IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, of Usk Road, New Wandsworth,
in the County of Surrey, Practical Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.'
"
Sealed the 6th December 1872, and dated the 7th June 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1872.
I, THOMAS GRAY, of Usk Road, New Wandsworth, in the County of
Surrey, Practical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," to be as follows:-
I make a solution of hydrochloric or muriatic acid and water in the
proportion of about two liquid ounces of acid to one gallon of water, and
I put the Diss, or Algerian grass, esparto, jute, palm leaves, or other
fibrous vegetable substance which is to be treated into such solution,
and allow it to steep or soak therein for a few hours to loosen the
silicious, mucilaginous, and other extraneous matters, and I then boil

page_text: it in the solution at boiling point; but I prefer the boiling to be at
about two hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit for about four hours,
and then continue the boiling for another four hours at boiling point.
I then remove it from the above solution and boil it in the known
caustic or alkaline solution used by paper manufacturers for about four
to six hours, it is afterwards well washed in clean water and bleached
in the ordinary way for pulp for paper making.
I have for convenience specified the acid by the names by which
it is generally known; but inasmuch as there are chemical equivalents
for various substances and preparations, I claim the right to use such
equivalents instead of the acid above named, and also the right to
increase or decrease the proportions of ingredients in the solution first
mentioned, or either of them, and the period of steeping and boiling,
as the strength of the acid or its equivalents as purchased and the
toughness of the fibres of different plants greatly vary.
My Invention is applicable also to the various other vegetable sub-
stances capable of vielding fibre for pulp for paper making.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, of Usk Road, New Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey,
Practical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Gray, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Gray, 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

page_text: Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF TREATING
VEGETABLE FIBRES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Gray, 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
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Gray, 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 Thomas Gray, 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 :-
I make a solution of hydrochloric or muriatic acid and water, in the
proportion of about two liquid ounces of the acid to one gallon of water,
and I put the sedge, which is also known as Diss or Algerian grass,
esparto, jute, palm leaves, or other fibrous vegetable substance which
is to be treated into such solution and allow it to steep or soak
therein for a few hours to loosen the silicious, mucilaginous, and other
extraneous matters, and the process will be facilitated by having the
vegetable substances passed between rollers to bruise or crush them
before they are so soaked, and I then boil it in the solution at boiling
point; but I prefer the boiling to be at about 210 degrees Fahrenheit
for about four hours, and then continue the boiling for about another
four hours at boiling point; or the substance may be soaked in a cold
solution of hydrochloric acid and water for about the same length of
time; but when I use the cold solution I add rather more hydrochloric
acid to the water than when I boil the substance. I then remove
such substance from the solution and boil it in the known caustic or
alkaline solution used by paper manufacturers for about four to six hours
or eight hours, and for that purpose I use about fifteen pounds of the
caustic to each hundred weight of the substance so prepared, it is
afterwards well washed in clean water, and which may be conveniently
done in an ordinary rag engine, and the subsequent bleaching may be
facilitated by adding to the water in which the substance has been
so washed sulphuric acid, in the proportion of about half a pint to
one hundred weight of the substance, and having the substance agitated

page_text: or rotated therein for about ten or fifteen minutes. It is then removed
and bleached in the ordinary way for pulp for paper making.
I have used a solution of sulphuric acid and water instead of the
solution of hydrochloric acid and water for soaking the vegetable
substance in the first instance.
I have for convenience specified the hydrochloric acid by the names
by which it is generally known, but inasmuch as there are chemical
equivalents for various substances and preparations I claim the right
to use such equivalents instead of the acid of commerce above named,
and also the right to increase or decrease the proportions of ingredients
in the solution first mentioned, or either of them, and the period of
steeping and boiling, or either of them, as the strength of the acid or
its equivalents as purchased, and the toughness of different vegetable
fibres greatly vary.
My Invention is applicable also to the various other vegetable sub-
stances capable of yielding fibre for pulp for paper making.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not claim any of the ingredients taken separately; but that I claim
as my Invention the use of hydrochloric acid and its equivalents, as the
essential ingredient or ingredients in the means of treating vegetable
fibres for the manufacture of paper, as herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
THOMAS GRAY. (L.S.)