alted sea wrack.
When ammonia is used it will be necessary to operate with essence apparatus
by which the fat of the bones is dissolved. The recovery of this alkali takes place
by simple distillation of the alkaline jelly.
Under the action of the alkalies, aided by heat, the gelatinous material of the
lixiviated sea wrack is dissolved immediately which is not obtained with sea wrack
in the natural state. The pasty mass is filtered in linen bags or in filter presses
and washed with fresh water, which serves with an addition of alkali for the other
alkaline operations. The sirupy liquid obtained marks from 5 to 7 degrees B né.
It is treated in wooden vessels by a mineral or organic acid which precipitates the
gelatinous material in the form of jelly or in that of coagulated albumen, or better
coagulated fibrine, according to the state of concentration of the liquor. When

page_text: very concentrated it gives a coagulum which forms into a single mass and assumes
the shape of the vessels or mould in which the operation takes place.
I may employ either nitric or sulphuric or hydrochloric acid and even carbonic
acid in concentrated solutions. Bleaching liquor and pyroligneous acid also give a
coagulum in this case.
By operating in the cold state with concentrated alkaline solutions on sea plants
little attacked by the acidulated water 1 obtain a material of horny appearance,
but which in contact with water swells much and takes again the natural state of
the material in the fucus and which has its use in pharmacy for cataplasm. By
treating the alkaline jelly with bleaching liquor before the employment of the acid,
I may also obtain an opaque white substance, which, well washed with fresh water,
may be used, like sea lichens, for finishing fabrics, and in the drug-trade.
By operating in the hot state upon plants lixiviated with acidulated water the
gelatinous material is transformed, it gives a material which does not assume its
natural state again by water and which when suitably pressed gives a material
having all the properties of the horn of animals. The fresh material is grey, more
or less dark, according as the wrack has been treated in a more or less fresh state,
but by desiccation and polishing it may be rendered more or less black according
to the sort of horn to be obtained. For rendering it a clear grey or little coloured
I add bleaching liquor to the dissolved jelly before the precipitation by the acid,
or pass a current of chlorine into the same. For obtaining it marbled or speckled
like shell I combine decoloured jellies with undecoloured jellies, or add ochres or
derivatives of aniline and press the whole together.
In all cases the products obtained break and are cut with difficulty, but can be
sawn, turned, polished easily and may be extensively used for the manufacture of
receptacles of any kind also in the fancy turnery and brush-making trades, and
for replacing compressed saw-dust good and in the manufacture of buttons, combs,
boxes, vases toys and the like. They replace economically horn, waxed leather and
in certain cases shell and gutta-percha. They may be obtained in the form of plates
of great thickness, such as 0.08 to 0.10 metres and more, and of large dimensions,
such as 0.50 by 0.20 metres and more if requisite, for this is only a question of
mould and pressure.
The fibrous and amylaceous material which has remained on the filters is washed
with fresh water and has chloride of lime and a little sulphuric acid added to it.
Thus, according to the proportion of chloride and acid employed, I obtain
a material which has more or less long fibres and is more or less mineral.
A separation by the sieve is needful when it is desired to have the most fibrous
material separated from that which contains the amylaceous portion. The first is
used in the manufacture of packing paper, cardboard, while the second may be
employed in the manufacture of ordinary pasteboard, statuary pasteboard and
cellulose mouldings.
The fibre pressed into the form of plates, treated by immersion, with linseed oil,
resin or other siccatives and exposed to nitrous vapours or introduced into
concentrated sulphuric acid gives a waterproof material which is adapted for a
great number of uses.
Marine plants lixiviated by acidulated water, treated with alkalies, passed to the
sieve in order to separate therefrom the thickest parts, give a complex material
composed of fibre and dissolved gelatine, which, when treated with an acid, forms
a fibrous jelly. When washed and pressed this material gives plates suitable
especially for the manufacture of common buttons and toys. This gelatine and
fibrous material, when treated with bleaching liquor before the employment of acid,
gives plates less coloured than the preceding ones and more marbled. When
impregnated with siccative oil or dissolved indiarubber this substance becomes
waterproof, suitable for use in the whalebone industry which may derive great
benefit from the same as compared with buffalo horn, and in the boot and shoe
making industry which may use the same for soles.

page_text: of dry marine plants which correspond to the production of a ton of soda obtained
by the burning of sea wrack are approximately
100
250
350
kg. of sulphate of potash
kg. of chloride of potassium
kg. of chloride of sodiu.n
4.500 kg. of iodine
0.500 kg. of bromine
705.00 kilogrammes
1000
3200
kg. of horn or horny material
kg. of fibre
4905 kilogrammes with about 95 kilogrammes of loss for waste
of various kinds in the treatment.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. The herein described process for the treatment of marine plants character-
ized by the preservation of sea-wrack in the air or protected from the weather, by
means of soft water or acidulated sea water.
2nd. In the above described process the removal of the salts and products
soluble in water and acids, such as potash, soda, iodine bromine and the like and
the laying bare of the organic part by means of acid solutions so as to obtain a
material for further operations.
3rd. In the above described process the separation of unsalted lixiviated
sea-wrack from gelatinous and fibrous. material, by means of alkalies, either car-
bonated or not, with recuperation of the ammonia which has been employed, for
producing horny materials for fancy turnery articles, brushes, the manufacture of
combs, buttons, dolls, boxes, for replacing waxed leather, shells, gutta-percha and for
the sizing and diessing of fabrics, wool, cotton, linen or tulle, and adapted to be
used in pharmacy and medicine.
4th. In the above described process the treatment of the fibrous part by
decolouring chlorides or chlorine, and by sulphuric acid, by siccative oils for
producing materials adapted for the manufacture of cardboard, packing paper,
pasteboard, statuary pasteboard, hard cardboard, materials impermeable to water
and for replacing compressed saw-alust.
5th. In the above described process the manufacture of gelatinous and fibrous
plates for use in making common buttons, dolls, boxes, vases, and receptacles of
any kind, wood mouldings bent for replacing papier mâché and all manufacture-
of papier mâché and suitable for the manufacture of soles of boots and shoes.
Dated this 21st day of December 1894.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.