IMPROVEMENTS IN THE . MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKING."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Charles Menzies, Valleyfield, in the
County of Mid Lothian, Scotland, Paper Maker, and Arthur Ellson
Davies, of Worcester, in the County of Worcester, England,
Analytical Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE .
MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Charles Menzies
and Arthur Ellson Davies at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th May 1872.
We, ROBERT CHARLES MENZIES, of Valleyfield, in the County of
Mid Lothian, Scotland, Paper Maker, and ARTHUR ELLSON DAVIES, of
Worcester, in the County of Worcester, England, Analytical Chemist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER MAKING," to be as follows :—
J
Our Invention relates to a new method or process of treating wood
and other fibrous materials in order to preparing and producing there-
from pulp for the manufacture of paper.

page_text: In treating wood for preparing pulp we proceed as follows:-We use
ordinary wood shavings, or reduce the wood to thin chips or filaments by
any ordinary means. These wood shavings, chips, or filaments are then
placed in an upright cylinder or upright cylinders (herein-after called
a "tower") composed of stone, wood, bricks, lead, or other substance
capable of resisting the action of chlorine gas, and (by preference) similar
in shape and construction to what is known in alkali works as a
" coke
tower." A current of water or steam is then passed down the tower so
as thoroughly to moisten the shavings, chips, or filaments. Thereafter
a slow current of chlorine gas is admitted into the tower, the current
being continued as long as the chlorine continues to be absorbed. By
employing a series of such towers in connection with each other, a
constant current of chlorine may be passed, the chlorine being admitted
in succession to each of the towers. After passing through and saturating
with chlorine the materials in one or more of the towers, the current of
chlorine may be shut off from any one of the towers while the others
are being emptied, and a new charge of wood admitted. The operation
will thus be continuous, and each tower will receive the chlorine first in
rotation. There must be so many towers as to ensure that the chlorine
is completely absorbed and none at any time escapes. After treatment
with chlorine as described a current of water or steam is again admitted
at the top of the tower in order thoroughly to wash out from the wood
the hydrochloric acid formed by the action of the chlorine. This hydro-
chloric acid may be used again in the manufacture of fresh chlorine or
for other purposes. This mode of passing of the chlorine in a continuous
current enables us to use dilute chlorine, such as is furnished by
Deacon's process, and which is much cheaper than strong chlorine
furnished by any process at present in use.
After being thoroughly freed from acid the wood which has been
treated, as before-mentioned, is boiled for about one hour simply under
atmospheric pressure in a dilute alkaline ley, in which the proportion of
pure soda does not necessarily exceed one hundred and forty pounds to
the ton of wood. The pulp is then bleached in the same manner as
fibrous substances used for paper making, such as esparto.
After the wood has undergone the processes above mentioned, it will
be found in the shape of a superior pulp suitable for paper making.
The advantages of our Invention as above described consist, inter alia
(first), in the ease with which it can be carried into effect; and (seconnd),

page_text: in the economical results it possesses over any other known method of
preparing wood and other fibrous materials, and manufacturing the same
into pulp for paper making, and in utilizing the hydrochloric acid
produced during the process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Charles Menzies and Arthur Ellson
Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th November
1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
CHARLES MENZIES, Paper Maker, Valleyfield, in the County of Mid
Lothian, Scotland, and ARTHUR ELLSON DAVIES, of Worcester, in the
County of Worcester, England, Analytical Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Robert Charles Menzies and Arthur
Ellson Davies, Her special licence that we, the said Robert Charles
Menzies and Arthur Ellson Davies, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Charles Menzies
and Arthur Ellson Davies, our 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER
MAKING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Robert Charles Menzies and Arthur Ellson Davies, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of
our, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Charles Menzies and
Arthur Ellson Davies, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our Invention relates to a new method or process of treating wood
and other fibrous materials in order to preparing and producing therefrom
pulp for the manufacture of paper.
In treating wood for preparing pulp wo proceed as follows:-We use
ordinary wood shavings, or reduce the wood to thin chips or filaments by
any ordinary means. These wood shavings, chips, or filaments, are then
placed in one or more upright cylinders (herein-after called a "tower")
composed of stone, wood, bricks, lead, or other substance capable of
resisting the action of chlorine gas, and (by preference) similar in shape
and construction to what is known in alkali works as a "coke tower."
A current of water or steam is then passed down the tower so as
thoroughly to moisten the shavings, chips, or filaments, or these may
be with equal or greater advantage completely submerged in water by
any convenient means. The shavings should be actually wet and not
merely damp while the chlorine gas is being applied to them, as after
mentioned. By this means we avoid the heating and consequent rotting
of the wood, which the action of chlorine gas in the dry state produces.
Thereafter a slow current of chlorine gas is admitted into the tower, the
current being continued as long as the chlorine continues to be absorbed
by the wet or watery mass. The chlorine gas is admitted at the bottom
of the tower and departs by the top, thus traversing the whole mass of
wood to be acted on; and this is the case whether the wood be completely
covered with water or not. By employing a series of such towers in
connection with cach other a constant current of chlorine may be
passed, the chlorine being admitted in succession to each of the towers.
After passing through and saturating with chlorine the materials in one
or more of the towers, the current of chlorine may be shut off from any
one of the towers while the others are being emptied and a new charge
of wood admitted, and the solution of chlorine obtained from the water
in which the mass of material has been submerged may be utilized to
saturate fresh quantities of wood to be acted on.
Inde
1
T

