IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF FIBROUS MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THE MANUFacture of PAPER AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED. THEREIN."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Routledge, of Ford Works, near Sunder-.
.
land, Paper Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE TREATMENT OF FIBROUS MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THE MANUFacture of
PAPER AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED. THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Routledge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th September 1870.
66
I, THOMAS ROUTLEDGE, of Ford Works, near Sunderland, Paper
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS, IN THE TREATMENT OF FIBROUS MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER, AND IN APPARATUS TO, BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a preparation of esparto grass, alfa, straw,
or other fibres or fibrous substances, or rags, to be employed in the manu-
facture of paper stock or paper and consists,―
Firstly. In the employment of a system of boiling and subsequent
washing or rinsing esparto, alfa, straw, or other fibrous materials or

page_text: rags, whereby the alkaline ley remaining with and in the fibres or
fibrous materials is separated, and is rendered available either for the
treatment of a fresh quantity of fibrous materials or for the economical
recovery of the soda or other alkali therein.
Secondly. In the employment of an improved system of bleaching,
effecting economy of bleaching materials and diminishing or reducing
their injurious or destructive action on the fibres or fibrous materials
treated, and the application of the same to the preparation of paper
stock or paper.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I conduct both the
preliminary boiling, and subsequent washing or rinsing processes in a
series of vessels of any convenient form, so arranged-as-to-be-heated-
from the bottom by exhaust or low-pressure steam, or by blind pipes
and high-pressure or superheated steam circulating therein, or by the
direct action of fire, and as it is desirable that circulation of the alkaline
leys be from time to time kept up during the boiling process, I prefer
employing the bowking or vomiting kier ordinarily used in the paper
trade, but with an improved arrangement adapted thereto herein-after
referred to. The series of vessels in which the boiling and washing
arrangement are performed are connected together by pipes furnished
with the necessary cocks, taps, or valves, in order to connect or dis-
connect each vessel as desired in such manner that by hydrostatic pressure
when the boiling is finished, and the spent leys discharged, rinsing is
commenced and clear water (hot by preference) being then run into
the top of the first vessel of the series, which is connected by a pipe
from under a false or perforated bottom to the upper portion of the
second vessel of the series, is forced or gravitated downwards, and then
upwards successively and continuously through eight or nine pans or
vessels, the eighth, or if more vessels are employed the last of the series
being connected by a return pipè with the first of the series, so that
the boiling and subsequent washing processes may be proceeded with
continuously. By this system the clear or rinsing water will be used
in each of the eight or more vessels consecutively, until it becomes
charged with or takes up the soda or other alkali left combined with
and in the fibre or fibrous materials in the pans after boiling, and the
resulting liquor will thus be concentrated, and may then be used for a
subsequent boiling process or run off to be evaporated, and the soda
recovered as with the effete or spent leys used for boiling in the first

page_text: instance. If desired, by arrangement of the connecting taps or valves,
the whole or any portion of the leys, which have been employed in any
one vessel of the series may be conveyed or forced into any other vessel
of the series, and employed again and again for boiling until neutralized
or fresh alkali added thereto in solution or otherwise until the leys
become too densely charged with extractive and coloring matters to be
effective..
The improved arrangement herein-before referred to adapted to the
bowking or vomiting kier is for the purpose of further economising the
soda or other alkali employed, and at the same time reducing the cost
of fuel for raising steam for boiling, and for the subsequent evaporation of
the spent or effete leys and recovery of the soda therefrom; this I effect
by admitting the steam for boiling into the kier immediately, under the
usual vomiting or circulating pipe, which is fixed, in the centre of the
kier and attached to the perforated false bottom thereof; by this direct
action of the steam, the free and continuous ascension and circulation.
of the leys over and through the fibrous material being treated is effected.
with less pressure or expenditure of steam,, less liquor is required, and
therefore the leys may be used in a much more concentrated form, and
thus increased in density or strength whereby less soda is required, the.
ley reduced in bulk, and the cost for evaporation of the spent leys much
economised,,it is desirable that the bonnet fitted over the vomit or puffing;
pipe should be adjustable, so as to control the flow and circulation of the
vomited leys according to the quantity of liquor used, as by this arrange-
ment from one half to two-thirds only of the quantity of liquor ordinarily.
employed is required..
In carrying out the second part of this Invention I propose to apply.
in the bleaching process the same system of circulation by hydrostatic.
pressure through a series of vessels as berein-before described for boiling.
and washing. As however all bleaching agents act injuriously more-
or less on metals producing metallic salts which would be prejudicial
to the bleaching process, such vessels. are preferably made of wood,,
altho other materials may be used, such as slate, brick, and cement
or stone. I employ, however, the bleaching solution so diluted that it
acts but very slowly on the wooden vessels, and the process is carried on
so gradually that the minimum of waste to the fibrous materials under
treatment by the destructive action of the bleaching agent is ensured,
and at the same time the fibres or fibrous material is thoroughly searched

