IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, PULP, AND PULPY MATTER, AND CONVERTING THE SAID PULP OR PULPY MATTER INTO SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREAD, HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES OF COMMERCE, FOR WHICH THE SAID SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREADS, HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES MAY BE APPLICABLE
Year: 1864

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to John Harcourt Brown, of the Strand, in the City of
Westminster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
ANIMAL SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, PULP, AND PULPY MATTER,
AND CONVERTING THE SAID PULP OR PULPY MATTER INTO SHEETS, SLABS,
BLOCKS, THREAD, HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES
OF COMMERCE, FOR WHICH THE SAID SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREADS, HOLLOW
OR TUBULAR ARTICLES MAY BE APPLICABLE."
Sealed the 22nd November 1864, and dated the 26th May 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harcourt Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th May 1864.
I, JOHN HARCOURT BROWN, of the Strand, in the City of Westminster,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TREATING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, PULP,
AND PULPY MATTER, AND CONVERTING THE SAID PULP OR PULPY MATTER INTO
SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREAD, HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES, AND SUCH OTHER
ARTICLES OF COMMERCE FOR WHICH THE SAID SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREADS,
HOLLOW OB TUBULAR ARTICLES MAY BE APPLICABLE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to produce size and artificial sheets or
skins for writings, engrossings, drawings, tracings, bookbinding, covering
cases, and such like purposes (as substitutes for parchment or vellum) and

page_text: converting the same into artificial leather, and other articles for which leather
is usually employed. By combining the animal fibres with vegetable and
other materials, paper and similar articles may be produced, and the animal
fibres either alone or combined with suitable materials may be employed for
the manufacture of slabs or thick sheets or blocks for backing armour plates,
and for other naval purposes; and also for the insulation of electric and
magnetic conductors or wires, and for other similar articles and purposes. In
the production of these articles I prefer to employ the refuse of animal hides
known as scrolls or glue pieces, and also the cuttings of calf and sheep skins,
or the hides or parts of hides of any other animals. For the production of
size and the finer sorts of artificial sheets or skins, or for combining and
intermixing with vegetable fibre and other matters for producing paper and
such like articles, I first remove the lime, dirt, and impurities which generally
adhere to the scrolls or glue pieces. This is effected by placing them in cold
soft water for a day or two, or until they are sufficiently swollen, and have
become soft and pliable. When by agitating, brushing, or by any similar
means they are cleansed, the pieces are submitted to a bath composed of one
part of American potash (by preference, although other alkaline substances
may be used,) and three parts of unslaked lime in thirty-five parts of soft
water heated to a temperature of from 75 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This
bath must be first prepared by boiling the line, potash, and water, and by
agitating it for an hour or more, and after allowing it to settle pouring off the
clear lixivium or caustic liquor in which the pieces are to be submerged when
at the temperature before specified, and which is to be kept up until the
epidermis can be removed by the application of hard brushing, or any other
suitable appliances. This result will be effected in from one to three hours,
according to the age and quality of the pieces. This process requires close
attention, in order to remove such pieces as are first freed from the epidermis,
in order to avoid the loss of any of the gelatinous matter, which would be the
case if the pieces were allowed to remain too long in the hot bath. When
the epidermis is removed from the pieces they are to be washed in cold soft
water, and are then fit for conversion in the usual manner into size for paper-
making, and other manufactures. When fibre is to be produced the pieces
are to be crushed or bruised by stampers, hammers, or any other suitable
means. In all cases the surfaces of the machinery should be covered with
copper or gun metal, as the oxide of iron injures the color, and otherwise
deteriorates the fibre. After the scrolls or glue pieces are broken down and
spread out as thin as it is possible to crush them, they are submitted to a tepid
bath composed of 100 parts of soft clean water, and 1 part of sulphuric

