IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTICLES OF PAPER
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harcourt Brown, of Abbey Mills, Romsey, in
the County of Hants, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTICLES OF PAPER."
Sealed the 20th March 1868, and dated the 24th September 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Johu Harcourt Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th September 1867.
I, JOHN HARCOURT BROWN, of Abbey Mills, Romsey, in the County of
Hants, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTICLES OF PAPER," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the incorporation of animal substances
with vegetable fibres in the production of paper, and thereby give greater
strength thereto, especially to papers composed of straw, wood, esparto and
other grasses, as well as to cotton, linen, and other fibres of which the
varieties of paper are generally composed; also to avoid the tub and other
surfacial sizing. To effect these objects I employ either skins or refuse,
parts of skins, or other animal substances from which glue and size, are
generally made and having cleansed them from all foreign and impure matters
by washing, scraping, and similar means. I then cut them into shreds and beat
them into as thin a tissue as possible by means of suitable machinery, having
soaked them in.the first instance for some days in a caustic alcholine solution.
After reducing them into thin tissues I mix them in certain proportions with.
the various vegetable fibres while they are in a state of half stuff. (a technical.

page_text: term well known to paper makers) when the vegetable fibres are being
reduced to pulp in the rag or beating engines and treat the mass in the
same manner as fibres are treated in the manufacture of paper. The
quantity of animal matters incorporated with the vegetable fibres are
governed by the quality and purposes for which the papers are intended.
From 5 to 20 per cent. of animal matters may be introduced into any of
the straw, wood, esparto or other grasses, and cotton, linen, or other fibrous
matters of which paper is or may be made.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Harcourt Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARCOURT BROWN, of Abbey Mills, Romsey, in the County of Hants,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant untō
me, the said John Harcourt Brown, Her special licence, that I, the said
John Harcourt Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Harcourt Brown, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to timeė
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 THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND ARTICLES
OF PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Harcourt Brown, my execlitors 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 sanie 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 John Harcourt Brown, do hereby
leclare 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 :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object the incorporation of animal substances
with vegetable fibres in the production of paper and thereby give greater
strength thereto, especially to papers composed of straw, wood, esparto and
other grasses, as well as to cotton, linen, and other fibres of which the
varieties of paper are generally composed; also to avoid the tub and other
surfacial sizing. To effect these objects I employ either skins or refuse,
parts of the skins of buffalo, bull, ox, cow, calf, or other animal substances
from which glue and size are generally made, and having cleansed them from
all foreign and impure matters by washing, scraping, and similar means I
then cut them into shreds and beat them into as thin a tissue as possible in
a paper maker's beating engine or other suitable machinery, having soaked
them in the first instance for some days in a caustic solution or bath com-
posed of 100 parts of cold water, 10 parts of soda, and 30 parts of quicklime;
from this they are removed, washed, and passed into the beating engine, and
after reducing them into fine pulp similar to that of which paper is made I
mix them with the pulp of straw, wood, esparto, cotton, linen, and other
fibres in the proportions of from five to ten per cent. of the animal fibres
to 100 pounds of the straw, wood, esparto, cotton, linen, and other fibres,
according to the quality and strength of the paper required; I then intro-
duce the mixture into the paper makers' rag or beating engines, and treat
the mass in the same manner as fibres are treated in the manufacture
of paper, forming it into sheets as paper is made and by the same machinery.
The quantity of animal matters incorporated with the vegetable fibres may
be more or less according to the strength of the paper required, and is
governed by the judgment of the manufacturer and the purposes for which
the papers are intended. When more than 20 pounds of skin fibre is
incorporated with the vegetable fibres the drying cylinders must be kept at
about 75 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit or the sheets will be liable to great con-
traction; when under these proportions 100 or even 110 degrees of heat
may be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harcourt Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN HARCOURT BROWN. (L.S.)