page_text: up either to make the original bleaching solution or dilute the stock
liquor. The fibrous material is then drained and removed for use to the
ordinary paper paper or potching engines and reduced to pulp or converted
into paper, or if to be prepared for sale as paper stock treated as herein-
after described. The process is still continued in No. 2, 3, and so on in the
series of vessels, the last of which is connected by a return pipe to the
first of the series; by this continuous system of bleaching the whole
of the chlorine in solution is rendered effective, the solution as it passes
from No. 1 to No. 2, and so on thro' the series being slowly reduced in
strength only acts gradually on the fibrous material so long as it retains
bleaching power, and is only run away when by testing it is found to be
entirely exhausted. The chlorides and other salts formed while bleaching
pass forward by the continuous percolation and are thus innocuous, the
process at whatever point of color desired being finished with pure
bleaching solution and subsequent rinsing in clear water.
For the manufacture of paper stock I treat the esparto or other
similar fibres in the manner described, arresting the process however at
a stage when the bleaching action has only proceeded so far as not to act
upon the fibre so as to break up or alter its normal condition or form as
when introduced from the boiling and washing process. With this
view also I use much weaker solutions than when the fibrous material is
to be used direct for paper making or converted into pulp. A solution
of about 1° Twaddle being the best strength, and I arrest the operation
of bleaching when from one-half to two-thirds the full quantity of bleach
which would ultimately be required has been used. When this stage
is arrived at I fully rinse away all traces of bleach by clear water drains
and subject the fibrous materials to pressure, hydraulic or otherwise, to
abstract as much water as possible without injuring the normal structure
or form of the fibre which is then opened or teased out, removed to a
drying machine, dried and baled up for sale or use as described in the
Specification of my Patent No. 1855,0.
Fibrous materials such as straw, megass, or refuse sugar cane, dwarf
palm, lace or cannella bark, or similar fibrous material of a harsher
nature than esparto or alfa are preferably reduced or cut down, and
therefore the previously described process of bleaching entirely by
hydrostatic percolation must be assisted by agitation at intervals by
hand plunging or otherwise, so as to induce uniform action of the
bleaching solution on all the fibres, this action, however need not ha

page_text: continuous but only occasional while the connection is closed and per-
colation suspended between one vessel and the other of the series, and
thus such fibrous substances may be economically bleached for paper
stock and for paper with a saving both of bleach and power.
on the 13th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, TпомAS
ROUTLEDGE, of Ford Works, near Sunderland, Paper Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Routledge, Her special license
that I, the said Thomas Routledge, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Routledge, my exccutors,
administrators, or 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 the Treat-
MENT OF FIBROUS MATERIALS 'SUITABLE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND IN
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Thomas Routledge, my executors or administrators, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Routledge, 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.

page_text: My said Invention relates to the preparation of esparto grass, alfa,
straw, or other fibres or fibrous substances or rags, to be employed in
the manufacture of paper stock or paper and consists,-
Firstly. In the employment of a peculiar continuous system of
washing or rinsing esparto, alfa, straw, or other fibrous materials after
the same have been boiled, whereby the alkaline ley remaining with
and in the fibres or fibrous materials after the boiling process is separated
or extracted therefrom and is rendered available either for the treat-
ment of a fresh quantity of fibrous materials or for the economical
recovery of the soda or other alkali contained therein.
Secondly. In the employment of an improved system of bleaching,
effecting economy of bleaching materials and diminishing or reducing
their injurious or destructive action on the fibres or fibrous materials
treated, and the application of the same to the preparation of paper
stock or paper.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention I prefer to conduct
both the preliminary boiling (to which I lay no claim) as well as the
subsequent continuous washing or rinsing processes, which constitute
the main feature of the first part of my Invention, in a series of vessels
of any convenient form, so arranged as to be heated from the bottom
by the introduction of a jet of steam or by blind pipes, with high
pressure or superheated steam or heated air or water circulating therein,
or by the direct action of fire or other convenient means of heating, and
as it is desirable that circulation of the alkaline leys be from time to
time kept up during the boiling process, I prefer employing the bowking
or vomiting kier ordinarily used in the paper trade, but with a peculiar
arrangement adapted thereto herein-after referred to. The series of
vessels in which the boiling and washing arrangements are performed
are connected together by pipes furnished with the necessary cocks,
taps, or valves, in order to connect or disconnect each vessel as desired,
in such manner that by hydrostatic pressure, when the boiling is finished
and the spent leys have been discharged, rinsing is or may be commenced
and clear water (hot by preference) being then run into the top of the
first vessel of the series, which is connected by a pipe from under a
false or perforated bottom to the upper portion of the second vessel
of the series is forced or gravitated downwards and then upwards
successively and continuously through eight or more pans or vessels, the
cight, or if more vessels are employed the last of the series being connected

