THE PREPARING OR MANUFACTURING OF THE LEAP OF A CERTAIN PLANT 80 AS TO PRODUCE A FIBROUS SUBSTANCE NOT HITHERTO USED IN MANUFACTURES, AND ITS APPLICATION TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
BURT ZINCKE the younger, of Crawford Street, Marylebone, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of December, in the seventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Burt Zincke, His especial licence that I, the said Frederick Burt
Zincke, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick
Burt Zincke, my exors, admňors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time, and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention,
"THE PREPARING OR MANUFACTURING OF THE LEAP OF A CERTAIN PLANT 80 AS
TO PRODUCE A FIBROUS SUBSTANCE NOT HITHERTO USED IN MANUFACTURES, AND
ITS APPLICATION TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Frederick Burt Zincke, by an

page_text: instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Burt Zincke, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists, firstly, in preparing or manufacturing the leaf of the plant commonly
called the pine apple, by bruising, beating, washing, and drying the same in
such manner as to separate the long fibrous parts from the cuticle, pabulum,
and other matter composing the said leaf; and, secondly, in the application of
the fibrous substance so prepared to various manufactures and purposes for
which silk, flax, cotton, hemp, wool, and other fibrous materials are now used.
And further, I describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be per-
formed by the following statement:-
For the purpose of preparing fibre, I cut the leaves from the pine apple
plant at any period from the time of their attaining their full growth till the
ripening of the fruit; for I find that if the leaves are taken before they are
full grown, the fibre is less strong; and if they were suffered to remain upon
the plant after the ripening of the fruit, the fibre becomes harsh, and is more
difficult to divest of the extraneous matter. The small thorns having been
trimmed from the edge of the leaves with a sharp knife, the leaves are to be
crushed and bruised so as to disengage the fibre from the other matter of
which the leaf is composed, for which purpose the employment of a wooden
mallet upon a block of wood will fully answer the intended purpose. This
process of crushing and bruising is to be continued until the fibre, which
previously lay concealed and embedded in the leaf, appears in an assemblage of
long silky filaments, with more or less of the pulpy and other matter of the leaf
adhering to them; to cleanse them from which they are to be well rinsed out
in soft water immediately after having been crushed and beaten, and then
the water should be immediately squeezed out of them by drawing them
between the edges of two pieces of wood placed parallel to each other, so as to
admit of the fibres being drawn out rather tightly between them, for if the
green matter is allowed to dry on the fibre it becomes more difficult to
cleanse; the washing must be carefully performed, so as to prevent the fibre
from becoming tangled or knotted. This operation of washing or rinsing
must be repeated until the fibre be completely cleanser. If it be found
difficult to clean the fibre from the extraneous matter, in consequence of not

page_text: collecting the leaves from the plant sufficiently early, or from any other cause,
the operation will be facilitated by boiling the fibre, after it has been beaten
and partially cleansed, in a solution of soap in soft water. For this purpose
the fibre must be regularly disposed in any suitable vessel, so as to prevent its
becoming tangled, with sufficient water to cover it, in which soap has been
dissolved in the proportion of about five pounds of soap to fifty pounds of fibre,
a
light weight being then placed upon it to keep the fibre beneath the surface
of the liquor; the whole is then to be boiled for the space of three or four
hours, and after boiling, to be well rinsed out in soft water and squeezed, as
before directed. The fibre having been cleansed by these processes, is to be
gradually dried in the shade, and occasionally shaken out, so as to prevent the
too close adhesion of the filament in drying, which would otherwise take place.
The fibre may be obtained free from the extraneous matter of the leaf by
other modes, but I prefer that which I have above described.
As to the second part of my said Invention, it is only necessary to observe
that from the superiority of this fibre in several respects over those now in
common use, it is adapted to a vast number of purposes in which fibrous
materials are now employed; it is of a glossy white color, it receives dyes with
facility, it possesses great strength, and is divisible to an exceeding degree of
fineness, for, upon examination, each filament that appears a single fibre is, in
fact, a bundle of very delicate fibres adhering more or less strongly together.
These qualities render it applicable to the manufacture of shawls, drills,
damasks, linens, plushes, carpets, rugs, lace, bonnets, paper, as a material for
rope, twine, or thread, and a variety of other purposes to which silk, cotton,
flax, hemp, wool, and other fibrous materials are now applied. As a material
for spinning in the ordinary method in which flax is now spun through
hot water, this fibre requires to undergo the process generally in use for
bleaching flax. I find the period at which the bleaching can be most
conveniently performed is when the fibre is in the state called technically "a
roving;" for the coarser yarns the first stages of the bleaching process will be
sufficient, but the process must be carried further in proportion to the fineness
of the yarn intended to be spun. The effect of the bleaching upon the fibre is
to disengage part of the adhesive matter which connects the fine filaments
together, and render the yarn susceptible of elongation between the receiving
and delivering rollers in spinning, after it has passed through the hot water.
I therefore claim as my Invention, the preparing and manufacturing into
the fibres herein-before particularly described the leaf of the plant commonly
called the pine apple, by any mode or modes of preparation, and also the
application of the said fibres, when prepared and manufactured, to the several

page_text: purposes herein-before also particularly specified, the same being to the best of
my knowledge new and not heretofore practised.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Burt Zincke, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.