IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PAPER PULP AND OTHER USEFUL PRODUCTS THEREFROM
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PAPER PULP AND OTHER USEFUL
PRODUCTS THEREFROM." -A communication from abroad by Louis Henry
Obert, Jean Baptiste Vasseur, and Auguste Houbigant, all of 33,
Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, France.
Sealed the 16th November 1860, and dated the 14th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION
SPECIFICATION
left by the
left by the said Michael Henry at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th June 1860.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PAPER PULP AND OTHER
USEFUL PRODUCTS THEBEFROM," Communicated to me from abroad by Louis Henry
Oberi, Jean Baptiste Vasseur, and Auguste Houbigant, all of 33, Boulevard
Saint Martin. Paris, France, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to treat vegetable substances in such manner
as to obtain therefrom paper pulp and other useful products. For this purpose
vegetable substances are subjected to a process by which they are reduced to
pulp, and in the course of being so reduced various other products contained in
[Price Sd.]

page_text: the substances are obtained from them, such as materials for textile and fibrous
manufactures, alcohol, oils, fecula, and gums, acids, resins, coloring, sapona-
ceous, and tanning matters. The substances are first crushed, if need be,
worked up, and drawn out or separated into filaments; they are distilled, if
need be, disintegrated, and decolorized. It is proposed to proceed thus:-The
vegetable substances are first crushed, if requisite, and then soaked in hot
liquid. The bath used for this purpose may be composed of carbonates or
salts of soda, potassa, or lime, combined or not, or of liquid resulting from 3
subsequent distillation of the substances herein-after referred to; while being
thus soaked the substances may be beaten, stripped, and drawn out or
separated into filaments. To obtain the long filaments for textile and fibrous
manufactures the substances are next brought into a closed boiler, receiver, or
vessel, in which after being distilled, if expedient, they are subjected to the
action of steam, and they may also then be submitted or not to an operation of
beating, stripping, and drawing out, the temperature being kept up under
suitable pressure. During distillation alcohols, essential oils, and other pro-
ducts of distillation derivable from the substances are given off, and are
received and condensed in a series of vessels or receivers. After distillation
the substances under treatment are subjected to a boiling or hot treatment
(cuite); the temperature and nature of the bath employed may be more or less
concentrated in salts of soda or alkalies, according to the plants under treat-
ment. The liquid used in the foregoing operation is conveyed into the soaking
vessel until sufliciently concentrated by the distribution of the action of soaking.
distilling, and boiling, and is then collected to obtain therefrom the feculous,
coloring, saponaceous, and tanning matters which it may contain.
The substances are next brought into a heated bleaching trough, then into a
trough for removing the chlorine from them, and next into a mixing trough,
and are then ready to be converted into paper, combined or not with other
descriptions of pulp. The distinctive operations of the mode of treatment thus
include the employment of the liquid resulting from the boiling or hot treat-
ment (cuite) for the soaking, and as means of disintegrating also the hot,
boiling, and bleaching, and the distilling by steam; by this decolorizing and
disintegrating process over-violent mechanical and chemical processes are
dispensed with.
More particularly to exemplify the mode of performing the Invention. I
proceed to say that it may be carried into effect by employing an apparatus in
which the substances to be treated are first conducted over an endless web to
a set of rollers arranged in pairs. one pair below the other. down which
arrangement of rollers they pass, together with a supply of liquid dropped on