page_text: in which the same is to be performed, we append Drawings to which we
refer.
Figure 1 is a plan shewing four towers, A, B, C, and D, working in
connection with each other; and Figure 2 is a front elevation in section,
shewing two of these towers, A and B. The respective letters represent
the same parts of the apparatus in both Drawings.
d are doors for putting in the shavings at the top of the towers. 6 are
doors in the bottom of the towers for withdrawing the shavings after
treatment. These doors may be constructed of wood or iron lined with
lead, and to swing or slide, but they should be fitted as closely as possible,
and while the towers are in operation the doors should be closed in with
putty or other luto. P is a pipe from the chlorine still for supplying
chlorine gas to the towers. The still is not shewn in the Drawing. The
requisite quantity of materials should be put into the chlorine still, and
a whole charge of gas worked off into one of the towers each time the
gas is manufactured. E is a pipe of lead or clay which goes through
the top to the bottom of the tower, and while the gas is being applied to
any of the towers is connected by means of the connecting pipe C with
the chlorine supply pipe P. By connecting the pipe C with the pipe E
in cach of the towers in succession, the wood in each receives the
chlorine first in rotation. G is a pipe for conveying the surplus chlorine
gas from any one tower to another, after the wood in the former has
been saturated with chlorine. Thus by connecting G with the pipe E
by means of the connecting pipe H the surplus chlorine is conveyed
from the top of the one tower to the bottom of the next, and so on. The
chlorine thus traverses all the towers before it is allowed to escape. The
operation above described will thus be continuous, and each tower will
receive the chlorine first in rotation. The connecting and other pipes
used as above described may be made of lead, clay, or other suitable
material fitted to resist the corrosive action of the chlorine. The con-
nections between the several pipes will be made in the form of the
joints, as shewn, whereby the pipes are grooved into each other, and
the groove wherein the connecting pipe is inserted will be filled with
very moist putty or other luting, and the connecting pipe or tube pushed
down into it.

page_text: that if the shavings, chips, or filaments be wholly submerged in water
the towers may with greater advantage be made of much less depth and
oblong, so as to present as large a surface of water as possible to absorb
the chlorine gas. There must be so many towers as to ensure that the
chlorine is completely absorbed and none at any time escapes. After 5
treatment with chlorine as described, a current of water is again admitted
at the top of the tower in order thoroughly to wash out from the wood
the hydrochloric acid formed by the action of the chlorine. This hydro-
chloric acid may be used again in the manufacture of fresh chlorine or
for other purposes. This mode of passing of the chlorine in a continuous 1
current enables us to use dilute chlorine, such as is furnished by
Deacon's or Weldon's new process, and which is much cheaper than
strong chlorine furnished by any process at present in use.
After being thoroughly freed from acid the wood which has been
treated, as before mentioned, is then boiled for about one hour simply 1
under atmospheric pressure in a dilute alkaline ley, in which the
proportion of pure soda does not necessarily exceed one hundred and
forty pounds to the ton of wood; but we do not limit ourselves to this
quantity of pure soda, which may be increased up to two hundred
pounds with advantageous results. The pulp is then bleached in the 2
same manner as fibrous substances used for paper making, such as
esparto.
After the material has undergone the processes above mentioned, it
will be found in the shape of a superior pulp suitable for paper making.
The advantages of our Invention, as above described, consist, inter alia
(first), in the ease with which it can be carried into effect; and (second),
in the economical results it possesses over any other known method of
preparing wood and other fibrous materials, and manufacturing the same
into pulp for paper making, and in utilizing the hydrochloric acid pro-
duced during the process. We do not however claim the recovery and
utilization of this hydrochloric acid as part of our Invention, nor do we
claim the mere reducing of the wood to shavings, chips, or filaments, or
the moistening or submerging of such wood shavings, chips, or filaments
in water, by whatever means this may be done; but (with these
exceptions) what we claim as original and as of our Invention is, the
treatment of wood and of fibrous materials for the manufacture of pulp
for paper making, substantially in the manner or order and by the

page_text: means and apparatus herein-before described, or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Charles Menzies, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.