page_text: acid. There they remain until they assume a jelly-like appearance, when the
acidulated liquor is drained off. They are then placed in the bleaching liquor
(a solution of chloride of lime by preference) until the fibrous effects are
produced. This result varies in time in proportion to the age of the scrolls
and the strength of the bleaching liquor, two or three hours being required.
for this purpose. When the fibre is firm and hard it must be removed and
well washed to free it from the lime in cold soft water in which some spirit or
the carbonate of ammonia is introduced to kill the bleach. The fibre can now'
be treated as papermakers treat vegetable half-stuff in the manufacture of
paper, and it may be converted into sheets by any suitable means. The fibres
may be used either alone or combined with vegetable fibres and other suitable
materials. The animal fibre may also be beaten up into a plastic mass, and
if desired combined with any suitable materials, and moulded into any required
form or configuration by means of dies and pressure; or it may be rolled or
pressed into sheets, blocks, or hollow or tubular articles of any required form,"
length, and thickness, by means of suitable machinery. The animal fibre is
also capable of being spun into strands of any required thickness, and pressed'
by rolls and other suitable means into bands and other articles for mechanical
and other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Harcourt Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
HARCOURT BROWN, of the Strand, in the City of Westminster, Gentleman, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight 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 John Harcourt Brown, Her special licence that I, the said John
Harcourt Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Harcourt Brown, 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 "IMPROVE-

page_text: MENTS IN TREATING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SIZE, PULP,
AND. PULPY MATTER, AND. CONVERTING THE SAID PULP OR PULPY MATTER INTO.
SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREAD, HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES, AND SUCH OTHER
ARTICLES OF COMMERCE FOR WHICH THE SAID SHEETS, SLABS, BLOCKS, THREADS,
HOLLOW OR TUBULAR ARTICLES MAY BE APPLICABLE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Harcourt Brown, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 John Harcourt Brown, 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 fol-
lowing statement and description thereof (that is to say):
This Invention has for its object to produce from the skins of animals, size,
fibre, and artificial sheets and skins for writings, engrossings, drawings,
tracings, bookbindings, covering cases, and like or similar purposes (as sub-
stitutes for parchment or vellum), and convert the same into artificial leather,
and other articles for which leather is or can be employed. By combining
the animal fibre treated as herein-after described with vegetable and other
materials, paper and similar articles may be produced, and the animal fibres,
either alone or combined with suitable materials, may be employed for the
manufacture of slabs, or thick sheets or blocks for backing armour plates, and
for other naval purposes, and also for the insulation of electric and magnetic
conductors or wires, and for other similar articles and purposes. For the
production of these latter articles I prefer to employ the refuse of animal hides
known as scrolls or glue pieces, and also the cuttings of calf and sheep skins,
or the hides or parts of hides of any other animals. For the production of
size for the finer sorts of artificial sheets or skins, or for combining and inter-
mixing with vegetable fibre and other matters for producing paper and' such
like articles, I first remove the lime, dust, and other impurities which generally
adhere to the scrolls or glue pieces.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
The animal substances I prefer to employ are chiefly the skins or cuttings
of skins of the buffalo, bull, ox, cow, sea lion, walrus, calf, sheep, or any other
animal covertible into fibres. In the first place I soak the skins in soft cold
water until they are soft and pliable, and then remove the dirt, lime, and other