page_text: the rollers from a cistern, or pumped in from the soaking vat, and with which
they drop on to another endless web, and pass into a vessel wherein they are
soaked, and which is suitably heated and provided with a revolving comb or
separating arms working in combination with stationary arms or combs fixed
within the vessel, so as to draw out and separate the filaments; tubes are
provided to supply the liquid from the boiler, and to discharge the over con-
centrated liquors into an evaporating boiler with double bottom for steam, in
which concentration is completed to facilitate extraction of fecula, tanning,
saponaceous, and coloring matters. The substances with the soaking liquor
are next conveyed through an intermediate vessel, or directly into a boiler or
receiver, which is provided with a vertical, inclined, or horizontal agitator.
preferably toothed. for agitating and separating the substances, and facilitating.
the distilling, and ensuing treatment, and which boiler or receiver is heated
by a coil, double bottom, or casing, or water bath arrangement, or by direct.
heat, or otherwise. When it is desired to distil, the temperature is regulated
accordingly, and the products given off are conducted into a set of receivers
arranged to collect them at various degrees of purity, and when distillation is
completed the communication with them is closed, and liquid is poured over
the substance for the boiling process (cuisson), which may be water alone or
liquid already used for boiling, or a lye of lime alone or combined with potassa
or soda, or lye of potassa or soda alone. The liquid should be admitted
at 80° at least, the temperature being gradually raised by a water bath (bain
marie), or by directly admitting steam at two, three, or four atmospheres:
when disintegration and decolorizing are sufliciently effected, steam is forced
into the boiler or receiver to drive the liquids into the soaking vessel to soak
fresh supplies of material, or to serve again in the boiler or receiver after
disintegrating and decolorizing. Steam is again admitted at two or three
atmospheres to drive the waters of condensation into the soaking vessel, and
this is repeated as long as the waters are colored; during all the time the
substances are being stirred and worked about to separate the fibrous from
The materials so
the other parts, and facilitate decolorizing and bleaching.
prepared are carried into the bleaching vat by steam or otherwise; it is
preferred to use for bleaching a weak soda liquor, raised to 80° or 100°,
adding chlorine liquor, maintaining the heat by a steam pipe or coil in the vat.
and stirring. After bleaching. the pulp and bleaching liquors flow into
another receiver in which the chlorine is discharged, and then into a mixing
or acidulated water may be
and draining trough, in which pure warm
introduced, and they are washed and stirred till they attain the required
whiteness. The pulp may be dried by draining off the wash waters, and

page_text: carrying the pulp between two surfaces of wire cloth combined with pressing
rollers heated by steam, which express and evaporate the moisture contained
in it, and it is then brought on to another wire cloth web over chambers
supplied with steam, and next into drying chambers or cylinders, or on to
evaporating frames; or instead of being so dried, the pulp may be at once
transferred from the mixing bath to the paper machine. I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the exact arrangement of apparatus.
nor to the details herein described as exemplifying the mode of performing
the Invention..
Thus, according to this Invention the vegetable matters are disintegrated
by the means before described, and especially by the action of steam in the
closed boiler or receiver, in which they are distilled by steam and decolorized,
and disintegrated by treatment with steam under pressure; and the liquids
from the operations in this receiver may be used for the preparatory soaking
of the materials, instead of alkaline salts, and employed again for fresh
operations in the boiler or receiver till sufficiently concentrated. The liquids
still remaining in the materials after the soaking, and the treatment in the
close receiver, may be extracted by means of a vacuum.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London. Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Michael Henry, Her special licence that 1, the said Michael Henry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I. the said
Michael Henry. 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES SO AS TO OBTAIN PAPER PULP AND

page_text: OTHER USEFUL FRODUCTS THEREFROM," (communicated from Louis Henry Obert,
Jean Baptiste Vasseur, and Auguste Houbigant, all of 33, Boulevard
St. Martin, Paris, France.) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Michael Henry: 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 Michael Henry, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement thereof as communicated to me, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say
The object of this Invention is the treatment of vegetable substances in
such manner as to obtain paper pulp and other useful products therefrom.
For this purpose the substances are subjected to a process by which they are
reduced to pulp, and in the course of their being so reduced various other
useful products which they contain are obtained from them, such as materials
for textile and fibrous manufacturing purposes, alcohol, essential, and other
oils, fecula and gums, coloring, saponaceous, and tanning matters, &c.
There have already been numerous experiments and Patents, having for
object the manufacture of pulp from various plants, the barks of trees, roots,
such as esparto or broom (alpha), sorgho or sorghum reeds, palm, banana,
aloe, straw glycyrrhiza (liquorice-wood, bois de reglisse.) colza, the leaves of
beans, peas, and potatoes, nettles, thistles, wood, tan, &c.; but it has now
been known for some time that all plants contain the constituent materials of
paper, though some more than and of a superior quality to others. The
present Invention, however, is not confined to the conversion into pulp of any
particular description of plant or vegetable matter, but relates to a process
which is applicable to plants generally, whether growing on land or in water.
to wood, bark, leaves, roots, &c., and vegetable matters in general (though
specially to those above mentioned), and by which process not only is paper
pulp produced, but moreover the various chemical and other useful products
which the vegetable substance may contain are extracted from it, and obtained
in such condition that they may be turned to account commercially. And the
process is styled by the parties communicating as being of a successive and
simultaneous character, because consisting of a series of successive stages, by

