IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Critchett Bartlett, of Ampthill Square,
Hampstead Road, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER."
Sealed the 26th January 1858, and dated the 10th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Critchett Bartlett
•
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th November 1857.
I, HENRY CRITCHETT BARTLETT, of Ampthill Square, Hampstead Road,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of paper,
and consists in adding to the paper pulp, wheat, rice, potato, or other starch,
which is mixed with the paper pulp without previously dissolving the starch,
Cor bursting the starch globules by the application of hot water. Previously to
using the starch for this purpose, I very gently heat it, while dry, in a pan for
a short time, and sometimes I expose it previously to the action of nitrous
acid fumes; by preparing the starch in this way, it produces a better effect
than when it is used without preparation. The paper made from pulp to
which this addition has been made, is passed, while in a green state, over steam

page_text: cylinders, or is otherwise heated, and this process produces a change in the
character of the paper, giving body to it, and causing it to become tough and
less absorbent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Critchett Bartlett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th May 1858.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CRITCHETT BARTLETT, of Ampthill Square, Hampstead Road, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Critchett Bartlett, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Critchett Bartlett, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, or such, others
as I, the said Henry Critchett Bartlett, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Henry Critchett Bartlett, 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 Henry Critchett Bartlett, 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 thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of paper,
and consists in adding to the paper pulp, wheat, rice, potato, or other starch,
which is mixed with the paper pulp without previously dissolving the starch;
or bursting the starch globules by the application of hot water. Previously to

page_text: using the starch for this purpose, Ivery gently heat it while dry in a pan for?
a short time, and. sometimes I expose: it previously to the action of nitrous
acid fumes; by préparing the starch in this way it produces a better! effect>
than when it is used without preparation. The paper made from pulp, to which
this addition has been made, is passed while in a green state over steam
cylinders, or is otherwise heated, and this process produces a change in the
character of the paper, giving body to it, and causing it to become tough and
less absorbent.
ta bal
And in order
er that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which I
prefer to conduct the manufacture..
The starch which I have found most suitable for use according to my
Invention, is what is known in commerce as maize starch, but other starch,
of which the globules or vesicles are for the most part of small size, may
be employed. I place the starch in a sieve or other similar reticulate vessel,
and under the bottom of the sieve or other vessel I arrange a small basin
containing commercial nitric acid, which is then heated by means of a lamp
underneath, until it gives off fumes copiously; and in order to confine these
fumes, and to compel them to pass up amongst the starch, the sieve and the
basin containing the acid are enveloped in a thick cloth, this operation I
continue for about 7 minutes, and afterwards I transfer the starch to a con-
fectioner's pan, heated underneath by a charcoal or other fire in the ordinary
manner, and while in the pan the starch is kept constantly in motion to prevent
scorching; towards the end of the process samples of the starch are with-
drawn from the pan, and are subjected in a suitable small metal basin to an
increased heat; if the starch quickly changes color, and becomes clammy, the
operation as regards the main quantity has been carried sufficiently far, the
object being to submit it to as high a heat as it will bear without changing
color and becoming clammy; if this change commences, the process has been
carried further than it should be to obtain the best result. When the starch
is cool, I reduce it to as fine a powder as possible, and mix it with about four
times its weight of cold water, and strain it first through a coarse linen cloth
of somewhat open texture, and afterwards through a flannel bag; in this
manner all the larger starch globules are prevented from passing through.
The liquid, with the suspended starch, I mix with the pulp in the chest, in the
proportion of about one part of the starch liquid with four or five parts of
pulp, which must then be kept constantly in motion until it comes on to the
machine. The paper is made in all respects in the ordinary manner. It will

page_text: be found that the starch causes the pulp to retain the water for a longer
period, so that the fibres become interlaced more completely than would
otherwise be the case in passing over the steam cylinders, the starch becomes.
glutinized, and gives strength to the water leaf, also it causes it to absorb less.
animal size in the sizing operation, and to dry more quickly.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Critchett Bartlett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
HENRY CRITCHETT BARTLETT. (L.S.)