CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MANUFACTURING PAPER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Stiff, of. Brixton Hill, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MANUFACTURING PAPER."
Sealed the 15th August 1853, and dated the 15th February 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Stiff at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1853.
I, GEORGE STIFF, of Brixton Hill, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING PAPER" to be as follows
(that is to say):
My Invention, which is applicable to the manufacturing of paper
from straw, grass, or any other vegetable fibre, has reference to the
maccration of such fibre, which I effect by the employment of a solution
of lime, in place of other solutions heretofore employed for this purpose.
And the manner in which I prefer to carry out this process is as
follows: After the fibre bas been boiled for about an hour in water, I
place it in a solution of lime, using about one pound of lime for every

page_text: pound of fibre, and in this solution I leave it for about four or five
days, during which it will be thoroughly macerated. I then reboil the
fibre in water, adding a suitable quantity of soft soap, for about the
space of one hour, during which it will be cleansed and thoroughly
separated from the lime. I then subject the macerated and purified
fibre to the usual processes for paper making.
The advantages of my Invention are derived from the great economy
effected by employing solution of lime. And in carrying out my
Invention, I would have it clearly understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein-before given, but that which I claim
as new and of my said Invention, is the substitution of a solution of
lime for other solutions heretofore employed for the maceration of
straw and other vegetable fibre in the manufacture of paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said George Stiff in the Great Seal 'Patent Office, on
the 15th August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE STIFF, of Brixton. Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Stiff, Her especial licence that
I, the said George Stiff, my executors, administraters, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Stiff, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said. George Stiff, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inveni-
tion, 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 George Stiff, 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
the following statement, that is to say:
My Invention for Improvements in the Manufacture of Paper, which
lias reference to the treatment of various vegetable substances, to be
advantageously employed in the formation of the pulp or body of the
paper, has for its object to effect a greater economy and simplicity in
the process generally, and to produce readily and expeditiously a
description of paper applicable to all desired purposes. Before entering
into further details respecting the practical results of my improvements,
and the peculiar mode or modes in which they are to be worked and
carried out, it will be necessary to observe that I am aware that
numerous vegetable substances have been heretofore employed in a raw
or manufactured state for composing the pulp from which the paper is
made, and it is with this understanding that I proceed to describe the
methods which I employ, that is to say, of the various descriptions of
materials heretofore employed in the manufacture of paper. I make
use of straw or grass; gunney bagging and hemp bagging, preferring,
however, the employment of straw. In the case were straw, grass, or
vegetable fibre of any similar kind is employed, the first process I make
use of in carrying into practice my said improvements, is to cut the
said straw of fibre into lengths of about half an inch, which may be
done in a chaff-cutting machine, or any similar apparatus heretofore
employed for the purpose; after which I winnow the said straw or
fibre by any suitable contrivance, in order to separate the knots and
other portions of the fibre which could not be readily reduced to the
consistency of pulp. I then cause the said straw or bibre thus prepared
on the gunney bagging, or hemp bagging, after having been suitably
prepared, to be placed in a boiler or vessel together with a sufficient
:

page_text: quantity of clear water to cover the said fibre or other material, and
there boiled for the space of one or two hours. The said boiler or
vessel being furnished with a partition or draphragm, finely perforated
or composed of gauze or similar material, through which the water may
be drained off from the fibre or other material, and carried away
through a release pipe, which is provided in connection with the lower
surface of the boiler or vessel. After this process, the fibre or other
material is to be immersed in lime water, in the proportion of about onc
hundred weight of lime water to every hundred weight of material, and
to remain so immersed for the space of about twenty-four hours, the
mixture being occasionally stirred. After the expiration of this time,
the lime water is to be drained off, and a fresh solution poured on,
which is again drained off as before; and after this operation has been
continued during about three days, the fibre or other material is to be
placed in water to which alkali has been added in the proportion of
about ten pounds of alkali to every hundred weight of water, and to be
boiled for the space of two or three hours, after which time the alkali
and water is to be drained off in the manner herein-before set forth
and described. After the fibre or other material has been thus treated,
I cause it to be washed and bleached in the usual manner for bleach-
ing rags; that is to say, by running it into tanks or vessels with a
quantity of chlorine or bleaching powder, sufficient to bleach it to that
degree of whiteness which is required for the quality of paper to be
made. After being thus bleached, the straw or other fibre or material
may be washed and beaten and reduced to pulp or half stuff in the
usual manner, and the said pulp or half stuff' converted into such paper
as shall be required by the processes heretofore in use.
Having now fully described the nature of my said improvements,"
and in what manner I prefer carrying the same into effect, I would
have it clearly understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein-before described, as the sanie might be varied without
departing from the general principle of my said improvements. But that
which I do claim as new, and of my said Invention, is, the substitution
of lime water for other alkaline solutions heretofore employed in the

page_text: maceration of straw, grass, or other vegetable fibre, or gunney bagging,
or hemp bagging, used to form the pulp or half-stuff in the manufacture
of such descriptions of paper as are produced from the aforesaid
materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Stift, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
of such descriptions of paper as are produced from the aforesaid
materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Stiff, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE STIFF. (L.S.)