page_text: each of which useful products are obtained, while each stage at the sanic
time contributes or leads to the final result, vizt., the production of paper
pulp.
Now. in various processes heretofore known, which have generally been
confined in the production of pulp only, plants have been subjected to violent,
rapid, and expensive chemical or mechanical means of treatment, without
obtaining superior, cheaper, stronger, or whiter pulps than those before in
USC. I should observe, that materials intended for the manufacture of paper
should be of very homogeneous character, and of such nature as to be readily
reduced to a felt-like consistency, and brought by inexpensive means to a
perfect white.
Now the process to which the present Invention relates consists in sepa-
rating from vegetable substances consecutively, and in the course of reducing
them to pulp, matters suitable for purposes of fibrous and textile manufactures,
and various chemical and other useful products. To attain this end the
substances having been first crushed are worked about and drawn or combed
out, and subjected to means hereinafter described, each step of the operation
effecting the separation of one or more elements or products of the substances
treated, which products, as separated, are collected apart until, by gradual and
rational means the vegetable substance is finally reduced to pulp, such pulp
being wholly decolorized, freed from all prejudical extraneous matters, and
capable of receiving a perfect bleach; its fibres are not enervated or weakened,
and the manufacturing cost is reduced not only intrinsically, but also by the
commercial value of the various matters obtained in the course of the opera-
tion. For this purpose, according to the present Invention, the vegetable
substances or materials having first been crushed (if requisite) are soaked or
steeped in a bath of hot liquor, which may be composed or carbonates or salis
of soda, potassa, or lime, combined or not with salt of soda or alkalies, or of
the liquors resulting from a subsequent distilling operation hereinafter referred
to. While being so soaked, the substances may be beaten, combed, stripped,
and drawn out to remove the longer filaments, which are put aside to serve
for textile and fibrous manufactures. The substances are next brought into
a closed boiler, vessel, or receiver, in which, after or without being distilled,
they are subjected to the action of steam or heat, an operation hereinafter
called and referred to as the hot treatment, and combined or not with a
further beating, stripping, or drawing operation, while the temperature is kept
up under pressure, temperature and pressure being regulated as the nature of
the substances may require. During the distilling, alcohols and essential and
other oils are given off, and conveyed into a series of vessels or receivers

page_text: where they are condensed; these may be subsequently treated as required,
and sold in a raw or prepared state. The vegetable substances, after or
without being distilled as aforesaid, are next subjected to the process of
decoction, boiling, or digestion, or rather the treatment with steam or heat
which call the hot treatment" ("cuite") carried on in the manner herein-
after explained. The duration and temperature of this process, as also that
of the distilling, varies as the substances may require; according to which
also the composition of the bath or liquid in which they are treated may be
more or less concentrated in alkalies or salts of soda, vegetable substances
which do not contain alcohols or essential oils are subjected to this hot treat-
ment without being first distilled, but in either case they are more fully deco-
lorized before proceeding to the chlorine or other bleaching than has hitherto
been attained. When the distillation, if performed, and the hot treatment are
completed, the liquors used in the latter operation are conveyed into the first
soaking bath, and this is continued until they become sufficiently concentrated
by the repeated action of soaking, distilling, and hot treatment, when they arc
collected in order to obtain from them the fecula coloring, tanning, and
Saponaceous matters which they contain. When plants are cropped in due
time, and under proper conditions, they may first be prepared by treating
them with sulphurous gas or gaseous chlorine, and are thereby obtained in a
purer and decolorized state, and consequently better fitted for the process,
and their fermentation also is prevented. Electricity may likewise be
employed as a means of disintegrating the vegetable substances while under-
going the soaking and the hot treatment, or even afterwards, in order to preci-
pitate and separate the alkaline, resinous, and other matters contained in the
yes or baths, which matters may afterwards be collected separately. The
vegetable substances, after being subjected to the hot treatment, constitute
the raw material of pulp, and are next carried to a heated bleaching trough,
thence to a trough, in which they are freed from superfluous chlorine, and
next into a mixing trough, and they are then ready for undergoing the ordinary
processes for being manufactured into paper combined or not with rag or
other sorts of pulp.
By this mode of treating plants (each sort by itself or several sorts together),
and preparing them for the manufacture of paper, as described, the consti-
tuents of the coloring matters which have been hitherto discovered in coal
may be obtained from them, and hence phenic and picric acid, benzine,
nitro-benzine, aniline, and similar products may be manufactured from the
lyes obtained from one or more plants from the products of their distillation,
and even from treating them directly in their natural condition-in fact, the

