IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF FLAX AND OTHER LIKE STRAWS AND FIBROUS MATERIAL
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robert Dry of 25 Oriental Street, East India
Road in the County of Middlesex for an Invention of AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF FLAX AND OTHER LIKE STRAWS AND
FIBROUS MATERIAL
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Robert Dry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th March 1883.
"
JAMES ROBERT DRY of 25 Oriental Street East India Road in the County of
Middlesex AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF FLAX AND
OTHER LIKE STRAWS AND FIBROUS MATERIAL
"
According to my Invention I take flax and other like straws in a green or a dry
state and immerse them in a bath of cold water containing a mixture of borax and
black and yellow soap to soften the fibre. The bath is then brought to a boiling
point or near thereto and kept so for about 3 hours according to the quantity of
material under operation, this loosens the resin and other glutinous matter con-
tained in the fibre and causes them to dislodge themselves from actual contact.
When the straws are so treated they are removed and rinced in a hot solution of
soda to remove the saponaceous matter and then in clear cold water to rinse out
the soda.. The straws thus treated are then dried either artificially or by exposure
to the air previous to being broken and scutched.
The deposit of the first and also of the rinsing bath will be available as manure,
the liquor being useful for admixture with fresh baths for the treatment of fresh
straws.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Robert Dry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th September 1883.
JAMES ROBERT DRY of 25 Oriental Street East India Road in the County of
Middlesex AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATORY TREATMENT OF FLAX AND
OTHER LIKE STRAWS AND FIBROUS MATERIAL
The object of this invention is a special treatment of flax and other like straw
and fibrous material to clean it from vegetable resinous and glutinous matter.
According to my invention I take flax and other like straws or fibrous material
in a green or a dry state and immerse them in a bath of cold water containing a
mixture of borax and black and yellow soap to soften the fibre. The bath is then
brought to a boiling point or near thereto and kept so for about 3 hours according
to the quality of material under operation. The quantities of borax and soap will
depend upon the state, substance and nature of the fibrous body to be acted upon
say from 10 to 18 hundredweight to one ton of fibre This loosens the rosin
and other glutinous matter contained in the fibre and causes them to dislodge
themselves from actual contact
When the straws are so treated they are removed and rinsed in a hot solution of
soda to remove the saponaceous matter and then in clear cold water to rinse out
the soda
This cold water bath may contain a small proportion of sulphuric acid to
neutralize the soda and render the flax flacid. The flax is then rinsed in clear cold
water.
The straws thus treated are then dried either artificially or by exposure to the
nir previous to being broken and scutched.
The deposit of the first and also of the rinsing bath will be available as manure
the liquor being useful for admixture with fresh baths for the treatment of fresh
straws
Having now described the nature of my said invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed I declare that I claim
The special treatment of flax and other like straws and fibrous material as a
preparatory process as described
:
Secondly I claim the use or employment of a cold water bath containing borax
and black and yellow soap in suitable proportions to soften and act upon the fibre
for dislodging the impurities contained in them as herein before described.
In witness whereof I the said James Robert Dry have hereunto set my band and
seal this First day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-three
TAMBORER DRY (10)