IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PAPIER MÂCHÉ, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Gillman, of Twickenham, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PAPIER MÂCHÉ, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM
CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 26th January 1855, and dated the 1st August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Gillman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
August 1854.
I, EDWARD GILLMAN, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, PAPIER MACHÉ, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM
CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention has reference to the utilizing the fibrous parts of the
leaves of certain exotic plants, herein-after to be specified, by a mode of treat-
ing them to produce a pulp suitable for the manufacture of paper, papier
maché, and other similar articles, such as have heretofore been manufactured
from pulp produced from other vegetable substances, as imitation ivory and
japan ware, suitable to the making of tea caddies, trays, and other articles of
domestic furniture. And the plants from which I obtain the said pulp are
natives of New Zealand, and called in the language of the country, koreri,
girgir, & ti, the first of which is the phormium tenax, & the last a plant of the

page_text: dracaena kind; the girgir is a parasitical plant, of which the fruit is called
taff'ra. And the mode in which I obtain the pulp is by crushing or grinding
the fibrous leaves of the above-mentioned plants, after removing, if it be found
expedient, the thin outward cuticle, by any suitable contrivance.
I claim the employment of the above-mentioned plants for the production of
a pulp suitable to the purposes herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Gillman in the Great Seal Patent: Office on the
1st February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GILLMAN, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her. heirs. and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Gillman, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Gillman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Gillman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all tinies thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, excr-
cise, 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, PAPIER MACHÉ, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES FROM
CERTAIN.. VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Edward Gillman, by an. instrument in writing under my.. hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Edward Gillman, 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 (that is to say) :-
21.
My Invention (which has for its object the production from.the fibrous parts

page_text: of certain exotic plants of a pulp applicable to the manufacture of paper of all
descriptions, pasteboard, cardboard, millboard, papier mâché, and such other
similar substances as have been or may be employed, as imitations of ivory or
japan ware for making trays, tea caddies, picture frames, and other similar arti-
cles of domestic furniture.) has reference to the utilizing for the said purposes, by
means of the processes and apparatus herein-after to be described, or by means
of such other processes and apparatus as may be found desirable, of a material
obtained from the leaves, stalks, and fibrous portions, or from any of such por-
tions singly, of certain plants herein-after to be mentioned; which plants may
be employed for the said purposes cither singly or in conjunction one with
another, or with other substances which have hitherto been employed for
similar purposes, or which it may be found desirable to employ for the same.
And the plants from which the said raw material is intended to be derived are
plants indigenous to New Zealand; the first of the said plants being that which
is called the phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax, and in the language of
the country, koreri; the second being a running or creeping plant, called
giagia; and the third, a plant of the dracaena kind, called ti.
But in order that these ny said improvements may be more fully under-
stood and readily carried into effect, I will now proceed to describe in detail
the modes in which I prefer to select and prepare the above-mentioned
materials for each of the aforesaid purposes..
And, firstly, the mode in which I obtain and prepare a pulp suitable for the
manufacture of the coarser sorts of paper, which are commonly employed in
packing, and for the manufacture of millboard, cardboard, and pasteboard of
all descriptions. I obtain the raw material of the pulp to be employed for
these purposes from the entire leaves of either of the varieties of plants herein-
before mentioned, or of two or more in conjunction. And to effect this object,
I first cause the leaves of the said plants to be collected and dried, and then to
be chopped or cut into a kind of chaff, either by hand, which will be found the
most effective operation, or by any description of machinery or apparatus which
has been hitherto employed or may be found suitable for such a purpose; and
the said chaff must then be subjected to the operations of grinding and, pulping
by any of the methods heretofore in use. The pulp will require to be washed, in
order to take out a portion of the coloring matter of the leaves, and the more
thoroughly this operation is performed the brighter will be the color of the
paper produced. The whole of the aforesaid operations to be performed on the
pulp may be assisted by boiling the said pulp in soft water, or in a solution of
potash, or lime, or carbonate of soda, commonly termed washing soda, or by
steeping it in a similar solution, which may be treated by steam.
.1