page_text: same chemical products hitherto extracted from coal may thus be obtained
from the resin, gum, and various matters which yield vegetable resin. By
the foregoing processes, and the mechanical means hereinafter described, the
parties communicating state that they have obtained from all, or nearly all
plants the materials of photographic paper met with in cotton, and thus
collodion and photographic paper can be manufactured from textile and fibrous
plants other than cotton.
The most important operations of the present process comprise the use or
application of the liquors used in the hot treatment for the purpose of soaking
or steeping the substances, and as a means of disintegrating them; also the hot
soaking and bleaching and the distilling by means of steam. By this mode of
decolorizing and disintegrating all violent mechanical and chemical methods of
treatment are dispensed with.
More particularly to exemplify the mode of performing the Invention, and
in order that the same may be fully understood, I proceed to say that it may
be carried into effect by employing the apparatus represented in the accom-
panying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a section.
Here the substances to be treated are first conducted over an endless web 1 to
a set of crushing rollers 3, consisting of a single pair or of several pairs, one
pair below the other, down which apparatus of rollers, between the rollers of
each pair, the vegetable substances pass, together with a supply of liquid which
is dropped on the rollers continuously from a spout 2, and which may consist
either of clear water from a pipe 1, or of liquor pumped in from the soaking or
sleeping vessel C; the substances and the liquor with them drop from the
rollers on to a lower endless web 4, and pass into the vessel C, in which they
are soaked or steeped in liquid poured in hot or cold, and are here drawn or
combed out to separate and collect the long filaments (for fibrous and textile
manufactures) for which purpose the vessel C may be furnished with a re-
volving comb or separating arms working in combination with stationary arms
or teeth fixed within the vessel; a pipe conveys the liquors obtained from the
hot treatment into the vessel C, and another pipe discharges the liquors from
the vessel C when too much concentrated for use therein, and conveys them
into an evaporating boiler (not shown in the Drawings) heated by steam in
any convenient manner, wherein their concentration is completed in order to
facilitate the extraction from them of fecula, tannin, and saponaceous and
coloring matters by any ordinary operation for the purpose. The substances
with the soaking liquor are next conveyed by a pipe S, either directly or
through an intermediate vessel into a boiler G', in which, if it can be usefully
done, they are first distilled; within this boiler is fitted a vertical, inclined; or

page_text: horizontal agitator for stirring the substances the better to separate their
various elements or principles, and increase the energy of the distilling and hot
treatment. Instead of the particular form of agitator shewn, other forms may
be used, preferring agitators with numerous arms or teeth. The trough C,
the bleaching trough, and the boiler G are heated by a coil, double bottom,
steam jacket, or direct application of heat, or by what is called "bain marie"
or water bath, i.e., by a casing or external chamber containing hot water.
When the substances are to be distilled the temperature is regulated accord-
ingly, and the volatile products given off are conducted into a series of receivers
so arranged as to collect them directly at various degrees of purity, and when
distillation is completed the distilling pipe valve is closed, so as to shut off the
communication with them, and liquid is poured over the substances in G'; the
composition of this liquid varies as the nature of the substances may require;
it may consist of water alone, or of liquor already used for performing a like hot
treatment on similar substances, or of a stronger or weaker lye, consisting of a
solution of lime alone, or of lime combined with potassa or soda, or of potassa or
soda alone, and it should be sufficient to immerse the substances completely;
it is admitted at a temperature of 176° Fahrenheit at least, which is gradually
raised either by hot water casing (bain marie) or by admitting steam directly
at 2, 3, or 4 atmospheres. as the nature of the substances under treatment
may require, according to which, also, the duration of the process may be varied.
When this operation has been carried on sufficient time for properly effecting
disintegration and decolorization, steam is admitted into the boiler under pressure
to expel therefrom all the liquid which it contains, and drive it through a pipe p,
into the vessel C, where it is applied for steeping fresh supplies of vegetable
substances, and whence it may be again taken until too much impregnated and
returned into the boiler G to act again therein on fresh supplies of substances
when the processes of disintegration and decolorization herein-after referred to
are completed. When the liquid has been so expelled from the boiler G, and
only the substances to be disintegrated and decolorized remain in it, steam is
again admitted therein at two or three atmospheres to drive the waters of
condensation into the steeping vessel C, and this is repeated as long as the
liquids come out colored; during the whole time the substances in the boiler
are stirred and worked about by the instrument g to separate the fibrous from
the other parts to complete decolorization and facilitate subsequent bleaching.
When decolorization is completed the vegetable substances under treatment
are discharged into a bleaching trough through a pipe, either by admitting
steam into the boiler G', or by opening valves therein. It is preferred to use
for bleaching a chlorine liquor at a temperature of from 176° to 212° Fahrenheit,

