IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ROBERT D'HARCOURT, of King William Street, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Fifteenth
day of August, in the second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Robert
D'Harcourt, Her special licence, full power, and privilege and authority, that
I, the said George Robert D'Harcourt, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Robert D'Harcourt, my exors, admors, or
assigns, shall at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said George
Robert D'Harcourt, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference thereunto being had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Robert D'Harcourt, declare that the nature of my said invented

page_text: improvements, and the manner in which the same are to be performed, are
fully set forth and explained in the following description thereof, that is
to say:-
I take the leaves and stalks of the aloe, the sheaths or covering leaves of
the fruit or ear of the maize, otherwise Indian corn, the leaves and stalks
of the rice plant, also the bines or stems of the hop plant, the common field
bean, the scarlet and French bean, the stalks or stems of the asparagus and
potatoe plant, and all stalks, leaves, and bines of similar vegetable sub-
stances. I take them when in a state of maturity, except in the case of
the aloe, which is always fit for use. I place them in classes in open tanks
or other suitable vessels, and expose them for some days to the action of cold
soft water, until, by maceration, the glutenous matter between the fibres
becomes thoroughly soft and ready to be decomposed and separated. During
cold weather, in lieu of the above, I effect the same object by fermentation
accelerated by the application of heat of at least one hundred and twenty
degrees of Fahrenheit. The next step I take is to effect a separation of the
glutenous matter from the fibres by pressure in suitable presses. This being
done, I take the fibrous matter, place it in covered metal cauldrons, and
expose it to the action of steam generated in a proper boiler. I put into the
boiler a mixture of lime and oil, not being fish oil, and no more oil than will
bind the lime into a strong paste, the proportion of such paste to the fibres
being as five to one hundred in weight. I then admit the steam into the
cauldrons, having a common agitator to work within either perpendicularly or
horizontally. By this operation, to continue in action for an hour or more
as may be requisite, the cleansing of the fibres from all remaining impurities,
and the bleaching thereof, is effected at the same time. I then remove the
matter so cleansed and bleached, and wash it well by beaters in cold soft
water; after which I extract the moisture, and form it into suitable masses
for use.
It is then to be submitted to the process of trituration as rags are,
and converted into paper by the same means. By the above process, and by
and out of each of the vegetable substances above mentioned or referred to,
and by and out of their combinations according to the quality or strength for
which the paper is wanted, with or without the admixture of rags, I make
paper of all qualities and kinds for all the various purposes for which paper is
made and used; and I claim the particular process, herein described, "of
preparing, purifying, and bleaching the several vegetable substances above
enumerated or referred to, the greater part of which have never hitherto been
employed in the manufacture of paper, and the combination of the said several
vegetable substances for the purposes of making an improved paper of different

page_text: qualities. And such my said invented improvements being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, never heretofore used in this country, I declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise,
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to
my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Robert D'Harcourt, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
GEORGE ROBERT (L.s.) D'HARCOURT..
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named George Robert D'Har-