AN IMPROVED METHOD IN THE PRODUCTION OF FIBRE FROM VARIOUS: FIBROUS PLANTS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to James Stenrt, of No. 5, Saint James's Road, Ber-
mondsey, in the County of Surrey, Manufacturer, for the Invention:
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD IN THE PRODUCTION OF FIBRE FROM VARIOUS:
FIBROUS PLANTS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS."
Sealed the 1st June, 1866, and dated. the 4th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Steart at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th.
December 1865.
I, JAMES STEART, of No. 5, Saint James's Road, Bermondsey, in the County"
of Surrey; Manufacturer; do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention"
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD IN THE PRODUCTION OF FIBRE FROM VARIOUS FIBROUS
PLANTS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to extracting, cleaning, and preparing the fibre
or filament of flax, China grass, and other terrestrial- fibrous plants, and also
of silk in the cocoon and other animal fibrous or filamental products, and
consists in submitting such plants or products to the same process as that
applied by me to zostera marina and other aquatic vegetable productions, and
duly-described and specified under and pursuant to certain Letters Patent,
dated the 21 day of November 1869 (No. 2941), granted-to-me for the
Invention of "Extracting the Fibre from Zostera Marina and 'other Aquatic

page_text: Vegetable Productions.
By this method I obtain a fibre or filament at less
expence and waste and of greater value for commercial purposes than by any
other means hitherto adopted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Steart in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, JAMES
STEART, of No. 5, Saint James Road, Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Steart, Her special licence that I, the said James
Steart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Steart, my executors, administrators, and 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 "Ar
IMPROVED METHOD IN THE PRODUCTION OF FIBRE FROM VARIOUS FIBROUS PLANTS AND
ANIMAL PRODUCTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Steart, my executors or administrators, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Steart, 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:
My Invention has for its objects to extract, clean, and prepare the fibre of.
China grass, rhea, or Siam grass, flax, and other similar terrestrial fibrous
plants or productions, and also of silk in the cocoon, wool, goats', camel, or
other hair and other animal or filamental products; and this object is effected

page_text: by causing the decomposition or removal of the saccharine or gelatinous or
fleshy portion of the plant or weed, and of the oily, gummy, or other coating
or covering of silk, wool, hair, and other animal and filamental product through
the action of a "pure" bath as herein-after described, in which the plants or
products aforesaid are placed for a suitable length of time, and then subject
to pressure or friction by motion created by suitable apparatus, so as to detach'
any foreign or extraneous matter from the fibre. After having been subjected
to this
process the fibre is dried, and is then fit for manufacturing purposes.
Such being the nature of my Invention, I perform the same in manner
following, that is to say :-I submit the plants or products, aforesaid to various
degrees of pressure by means of rollers or beaters, for the purposes of bruising
or loosening the outer sheath or skin, and the saccharine matter of terrestrial'
fibrous plants, and of loosening the gummy, oily, or other coating or covering
of the animal products aforesaid; but this part of the process, though useful
where the coating or covering of the plant or other animal product as afore-
said is unusually tough or dirty, is not indispensable and need not necessarily.
be adopted in the case of other descriptions of fibrous plants or other
products as aforesaid, as it encreases the labor required, and the plant or
other product as aforesaid may at once be placed in a wash bath of cold water
to be cleansed from external impurities. It is then removed and placed in a
bath known in tanning as the "pure," with or without water. The pure
bath which I prefer is that obtained by digesting fish in a vessel through the
action of heat and a small proportion of water, or steam alone. This pure bath
may also be made from various animal substances or chemicals, as is well
understood by persons conversant with the tanning of leather. When the plant
or weed or other product as aforesaid has been exposed to the action of this
bath for a sufficient length of time the fibre will be freed, and it may then be
removed from the bath and the fibre detached by motion washing, or friction
by means of suitable apparatus. By this process the sacharine or gelatinous
or fleshy part of the plant, and the oily, gummy, or other coating or covering of
the animal product as aforesaid, is decomposed and removed, leaving the fibre
in an uninjured state; and I find by experience that 200 or 212 degrees of
Fahrenheit is the most suitable and effective temperature of all the operations
in the bath, and the length of time required for such operation varies from
half an hour to three hours, according to the strength of the bath, the heat at
which it is applied, and the nature and tenaciousness of the coating or
covering of the fibre, and must be left to the judgment and experience of the
operator. The fibre is then washed or cleansed in any manner most con-
venient, and is then finally dried and fit for manufacturing purposes.

page_text: - Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim as the Invention.
intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, the obtaining, cleansing,.
and preparing the fibre from China grass, rhea, or Siam grass, flax, and other
similar terrestrial fibrous plants or productions, and also of silk in the cocoon,
wool, goats', camel, and other hair, and other animal or filamental products,.
by subjecting the same to the treatment above described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
Witness,
HENRY D. PHILLIPS,
11, Abchurch Lane,
.Sol..
J. STEART. (L.S.)