page_text: to which is added a very small quantity of carbonate or bi-carbonate of soda
keeping the bleaching liquor hot during the bleaching by steam admitted
through pipes or coils in the trough, and stirring with the agitator the whole
time. After the pulp is bleached it is discharged with its bleaching liquor
into another receiver, in which the excess of chlorine is expelled by any known
means; this obviates the disadvantages of retaining in the pulp that small
quantity of chlorine which no washing can remove. The substances are next
conveyed to a mixing and draining trough in which they are left to drain by
natural means, and according as the bleached parts may require from their
nature or otherwise, either clear water at 176° Fahrenheit, or acidulated water
(acid being added to accelerate the action) is admitted into the mixing trough,
and the substances are washed and stirred by the agitator till they acquire the
desired whiteness. After draining off the wash waters from the mixing trough
the pulp may be dried by passing it between two wire cloth surfaces furnished
with rollers heated by steam which press and heat it and extract and evaporate
the moisture which it contains. The pulp is next brought on to another wire
cloth travelling over troughs filled with steam, whereby its drying is accelerated,
and it is next transferred to a drying stove or chamber, or on to cylinders or
frames where the moisture still left is evaporated; it is now completely dry
and ready for removal or sale; or where the apparatus is set up in a paper
mill, the pulp instead of being so dried, may be at once transferred from the
mixing trough to the paper machine to be manufactured into paper.
A is a cold-water tank; A', hot-water tank; D, vat; and E, receivers for
the dyes intended for the soaking vessel C or the boiler G; F, vessel for
crushing chloride of lime for bleaching; F', reservoir for same; G2, extra
boiler for concentrating; H, H', bleaching troughs; I, acid vessel; K, vessel
for washing the substances; and L, O, reservoirs for receiving them tempora-
rily during the process; P, continuous paper manufacturing machinery;
M, N, troughs; Q, size trough; R, pouring-off trough; S', alum mill;
T, T, T, driving gear and connections for transmitting motion. The rollers
,, have a to-and-fro horizontal motion one over the other, and thereby exert
a triturating action on substances passing between them.
Thus, according to this Invention, the vegetable substances are disintegrated
and decolorized by the means herein described, and more especially by the
action of steam in the closed receiver or boiler, in which also they are distilled
by steam, when desired, and the liquors used in the operations performed in
the boiler are, as stated, run into the soaking vessel to be used for soaking or
steeping the substances, instead of alkaline salts, and for being again returned
into the boiler or closed receiver for fresh operations therein, until sufficiently