page_text: My improvements refer, secondly, to the manufacture of the finer sorts of
paper, such as are employed for writing, drawing, printing, or engraving, and
for these purposes it is necessary to employ a pulp obtained from the fibrous
portions of the plants, without using the entire leaves; for which object, it is
necessary carefully to decorticate or strip the said leaves of their outer peel
or cuticle.
I proceed to describe the mode or modes in which I prefer to have the said
operation performed, but would first remark, that the leaves I employ may
occasionally be obtained in the required state of decortication from the natives
of New Zealand, who are accustomed to subject them to this process in pre-
paring them for the production of certain fabrics in use among themselves.
When the entire leaves are employed, they should be stamped, bruised, or
pounded, either by hand or through the intervention of any suitable mechanism,
and then macerated in soft water for the space of one week or more; the
immersion should take place, if possible, in a running stream, but where that
is not practicable, a pit or tank may be substituted. The bruised leaves will
then be in a fit state for boiling or steaming in soft water, or in a solution of
washing or carbonate of soda, or other alkaline substance, by means of which
the maceration will be rendered more perfect; a solution of thirty-five to fifty
pounds of common washing or carbonate of soda in one ton of water will
answer the purpose. The operation of boiling or steaming the leaves should
be continued during from two to six or eight hours, as may be found necessary
to produce the desired effect. The leaves having undergone this operation will
require to be again pounded, bruised, or stamped, as before, and should then be
rewashed; the alternate operations of bruising and washing should be con-
tinued until the cuticle and the pulpy matter of the leaves are entirely carried
away. The fibre, being thus comparatively purified, will be rendered fit for
pulping after it has been subjected to the operation of bleaching, which may
readily be performed by first macerating the said fibre for a week or more,
by exposing it in receptacles provided with suitable openings to the action
of a running stream, by which nearly all traces of coloring matter will be
eradicated, and by subsequently exposing the said fibre to the action of the
atmosphere, by distributing or spreading in out over the surface of a field, yard,
or other suitable open situation, where it should be occasionally moistened with
water, and turned over, to expose every portion to the atmosphere. The above
operation will nearly complete the bleaching of the fibre, which will be thereby
rendered fit for drying and housing, till such time as it is required for use.
Before the fibre is submitted. to the operation of pulping it must be bruised,
beaten, or dusted; for the purpose of clearing it from every remaining particle

page_text: that might yet adhere to it from the cuticle. The fibre, having been thus purified
from all extraneous matter, may be chopped into suitable lengths, in the manner
of chaff, either by hand or by any suitable machinery or apparatus, and may be
steamed or boiled, if necessary, for some hours in soft water or in an alkaline
solution, after which it may be bleached, by the use of chlorine or other chemical
preparations at present in use, and ground or pulped in the ordinary method.
The operations subsequent to the decortication of the fibre may be performed
before or after the material is brought to Europe, and if the pulp is to be
shipped in a raw state, it may be compressed into blocks or moulds of suitable
dimensions for packing, and dried in that form. The pulp obtained by the
above processes from the New Zealand plants herein-before mentioned, may
be applied to the manufacture of paper, either by hand or machinery, and may
not only be employed singly, but combined with the pulp obtained from rags,
old paper, paper clippings, and various other materials hitherto employed in
the manufacture of paper. Papier mâché and other similar substances, which
have been or may be employed for the imitation of ivory or japan ware, may
be manufactured by the ordinary processes from the pulp obtained from the
above-mentioned plants, by employing the fibrous portions separately, in the
manner herein-before set forth and described. The coarser sorts of papier
mâché thus produced may be colored and japanned in the ordinary method;
but the kinds which it is desirable to employ for imitation of ivory, being pro-
duced from the finest descriptions of pulp, will require no coloring matter, but
simply the application of a transparent colorless size or glue. The fibres will
also be found valuable for the manufacture of carton pierre, or statuary paste-
board. It may be remarked, that if the pulp obtained either from the fibrous
portions or from the entire leaves of the plants should be found to receive any
detriment from the alkaline solutions applied to either description, as under
the corresponding heads of my Invention, the alkaline clement of the said
solutions may be neutralized by the employment of an acid, after which the
pulp should be carefully washed in pure water.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would
have it clearly understood that I do not by any means intend to confine myself
to the precise details herein-before described and set forth, as the same may be
varied without departing from the general character of these my said improve-
ments; but that which I do claim as new and of my said Invention is,-
Firstly, the employment of the leaves or fibrous portions of the plants
herein-before mentioned, namely, the phormium tenax, or New Zealand flax,
the running or creeping plant, called giagia, and the species of dracaena,

page_text: called ti, for the production of pulp for the manufacture of paper, papier
mâché, cardboard, pasteboard, millboard, carton pierre, and other similar
substances.
And, secondly, the treatment of the above-mentioned raw material, in the
manner and for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Gillman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
EDWARD GILLMAN. (L.S.)
Witness,
FRED R. D. CAMPBELL,
.Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon & Co.,
77, Chancery Lane.