page_text: foreign matter and impurities from them by brushing or other similar means.
I then submit them to a bath composed of one part of American potash (by
preference, although other alkaline substances may be used,) and three parts
of unslaked lime, and 35 parts of water, that is to say, to one pound of
potash and three pounds of lime, 35 pints of soft water, and in like proportion
according to the quantity of cuttings or skins to be submerged and acted
upon. The potash, lime, and water, must be boiled and frequently agitated
for one hour or more; after allowing it to deposit the lime the clear lixivium
or caustic liquor is to be poured off, and while at a temperature of 70 or 100
degrees Fahrenheit the pieces of skin are to be submerged in this liquor, and
the temperature before mentioned is to be kept up until the. epidermis can be
removed by hard brushing or any other suitable means. This result will be
effected in from one to three hours, according to the age, quality, and thickness
of the skin. This process is most important, and requires close attention, in
order to remove from the bath such pieces as are first freed from the epidermis,
in order to avoid the loss of any of the gelatinous matter, which would be the
case if the pieces remain too long in the hot bath. When the epidermis is
removed the pieces are to be washed clean in cold soft water, and are then
fit for conversion. When they are to be converted into size for paper makers
or other purposes, I accomplish this by the usual methods well known to size
makers. When fibre is to be produced the pieces are to be crushed or bruised
by stampers, hammers, or any other suitable machinery. And I prefer that
the faces of the stamping or bruising machinery should be of gun metal, or
any other suitable compound, as iron oxydises quickly, and injures the colour,
and otherwise deteriorates the fibre. When the pieces are broken down and
crushed as thin as it is possible to spread them out, they are to be submitted
to a lukewarm bath, composed of 100 parts by measure of soft clean water,
and one part of sulphuric acid of the ordinary strength. The bath: must
always be measured by the capacity of the tank and the quantity of skin to
be acted upon. The thin crushed pieces are to be placed in this acidulated
bath, and allowed to remain until they assume a jelly-like appearance. At
this stage the acidulated liquor is drained off, and they are submitted to the
clear bleaching liquor (a solution of chloride of lime by preference) until the
fibrous effects are produced, which takes place in 2 or 3 hours, and depends
upon the age and quality of the pieces and the strength of the liquor. It is
advisable to employ a medium strength, for if the bleaching liquor is too
strong the color of the fibre will prove yellow instead of white. When the
fibre is firm, hard, and white, it can either be removed or the liquor drawn off;
then it is to be washed to free it from the lime which may adhere to it in the

page_text: bleaching liquor in cold soft water, in which some spirit or carbonate of
ammonia is introduced to kill the bleach. The ammonia must be employed
in small quantities, and the quantities can only be ascertained by practice, as
some skins absorb more of the chlorine gas than others. I find the employ-
ment of a small proportion of alum occasionally assists the purifying process.
The fibre is now in a fit state to be made into sheets as substitutes for
parchment, vellum, bindings for books, or coverings for cases, and such like
purposes, also as a substitute for tracing paper. These are produced by the
usual machinery employed by paper makers, although I prefer wider knotters,
additional heavy rolls with brass surfaces, and additional vacuum power, with
additional rolls on the copper drying cylinders. The fibre being similar to
what is known to paper makers as half-stuff is treated in the same manner as
vegetable fibre, by being beat in the beating engine, and when intended for
parchment, vellum, and similar articles, an admixture of Spanish white or
similar matters employed as in paper-making may be used in the proportion
of from ten to 30 per cent., according to the articles required. When for
tracing purposes of the finest class the pure skin fibre alone is employed.
When for bindings or case coverings, inferior skins or parts of skins may be
employed, and from ten to twenty per cent. of inert matter may be introduced,
and the usual coloring matters employed as in paper-making may be used,
and the aniline dyes can also be used, either in the pulp or surfacially. I
would observe that in the making of bindings, and to give them the character
of leather, they should pass through a trough conveniently placed in front of
the drying cylinders, containing a solution of tanning at a temperature of 70°
Fahrenheit; and in order to give them a softness they may pass through
another trough placed next to the first containing glycerine, and through press
rolls placed at the edge of each trough to prevent waste of the tanning and
glycerine, as also to press out the superfluous absorption. The tanning and
glycerine may be employed in the engine while the fibre is undergoing the
beating process, or they may be employed surfacially; but I prefer the former
modes. When the sheets or webs of these articles are required to imitate the
true leather, I prefer to make them of the best pieces, without any admixture,
and tan them by submersion, as generally practised by tanners, When skins
are required to cover preserves, jams, jellies, and such like purposes, I prefer
to employ the cuttings of sheep and calf skins in combination with inferior
px, cow, or other hide; pieces in the proportion of two-thirds of the former to
one-third of the latter. The sheep and calf pieces do not require the
epidermis to be removed. They may be simply cleansed when in the wet
state, beat up! and mixed with the prepared fibre, and after treated as before