page_text: concentrated. The liquid still remaining in the substances after the soaking
and treatment in the boiler may be extracted by means of a vacuum.
An essential condition for obtaining paper pulp of superior quality and
appearance is the decolorization of the fibres of the plants, and this can only
be effected completely by previously extracting from them the fecula, tannin,
and gummy matter, and the pamphyteic acid which they all contain in more or
less quantity. Now to get the fibres at a first degree of whiteness for convert-
ing them into threads or pulp for paper, cardboard, or other purposes; then
according to their nature and intended application, all matters serving as
bases for pamphyteic acid, as well as the other coloring matters which they
contain, should first be removed from them either by decoction or subjecting
them to a pressure of several atmospheres in a closed vessel. This may be
performed after a longer or shorter maceration, or without any previous mace-
ration, according as the substances are more or less absorbent. The liquors in
which the substances are macerated and subjected to the hot treatment may,
according to the nature of the substances or their amount of absorbing ten-
dency, consist either of clear water or of liquors already used in the steeping
vessel, or in the boiler, or of more or less caustic and acidulated lyes, the
ingredients of which are known in this manufacture, and vary according as the
plants submitted to them are of more or less delicate or coarse character.
The object of the hot treatment in the boiler is to remove the pamphyteic acid,
and thus subject the fibres of the plant to a preliminary decolorization, which
is indispensable as preparatory to the obtaining of a perfect white by the sub-
sequent processes herein described. The pamphyteic acid is extracted from the
saturated liquors withdrawn from the boiler by treating them with nitric or
other acid suitable for that purpose, which is neutralized by distillation or eva-
poration. Fibres for spinning and coarse or common pulps may be bleached
by ordinary known means; but to obtain a perfect white, the pulp is bleached
in a hot state by gases and a stream of chlorine in a receiver, whereof the tem-
perature is suitably raised by steam, admitted in a coil or double bottom.
When bleaching by chlorine liquor in either an open or close receiver the
liquor is heated proportionately to the quantity of substances and their readi-
ness to receive the bleaching: very white pulp is thus obtained without injuring
it, and this has not hitherto been done except by using chlorine in excess,
which increases the expense and deteriorates the product. A current of
carbonic acid may be added to the chlorine bath.
I do not restrict myself to the particular arrangement of boiler or receiver
G' shown, as the same may be varied so only that it be suited for the opera-
tions performed therein, though it is always preferably furnished with an

page_text: agitator placed vertical, horizontal, or inclined. Indeed I do not confine myself
to the particular arrangement of apparatus described and represented for
carrying this Invention into effect, as other arrangements of a similar descrip-
tion and producing the same results may be used; and I do not confine myself
to the use of the particular chemical agents which I have mentioned, as the
same may be varied, and the order of the operations constituting the process
may be varied or interchanged.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim :-
First, the mode of treatment described, consisting of the combination of
operations constituting the process herein-before set forth, in which the vege-
table substances are disintegrated, decolorized, and reduced to pulp, and the
fibres or filaments, tanning, coloring, and other useful matters which they con-
tain are extracted from them, in the manner and by the means set forth, and
especially by the action of steam on them, in a closed boiler, receiver, or
vessel.
Second, the distillation of plants and vegetable substances by means of steam
in a closed vessel or receiver, in order to disintegrate and decolorize them and
obtain paper pulp therefrom, heat being applied either directly by a generator
or by steam admitted at several atmospheres in a jacket or double casing, or
by the mode I have herein called a bain marie, the alcoholic and other pro-
ducts of distillation being received in vessels graduated and arranged to collect
them according to the various degrees of purity, all in the manner herein-
before described.
Third, the mode of subjecting the substances to steam or heat, herein called
the hot treatment, by means of steam under pressure in a closed vessel or boiler,
for the purpose of disintegrating and decolorizing them and converting them
into paper pulp. in the manner herein-before described.
Fourth, the employment of the combination of apparatus for performing the
disintegration, hot treatment, decolorization, and bleaching of the vegetable
substances in order to operate thereon and convert them into pulp, all as herein-
before described, though I do not restrict myself to the particular apparatus
described and represented.
Fifth, the mode described of preliminarily crushing the substances by means
of an arrangement of rollers one pair over another, in such manner that the
substances may pass down and between them, together with a continuous
stream of liquid, either clear or charged with matters, whereby they are caused
to travel along and away more readily, in the manner herein-before described.
Sixth, the employment in and for the soaking or steeping process of the

page_text: baths or liquors used for the hot treatment in the closed boiler, instead of
alkaline salts; also the using over again of these baths or liquors for fresh
operations of hot treatment in the closed boiler or receiver, until sufficiently
concentrated: as herein-before described.
Seventh, the mode of extracting or obtaining from plants and vegetable sub-
stances paper pulp, coloring materials, and other useful products derivable from
them by means of one series of operations, that is, a series of consecutive
stages constituting in combination one process, in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)