IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Audemars, of Lausanne, Switzerland, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Audemars at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
February 1855.
I, GEORGE AUDEMARS, of Lausanne, Switzerland, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND TREATING
VEGETABLE FIBRES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in obtaining fibres from the bark of the mulberry
tree and other trees of the genus morus. When the tree is in full vigour, the
young branches are cut off and stripped of their bark, which is made into
bundles and soaked in boiling water, which causes the outer bark to separate
easily from the inner bark, which contains the fibre. This inner bark is to be
boiled with carbonate of soda, and afterwards with a solution of soap, and then
washed in hot water acidulated with nitric acid, and dried by pressure; after-
wards the fibre is to be soaked in a mixture of ammonia and alcohol, and
bleached by chloride of lime, or otherwise.
The fibre thus obtained may be hackled, combed, or carded, and then spun

page_text: like colton; or it may be converted into an explosive compound by the action
of nitric acid, and then dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether, then mixed
with a solution of caoutchouc, and drawn out into fiue threads or filaments.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Audemars in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, GEORGE
AUDEMARS, of Lausanne, Switzerland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Audemars, Her special licence that I, the said George Audemars,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said George
Audemars, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND
TREATING VEGETABLE FIBRES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the
said George Audemars, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said George Andemars, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in obtaining fibres from the bark of the mulberry
tree, and other trees of the genus morus. When the tree is in full vigour, the
young branches are cut off and stripped of their bark, which is made into
bundles and soaked in boiling water, which causes the outer bark to separato
easily from the inner bark, which contains the fibre. This inner bark is to be
boiled with carbonate of soda, and afterwards with a solution of soap, and

page_text: then washed in hot water acidulated with nitric acid, and dried by pressure;
afterwards the fibre is to be soaked in a mixture of ammonia and alcohol, and
bleached by chloride of lime, or otherwise.
The fibre thus obtained may be hackled, combed, or carded, and then spun
like cotton; or it may be converted into an explosive compound by the action
of nitric acid, and then dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether, then
mixed with a solution of caoutchouc, and drawn out into fine threads or
filaments.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method of cultivation
which I prefer, and also more minutely the manner of obtaining the fibre from
the bark, and the manner of employing the same.
At the time of the year when the sap is down, and the tree is not in vigour
the young branches of the mulberry, which should be from two to three feet
long, are cut and planted at distances of about six feet apart, in the same way
as vines are planted. From the stocks thus obtained, the young shoots are cut
when they are in full vigour, the bark is stripped off by hand and is made
in bundles of about eight pounds weight each, and the bundles are soaked in
boiling water until the outer bark becomes easily detachable from the interior
bark, which contains the fibre. When this is the case, the bundles are
removed from the boiling water, and the exterior bark is stripped from the
interior bark by hand. This interior bark, which contains ordinarily ten or
twelve per cent. of fibre, is to be treated as follows:-It is again made into
bundles and boiled in a solution of borate of soda, or carbonate of soda may be
used, but I prefer to use the borate, in the proportion of one pound of borate
and twenty pounds of water to each eight pounds of raw bark operated upon.
After three or four hours, the bundles are removed from this solution and
placed in another vessel, containing a solution of soft soap, in which the boiling
is continued during two or three hours longer, and I use one pound of soap
to eight pounds of fibre; at the end of the time above mentioned the bundles
are waslied several times in hot water, and then in water acidulated with one
quarter of its bulk of nitric acid; when the washing process is complete, the
water is separated as much as possible by pressure to to prepare the bark for
the following operation:-Amixture is made consisting of alcoholandammonia,
in the proportions of one part of alcohol of thirty-six degrees Beaumé to one
part of ammonia of twenty-two degrees Beaumé, and in this mixture the
bundles are soaked during twenty-four hours, to dissolve the gummy matters
which adhere to the fibres.
I would remark that the mixture of alcohol and ammonia may be used

page_text: several times successively, but it should be filtered after each use before being
again employed.
The fibre when removed from this mixture is pressed dryand then bleached
by chlorine or otherwise, as other fibres are ordinarily bleached. When the
bleaching has been carried to the extent required, the fibre is dried by exposing
it to the air in the shade during two or three days; when dry, it is softened
by beating, in the same way as flax istreated, and it is afterwards heckled fine
and treated like flax. A lustre may be given to the yarn by the same means
as the appearance of silk is improved, viz, by exposure to the vapour of water
or by sulphuring.
Another part of my. Invention consists in converting the fibre into an
explosive compound, and dissolving it in alcohol and ether, used in equal
proportions, in the manner in which collodion is ordinary prepared for photo-
graphic and other purposes. I then take caoutchouc and divide it into small
pieces, and purify it by soaking it in liquid ammonia, then it is dissolved in
ether, using ten parts of ether to one of caoutchouc, and it is then mixed with
the collodion. Into the mixture thus prepared a steel point is dipped, and thus
a thread is drawn from the surface of the liquid; this thread is connected with
a winding machine, by which it is drawn out until the liquid is exhausted.
The thread thus obtained is worked in the same manner as may be used as
a substitute for silk.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Audemars, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness.
ROSENBERGER, FRERES.
G. AUDEMARS. (L.S.)