IMPROVED PAPER PULP
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Benton Gridley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1869.-A communication from abroad by John George
Holbrooke, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
I, JOHN BENTON GRIDLEY, of No. 1, Ingram Court, Fenchurch Street,
in the City of London, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED PAPER PULP," a communication, to be as
follows:-
The application of various plants to the production of pulp for the
manufacture of paper and papier maché has for years past commanded
considerable attention, for the reason that the consumption of these
materials has increased beyond the production of rags suitable for this
purpose. The desideratum has been to produce pulp suitable for the
manufacture of paper and papier maché at a cost less than that of its
production from rags. As it is well known that rags are textile fabrics,
those who have sought to obtain a cheaper substitute for such rags have
generally directed their attention to fibre-yielding plants, looking only

page_text: to the fibrous portion of the plants as suitable for the purpose. Straw,
corn husks, and such like plants have been applied to this purpose with
varying degrees of success, but as these materials are in demand for
other uses the production of pulp from them is not greatly more
economical than from rags. Therefore wood and other ligneous sub-
stances have finally been resorted to, and are now used to some extent.
These materials, however, as well as the fibre-yielding plants contain
proximate constituents, which require powerful chemical agents to
reduce them, and which in reducing them act upon and reduce the
strength of the fibres.
My Invention is based upon the discovery that the entire stalk (the
fibrous and ligneous portions and pith) of the okra plant (hibiscus
esculentus) can be applied to the production of pulp suitable for the
manufacture of paper and papier maché of the various qualities in
demand, and that this plant also yields the matter suitable for sizing
the paper. I have also discovered that this plant can be reduced to
pulp by the same process as that required for the treatment of rags,
without the necessity of resorting to the powerful chemical agents
required for the treatment of other plants heretofore applied to this
purpose, although it can be treated for the production of good pulp by
any of the processes which have been successfully applied to other
plants.
To enable those skilled in the art of making paper pulp or half stuff
to understand my Invention I will describe the mode of treatment
which I have adopted in practising the same. The stalks of the said
okra plant may be used for this purpose at any time after they arrive at
maturity, and a little experience will determine the most advantageous
time to collect them, so that they may be readily dried or cured and
reduced. The stalks are pulled up by the roots, or cut near the surface
of the ground, and left to dry in the sun, and then stacked on end in
the field for a few weeks; after being so cured the stalks should be
passed through a threshing machine, or otherwise treated to separate
from them the seeds, leaves, adhering soil, and any decayed portion;
the stalks may then be baled for transportation. The said stalks are
broken by any known breaking machine, and then boiled, and in all
respects treated according to the process for reducing rags to pulp, or
the process used for reducing straw. I prefer to pass the stalks through
a cutting machine, such as is used in paper mills.

page_text: Pulp for making coarse paper can be produced from the said okra
plant by simply breaking the stalks and working them in a beating
engine, without either the boiling or alkaline treatment; but for making
good strong paper and opaque paper the stalks after having been broken
and cut are boiled in water to dissolve the gum, which is separated
either by permitting it to settle at the bottom of the boiler, or by forcing
it out by a press. The gum thus separated should be preserved, to be
afterwards used for sizing the paper. After separating the gum the
mass is boiled for the usual number of hours in milk of lime, as in
treating rags, but preferably without soda. After this the mass is to be
treated in all respects as for making pulp from rags. The dissolved gum
which has been separated from the stalks may be prepared as other
sizing matter, and is applied to the paper when sized paper is required.
Good strong paper can be produced without separating the gum, but the
paper so produced will be translucent. Printing and writing paper is
required to be opague, and for the production of these classes of
paper it
is important to separate the gum, which can be afterwards applied
to the paper alone, or with other sizing matter without rendering it
translucent.