IMPROVEMENTS PREPARATION OF PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ibotson, of Wraysbury, in the County of
Bucks, Paper Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
PREPARATION OF PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER."
IN THE
Sealed the 19th May 1865, and dated the 22nd November 1864.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ihotson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd May 1865.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Ibotson, Her special licence that I, the said William
Ibotson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the
said William Ibotson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
THE PREPARATION OF PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that 1, the said William thotson, my, executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
IN
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ibotson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
My Invention refers to the washing, breaking-in, bleaching, and beating of
rags, and other fibrous materials employed for the manufacture of pulp, and
consists in passing the pulp continuously from one engine roll to another, or
from one part of an engine roll to another part of the same roll, or from an
engine roll to the machine through plates provided with slits similar to
knotter plates, or between bars placed side by side with an opening or slit
between them, as sometimes used in knotters.
In carrying out my Invention, I prefer to arrange a series of washing
engines in such manner that the rags or fibrous materials may be passed by
ther from one to another through plates provided with slits, or between bars,
as just mentioned, the slits being finer in engine No. 2 than in engine No. 1,
finer still in engine No. 3, and so on, and while the rags are fed into engine
No. 1 at one end of the series, and passed through in the manner described
in one direction, 1 admit a stream of water impregnated with chlorine gas
into the engine No. 4, 5, or 6, as the case may be, at the other end of the
series, and pass it through in the opposite direction.

page_text: The knotter plates or bars should be placed in knotters with outlets, as
described in the Specification of Letters Patent, granted to me 3rd March
1864, No. 542, so that the stuff being thrown into the knotter by the action
of the roll, the finer portion will pass through the slits to the next engine,.
while the coarser portion is returned through the outlets to the same engine.
It is obvious that when the rag passes through the knotter or strainer plate
a large quantity of water will pass through with it, which must be separated
from the rag before the rag is passed on to the next engine. This may be
effected by passing the rag and water into a small cylinder, formed like the
apparatus known as Bertram's save all, and lined in the same way with
machine wire, the rag stuff will pass through the cylinder into the next engine
(say, No. 2), while the water passes through the wire, and is returned to
engine No. 1. It will be easy to pass the water impregnated with chlorine
gas through the series of engines in the opposite direction to the stuff by means
of the ordinary wire revolvers and strainers. In this way the work of a number
of washing engines is performed with the waste of one, and the bleaching is
effected at the same time without any waste of bleach, as all its strength will
he exhausted after it has passed through 3 or 4 engines. This method will
also enable paper makers to use chlorine gas instead of a solution of chloride of
lime, without the usual waste and nuisance. The rolls should be fixed by the
attendant so as to produce the best results, each roll being fixed nearer
the plate than the preceding one; the passing of the rag stuff under a suc-
cession of rolls so fixed, the passage being regulated by the knotter plate, slits
will not fail to accomplish good results. The stuff may be allowed to pass out
of the last of the above-described washing engines into the first of a somewhat
similarly arranged series of beaters from one to the other, of which it passes
through plates provided with slits, or between bars, as before mentioned, the
slits in each succeeding plate being finer than those in the plate immediately
preceding, and the slits in the last plate being sufliciently fine to pass through
it only stuff which has been beaten fine enough for the paper machine.
is necessary that the water should be introduced into one of the series of
beaters, say, beater No. 3, and be thrown back by the revolvers through
beaters No. 2 and No. 1 into the last washing engine, where the chlorine
should be introduced, and carried back with it through the series of washing
engines. In this manner the stuff will be purified from the chlorine after
that has done its work. By this process of washing, bleaching, and beating,
the amount of labour is reduced to a minimum as the sorted, cut, and boiled
rags are fed into the first washing engine, and are carried on without further
It

page_text: manipulation through washing engines, bleachers, beaters, and paper machine,
at the end of which they are delivered in the form of finished paper.
Figure of the accompanying Drawings represents in vertical section a
rolla and plate. b of the ordinary construction, placed in a vat of semicircular
form; a semicircular notch is made in the ends of the rat to receive the
spindle of the roll; the plate is at the bottom, and the roll a works
on it in the ordinary way, being supported by bearings fixed to the ends
of the vat, and raised or lowered by screws as usual in ordinary beater
engines. I admit the stuff through one or more openings at c, about two
inches below the centre of the roll; on the descending side of it the stuff is
carried down by gravity and by the action of the roll. and passed between
the roll and the plate a cover is placed above the roll with a trough in it,
so situated that the greater portion of the stuff after passing between the plate
and the roll is thrown by the latter into it; the stuff passes out of this trough
through the pipe or shoot e. and is carried on to a knotter or strainer of the
construction patented by me as aforesaid. Then the finely beaten portion of
the stuff will pass through the slits or between the bars of the knotier, and
proceed to the paper machine, while the coarser portion will pass through the
outlets of the knotter, and be returned through the opening c to be again
submitted, together with the fresh stuff, to the action of the roll a. I prefer
that the stuff should be passed through a series of engines, such as that just
described, each successive engine being provided with a knotter having finer
slits than that immediately preceding, and the last being so fine that none of
the stuff will pass through until beaten fine enough for the paper machine.
Another method of carrying out my Invention is represented in horizontal
section in Figure 2, and in vertical section in Figure 3. a is a roll, say,
6 feet long, and parallel and contiguous to it is a knotter or strainer with
slits fine at the end b, and gradually coarser as they approach the other end
I admit the stuff at the end of the roll a, opposite that end of the knotter or
strainer where the slits are coarse; the stuff passes between the roll a and
plate, and is thrown by the action of the roll into the trough d, and from
thence it passes on to the knotter f; the whole of it passes through the slits
at some point in the length of the knotter, and it is obvious that the fine stuff
will be likely to pass through nearer to the point b, and the coarse stuff nearer
to the point c. At the end of the knotter box adjoining the finest slits bl
place an overflow g, over which a portion of the stuff which passes through
the slits flows away to the paper machine, or to another beater; and it is
obvious that this portion will be that which has passed through the fine slits,

page_text: and consequently the more finely beaten portion of the stuff, the rest of the
stuff is returned through the opening c to the roll. This opening is the whole
length of the roll, as the box in which the knotter works has no back, but is
open to the roll, so that the stuff is returned to the roll opposite, or nearly so,
to the point at which it has passed through the knotter plate slits, therefore
the coarser part of it will always be returned nearer the point at which the
fresh stuff is admitted, and the fine stuff farther from it; then by placing
the roll always farther from the plate h at the entering end, and closer to it.
at the other, the fibres of the stuff will be gradually subjected to more powerful
action of the roll, and will be well drawn out and separated from one another;
a saving of power will also be obtained.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, preparing pulp
for the manufacture of paper by passing it continuously from one engine roll
to another, or from one part of an engine roll to another part of the same
roll, or from an engine roll to the machine, through plates provided with slits
similar to knotter plates, or between bars, substantially in manner and for the
purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ibotson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.