IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP FOR PAPER, AND FOR CONVERSION INTO TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Duff at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th August
1870.
I, CHARLES DUFF, of Bournemouth Road, Peckham, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FIBROUS SUBSTANCES TO BE USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP FOR PAPER, AND FOR CONVERSION INTO TEXTILE
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
:—
This Invention relates to improvements in the treatment of certain
fibrous substances for the manufacture of paper pulp for paper, parch-
ment, or vellum, or for the manufacture of textile fabrics.
I am aware that it has heretofore been suggested to use bamboo for
the manufacture of paper and other fabrics, and therefore there is no
novelty in the mere application of bamboo for such purposes; but the
processes hitherto adopted or suggested for the conversion of bamboo or
other analogous cane have been found to be practically useless.

page_text: Bamboo has been treated in the first instance by chemical processes
in order to extract the resinous ingredients, and to reduce the cane
towards a fibrous condition ready for scutching, breaking, and carding,
but by my Invention I propose to subject the bamboo cane primarily to
a mechanical treatment.
I propose to take bamboo, cut when about from twelve to fifteen
months old, and to subject the same to the operation of any suitable
crushing machinery; I then further propose to compress the fibres so
crushed by means of hydraulic or other pressure, so that the material
_may_be_packed tightly and in a comparatively small compass for con-
venient transport, which cannot be otherwise done in any considerable-
quantity, and by which means the knots are made to form part of the
fibre, and used simultaneously as such. To remove the silex from the
bamboo I subject the particles to the action of hydrofluoric acid in a
heated state, by preference, diluted as required; or I inject among the
particles a current of hydrofluoric acid gas. The crushed material is
subsequently to be immersed in a caustic or other alkaline solution,
which may afterwards be forced through the material by steam pressure,
or otherwise, in sufficient quantity to produce a defined color as may
be required, according to the amount of solution used. By these
means I utilize the bamboo as grown, including knots and all waste,
which are subjected simultaneously to the same process; or the material
may be treated according to any ordinary methods employed in treating
various fibres for the manufacture of paper.
The alkaline process, the acid process, bleaching, mixing with rags or
other materials, boiling, and other manipulations incidental to the treat-
ment of fibre and pulp may be carried on by any of the well-known
means, and the bamboo or other analogous cane crushed in the first
instance, and treated in the manner described, will form a very superior
base or material for the manufacture of paper pulp and paper. By
dilute sulphuric or other acids this paper can be converted into vegetable
parchment and vellum of a superior character.
In order to convert the fibre into a textile fabric for spinning,
weaving, and other manufacturing purposes, I propose to treat the
fibre as follows:-I put the same into a boiler hermetically sealed, or
open if required, within which steam is caused to enter, with or without
alkali or other chemicals; in about six or eight hours it will be cleaned

page_text: and washed, and the gelatinous, gummy, and resinous matters separated,
and the fibre left clean and disintegrated, to be afterwards dried and
passed through or subjected to a machine suitable for reducing it into
the state for carding, spinning, or weaving.