page_text: by a return pipe with the first of the series, so that the boiling and
subsequent washing processes may be proceeded with continuously. By
this system the clear or rinsing water will be used in each of the eight
or more vessels consecutively, until it becomes charged with or takes
up the soda or other alkali left combined with and in the fibres or
fibrous materials in the pans after boiling, and the resulting liquor will
thus be concentrated and may then be used in a subsequent boiling
process or run off to be evaporated and the soda recovered, as with the
effete or spent leys used for boiling in the first instance; at the termi-
nation of this washing process a cooling water is if desired run on to the
fibre which is then drained and ready for any of the subsequent processes..
If desired by arrangement of the connecting taps or valves the whole or
any portion of the leys which have been employed in any one vessel of
the series may be conveyed or forced into any other vessel of the series
-and-employed-again-and-again-for-boiling-until-neutralised,-or-fresh-
alkali added thereto in solution or otherwise, until the leys become too
densely charged with extractive and coloring matters to be effective.
The peculiar arrangement herein-before referred to adapted to the
bowking or vomiting kier, is for the purpose of further economising
the soda or other alkali employed, and at the same time reducing the
cost of fuel for raising steam for boiling, and for the subsequent evapo-
ration of the spent or effete leys and recovery of the soda therefrom;
this I effect by admitting the steam for boiling into the kier immediately
under the usual vomiting or circulating pipe which is fixed in the centre
of the kier, instead of introducing the steam through and to the bottom
of it by a downright pipe as heretofore generally practised; by this
direct action of the steam the free and continuous ascension and
circulation of the leys over and through the fibrous material being
treated is effected with less pressure or expenditure of steam. Less
liquor is required and therefore the leys may be used in a much more
concentrated form and thus increased in density or strength, whereby
less soda is required, the leys reduced in bulk, and the cost for the
evaporation of the spent leys much economised. It is desirable that the
bonnet fitted over the vomit or puffing pipe should be adjustable, so as
to control the flow and circulation of the vomited leys according to the
quantity of liquor used, as by this arrangement from one-half to two-
thirds only of the quantity of liquor ordinarily employed is required.
In carrying out the second part of this Invention I propose to apply
in the bleaching process the same system of circulation by hydrostatic

page_text: pressure through a similar series of vessels, as herein-before described,
for boiling and washing. As however all bleaching agents act injuriously
more or less on metals producing metallic salts, which would be pre-
judicial to the bleaching process, such vessels are preferably made of
wood, although other materials may be used, such as slate, brick, and
cement or stone. I employ, however, the bleaching solution so diluted
that it acts but very slowly on the wooden vessels, and the process is
carried on so gradually that the minimum of waste to the fibrous
materials under treatment by the destructive action of the bleaching
agent is ensured, and at the same time the fibres or fibrous material is
thoroughly scarched through and through by the hydrostatic percolation,
and effectually bleached to any pitch or standard, with the additional
advantage that the process may be arrested at any stage, and any degree.
of whiteness attained with certainty.
For bleaching I employ any agent now in use in the form of solution,
by preference, chloride of lime, as being the cheapest, but chlorinated
water, that is, water impregnated or imbued with chlorine gas, or the
hypochlorites of alumina, soda, or potash may be employed with inter-
mediate or finishing souring by sulphuric, muriatic, oxalic, tartaric, or
other mineral or vegetable acid as desired. The system of vessels or
series of vessels with their connecting pipes affording every facility for
varying the solutions at pleasure.
The strength of bleaching solution (chloride or hypochlorite of lime, for
instance) I employ for esparto, alfa, straw, or similar fibre is from one-half
to three degrees of Twaddle, that is, from half an ounce to four ounces of
chloride line of commerce to each gallon of water. This solution made
up to the desired strength in a stock vessel is run therefrom into No. 1
vessel of the series, and the esparto or other fibrous material taken from
the boiling pans in which it has also been washed or rinsed, and if found
desirable subjected to pressure to abstract the excess of water is shaken
into and distributed therein by hand or other convenient method. I
may here state that the most convenient size of vessel (to which, how-
ever, I do not confine myself) is one about seven feet square and five
feet six inches in depth, furnished with a false bottom composed, by
preference, of perforated earthenware tiles or perforated slate. A vessel
of this size contains conveniently ten hundredweight of boiled esparto or
similar fibrous material. When No. 1 vessel of the series has been
charged with the fibrous material connection is opened from under the

