AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fraser, of Jermyn Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fraser at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th September
1855.
I, JAMES FRASER, of Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER " to be as follows:―
This Invention relates to a mode of treating straw, grass, salt hay, and
other vegetable substances, for the purpose of producing therefrom paper of
fine quality and possessing great toughness. For this purpose, a solution of
soda, lime, and common salt is prepared, and in it the vegetable substance is
steeped (the solution being either hot or cold, as convenience may dictate,) for
a sufficient time to macerate the fibres.
Instead of soda, pearlash or potash may be used; and instead of common
salt, Glauber's salt, or any of the chlorides, chlorates, sulphates, or sulphites,
may be substituted.

page_text: The fibre, when sufficiently acted upon by the above-mentioned chemical
matters, is then submitted to the operation of the pulp mill, whereby it is
reduced to pulp suitable for conversion into paper by the process ordinarily
employed for such purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FRASER, of Jermyn Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Fraser, Her special license that I, the said James Fraser, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Fraser, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF PAPER," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Fraser, 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 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 James Fraser, 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 (that is to say):-
66
An
In order to enable paper manufacturers to use this Invention of
Improvement in the Manufacture of Paper," which has been communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I will describe the process as carried on by

page_text: the Inventor, with the assistance of the machinery or apparatus of a paper
mill of the ordinary kind.
First, I prepare an alkaline lye as follows:-I take one pound of soda or
potash and dissolve it in about two gallons of water, and when dissolved I add
thereto about one pound of common lime. I prefer adding the lime in small
quantities, and keeping the mixture well stirred, so as to render the liquor
perfectly caustic. The soda or potash should, by preference, be dissolved in
boiling water, and it should be kept boiling for about an hour after adding
the lime. I then about half fill a vat with the liquor, above described, and to
every one hundred gallons of liquor I add about a quarter of a pound of
common salt (chloride of sodium). Then I place in the vat as much straw
in its natural state, or cut into short pieces, as the liquor in the vat will
thoroughly saturate, and I take care to have all the straw immersed in or well
covered by the liquor. The straw is then to be boiled in the liquor for from
three to four hours, or it may be steeped for from twenty to twenty-four hours
in cold liquor. I then take the straw out of the vat, and well drain from it
all the liquor, so as to prevent loss of the lye as far as possible; the straw must
then be well washed with water, and it will then be ready to be ground into
pulp in the ordinary pulping engine. It should be observed that it is desirable
to have the straw free from grain. In washing the straw, care must be taken
to allow the grains out of the straw to be carried away, so that they may not
be ground up with the straw into pulp. When the pulp is ground it will be
ready for making paper in an ordinary paper mill.
The liquor or lye above described may be used many times over by adding
from time to time, as its strength becomes exhausted by repeated charges of
straw, a highly concentrated caustic lyo, made as follows:-Take one pound
of soda or potash to about two or three quarts of water, and dissolve, as
above described; then add one pound of lime, and boil it, as above described.
By adding, when required, about twenty per cent., more or less, of this
concentrated lye, the liquor will be restored to its original strength, or
thereabouts. When by frequent use the liquor becomes too much charged
with gluten and other impurities, it may be purified by filtering it through
lime, and by the addition of the concentrated lye, before described, it may
be restored to its original state.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improvement in the Manu-
facture of Paper," which has been communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim, as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid,―

page_text: First, the employment of a caustic alkaline lye in combination with chloride
of sodium, as above described.
Second, I claim the mode, above described, or any mere modification thereof,
of restoring. the liquor to its original strength, by which I am enabled to use it
many times over
Third, I claim purifying the liquor after its frequent use by filtering it through
lime, as above described.
In witness whereof; I, the said James Fraser, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six."
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane...
"
JAMES FRASER. (L.B.)