A CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRÉSENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BROWN, of Esk Mills, in the Parish of Pennycuick, North Britain, Paper
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth;
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of May, in the sixth year of His
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
six, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Brown, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said James Brown, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Brown, my executors, adminis
trators, or assigns, should 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, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING
PAPER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
shid James Brown, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His 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 being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
James Brown, do hereby declare, that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of A certain Improvement or certain Improvements in Machi-
nery or Apparatus for Making Paper, has for its object a better and more perfect
application of a vacuum under the endless wire cloth or web of paper making
machines, for the purpose of more effectually withdrawing the water from the
paper pulp as it passes from the pulp vat to the couching roller, or to that
part where the sheet of partially drained or dried pulp is taken up from the
web to be pressed or squeezed by rollers, to expunge the remaining portion
of water, in order that the said sheet of partially dried pulp may be in a better
state for the rolling or pressing operation, and also the texture of the paper
improved. And I would here remark, that I am aware a vacuum has been
heretofore applied to various paper making machines, and more particularly
to that description of machine called cylinder machines, or rotary machines,
in which the endless wire web or cloth is passed around a cylinder or drum
which revolves with the said endless web, the vacuum being applied on the
inside of such cylinder in various ways; but in all instances the box or chamber
in which the vacuum is formed, and over which the endless web passes, carry-
ing the paper pulp, has been invariably covered with some kind of perforated
lid or cover intervening between the interior of the box and the under side of
the endless wire web or cloth, and impeding the effective operation of the
vacuum; whereas my present improvements apply more particularly to the
horizontal or Fourdrinier paper making machine, in which the endless wire
cloth or web is passed in, over, or along a horizontal table formed by small
supporting rollers, the pulp being partially drained as it passes along over
these small rollers from the pulp vat to the couching roller, and consists in
applying the vacuum in a box or chamber under such horizontal wire cloth or
web without any cylinder, and more particularly without any perforated cover-
ing or lid intervening between the said box or chamber and the under side of
the side wire web, the wire cloth passing over the otherwise open box with the
paper pulp, when it is equally and at all parts affected by the vacuum, without
its operation being interrupted by any perforated lid or cover, or other inter-
vening substance.
And in order that my Invention may be better understood, I have hereunto

page_text: annexed a sectional diagram, Fig. 1, of the operative parts of a Fourdrinier
machine, with my improvement applied thereto. a is the spout or part from
which the paper pulp (shewn by a blue line) flows on to the endless wire
cloth or web b, b, b, (shewn by a red line) supported by the small rollers c, c, c,
and passed over the usual supporting and tension rollers d, d, to the couching
roller c, from which the pulp passes in the ordinary manner. f is the box or
chamber in which the vacuum is formed, placed directly under the endless
wire web, and supported in any convenient manner, several of the usual small
rollers being removed to make room for it.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of the box detached from the machine.
Fig. 3 is a cross section.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the same; 9, 9, are the sides and ends of
the box, the top edge of which should be covered with leather for the endless
web to pass over. h is the pipe or passage for the exit of the air and water
drawn through the wire web by the air pump; or this pipe may be connected
to the condensing chamber i, when a vacuum may be formed by condensing
steam therein, as is well known to all practical men, the condensed steam,
air, and water being drawn off by the pipe or passage k. In order to make
paper of different widths or sizes, the box or the space over which the endless
web passes exposed to the action of the vacuum, must be capable of being
enlarged or contracted so as to prevent the air being drawn through any part
of the endless web which is not covered by paper pulp. In order to effect
this, I propose to construct the box or chamber with two small sliding pieces
or shutters 1, 1, placed at the ends of the box, and next the under side of the
endless wire web, and by moving these slide pieces or shutters outward or
inward the open space over which the endless web and pulp passes, exposed
to the action of the vacuum, may be enlarged or contracted at pleasure, and
the vacuum made to act upon a greater or less width of the paper pulp.
And in conclusion I would remark, that I do not mean or intend to claim
as my Invention the application of a vacuum to all kinds of paper making
machines, as I am well aware that the same has been repeatedly applied to
this purpose in cylindrical or rotary machines, or those in which a rotary
cylinder is employed; but I do claim as my Invention the application of the
same to the horizontal web or wire cloth of a Fourdrinier machine, in the
manner herein described (that is to say), without the intervention of any
cylinder, or any other thing intervening between the open space of the box
or chamber in which the vacuum is produced, and the endless web or wire
cloth which carries the paper pulp. At the same time I would remark, that

page_text: proper arrangements must be made to support the wire web if thought
necessary.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
of Edinburgh.
ROBERT PILLANS,
Of 28, York Place, Edinburgh,
Recedentor.
This is the deed poll or parchment writing referred to in the declaration
of J. W. Thornton hereunto annexed, marked
(A).
I, William Thomas Thornton, of No. 58, Upper Berkeley Street, Portman
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, do solemnly and sincerely
declare, that Robert Davidson is one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace
acting in and for the County of Edinburgh; that I am acquainted with the
character and manner of handwriting of the said Robert Davidson, and that
the name or signature "Robert Davidson," and the words "one of His
Majesty's Justices of Peace for the County of Edinburgh," set and subscribed
to the deed poll or parchment writing hereunto annexed, purporting to be the
Specification of James Brown, of A certain Improvement or certain Improve-
ments in Machinery or Apparatus for Making Paper, taken and acknowledged
at Edinburgh, the Seventh day of November, instant, and marked A, is of

page_text: 66
the proper handwriting of the said Robert Davidson. And I make this
solemn declaration, conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by
virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the sixth year of the
reign of His present Majesty, intituled "An Act to repeal an Act of the
present Session of Parliament, intituled An Act for effectual Abolition of
"Oaths and Affirmations taken and made in the various Departments of
State, and to substitute Declarations in lieu thereof, and for the more
"entire Suppression of voluntary and extra Judical Oaths and Affirmations,
"and to make other Provisions for the Abolition of unnecessary Oaths.
"