page_text: false bottom through the connecting pipe to the top, of No. 2 of the series,
and fresh solution being run into No. 1, No. 2 is gradually filled, and
this vessel is also then charged with boiled and washed, and, if desired,.
pressed material, and so on, each vessel being charged successively, and
when the desired pitch of color is attained in No. 1 vessel its connection
with No. 2 is shut off, and the solution from No. 1 pumped by a pump
attached to the pipe connecting the series of vessels into No. 2 vessel,.
which then, so to speak, becomes No.. 1 of the series, and when No.. 1
is emptied of liquor and the fibrous material therein drained, clear water
is admitted, which arrests the action of the bleaching agent; this
water need not be wasted, but still being slightly charged with bleaching
power is pumped up either to make the original bleaching solution or
dilute the stock liquor. The fibrous material is then drained and
removed for use to the ordinary paper or potching engines, and reduced
to pulp or converted into paper, or if to be prepared for sale as paper
stock treated as herein-after described..
The process is still continued in No. 2, 3, and so on in the series of
vessels, the last of which is connected by a return pipe to the first of
the series. By this continuous system of bleaching the whole of the
chlorine in solution is rendered effective, the solution as it passes from
No. 1 to No. 2 and so on through the series, being slowly reduced in
strength only acts gradually on the fibrous material so long as it retains
bleaching power, and is only run away when by testing it is found to
be entirely exhausted, the chlorides and other salts formed while bleach-
ing pass forward by the continuous percolation and are thus innocuous,
the process at whatever point of color desired being finished with pure
bleaching solution and subsequently running in clear water.
For the manufacture of paper stock I treat the esparto or other
similar fibres in the manner described, arresting the process however at
a stage when the bleaching action has only proceeded so far as not to
act upon the fibre so as to break up or alter its normal condition or form
as when introduced from the boiling and washing process. With this
view also I use much weaker solutions than when the fibrous material
is to be used direct for paper making or converted into pulp a solution
of about one degree Twaddle being the best strength, and I arrest the
operation of bleaching when from one-half to two-thirds the full
quantity of bleach which would ultimately be required to produce a
high pitch of color when manufactured into paper has been used. When

page_text: this stage is arrived at I drain the fibres and then fully rinse away all
traces of bleach by clear water, again drain and subject the fibrous
material to pressure, hydraulic or otherwise, to abstract as much water
as possible without injuring the normal structure or form of the fibre,
which is then opened or teazed out by hand or suitable machinery,
removed to a drying machine, dried and baled up for sale or use as
described in the Specification of my Patent No. 1855, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine..
Fibrous materials such as straw, megass, or refuse sugar cane, dwarf
palm, lace or canella bark or similar fibrous material of a harsher
nature than esparto or alfa are preferably reduced or cut down, and
therefore the previously described process of bleaching entirely by hydro-
static percolation must be assisted by agitation at intervals by hand
plunging or otherwise, so as to induce uniform action of the bleaching
solution in all the fibres. This action, however, need not be continuous
but only occasional, and while being proceeded with the connection is
closed and percolation suspended between one vessel and the other of
the series, and thus such fibrous substances may be economically
bleached for paper stock and for paper with a saving both of bleach and
power.
The teazing out or willowing process may be applied to the esparto
or other fibres or fibrous substances after they have been boiled and
washed, and if desired pressed before they are subjected to the bleaching
process, so as to render their fibrous structure more homogeneous or
regular. They may also be dried in that condition without bleaching
for economy of space in carriage, leaving the bleaching process to be
completed by the paper manufacturer when received by him.
The subsequent drying of the paper stock may be very materially
assisted by driving a blast of heated air through the willowing or
devilling machine, while the fibre or fibrous substances are being opened
or teazed out if they are desired in that form or condition, but I consider
esparto preferably retained in its normal condition when being bleached.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,

page_text: First. The mode or method of economising the alkali in the leys
used in the treatment of esparto. grass and other fibrous substances, by
the employment of a continuous system of washing or rinsing by hydro-
static percolation, as herein-before described.
Second. The adaptation of the same system to the process of bleaching
esparto grass and other fibrous substances, as and for the purpose. herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Routledge, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March Qne
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.