page_text: described in the beating engine, and either alone or mixed with about 10 per
cent. of inert matter made into webs or sheets, as paper is made. For
fabricating fine writing papers and papers for ledgers, registers, account books,
policies, warrants, and similar purposes where great strength, durability, and
highly glazed surfaces are required, I employ the strongest and finest animal
fibre, prepared as before described in certain proportions from 5 to 50 per
cent. of the animal fibre, intimately combined with the best ordinary or
common vegetable fibres, according to the quality of the paper and the
purposes for which it is required. When the fibres are thus combined and
incorporated in the beating engine, sheets can be made, as is usually done by
paper makers, either by hand (if preferred) or on the machine, and glazed by
the ordinary process of glazing paper, and by these means avoid the ordinary
mode of sizing paper surfacially, the sizing qualities being contained in the
body of papers so made. From 5 to 10 per cent. of the animal fibre in-
corporated as before described with straw pulp will produce a paper equal to
papers made from rags. For the production of cards for the jacquard
machines I add 10 per cent. of ordinary animal fibre with the usual vegetable
pulp and other matters of which they are usually made. This renders them
more durable, and admits of the perforations being cut cleaner.
When the animal hides or pieces are required to form slabs or blocks for
backing armour plates for naval purposes, batteries, or other similar uses, I
prefer, as before described, to break the pieces after being soaked until soft,
but not to treat them in the bath for removing the epidermis, and after
reducing them to fibre by the means before described, and pressing out the
moisture, I allow them to become partially dry, and then place them in a
puddling mill, or other suitable machinery, and mix from one-third or one-half
their weight of woollen waste, or other suitable non-inflamable fibrous
matters, and intimately combine them with a weak solution of the ordinary
glue of commerce at a temperature of about 70 degrees of Fahrenheit. When
sufficiently intermixed they are placed in suitable moulds of the size and form
required, and rolled by hydraulic or other pressure into slabs or planks of such
thickness as may be required (by preference from one to two inches in thick-
ness). The slabs or planks being allowed to become dry are then coated with
marine glue, or other suitable adhesive matter, and pressed by the rolls before
named into planks or slabs of the thickness and configuration required. And
as I attach them to the sides of vessels, batteries, and other surfaces, I prefer
to employ chains of such a substance as will give an additional repellant
power to the said planks or slabs, which are indented with the moulds of the
said chains in the dies in which the planks or slabs are rolled. These chains

page_text: are carried from the gunwale of the vessel down below the water line, and
secured by bolts and screws, or other fastenings; and being flush with the
backing, and the links sufficiently wide, the ordinary mode of securing the
armour plates is provided for, and additional power of resistance obtained by
the chain armour, which can be placed side by side, and as close as required.
Any other suitable mode of affixing the said planks or slabs may be employed.
These fibrous planks or slabs will not splinter, and are less inflammable and
more impenetrable and impervious to water than oak or teak. Tanners'
leather shavings may be employed advantageously by mixing with the animal
fibre and woollen wastes in the proportion of one-fourth of the weight of the
former materials. The animal fibre may also be incorporated with other
suitable matters, as herein-before described, for the purpose of covering
floors, powder magazines, laboratories, and other similar uses, and for
ordinary floors in general, it being of a non-inflammable nature. These
coverings may also be submitted to the tanning process herein-before described
when desirable. When threads or yarns are required I prefer that the
animal fibres should be in a semi-dry state, and either alone or mixed with
woollen waste, in the proportion of one-third of the waste to two-thirds of
the fibre by weight may be first carded together, and then spun by the usual
spinning machinery. Of these threads or strands representive ropes may be
produced by the usual methods. When required to be pressed into bands for
driving machinery, I omit the introduction of any materials, and employ the
strongest animal fibre. The mode of pressure is by rollers in suitable dies,
according to the width and thickness required. I also employ woven bands
of sackcloth or other suitable material of the width and length required, which
I prefer to lay between the thin bands of animal fibre coated with india-
rubber solution, and then pressed together, the fibrous bands being outside;
marine glue and other adhesive matters may be employed for these purposes.
For insulating purposes the fibre must be mixed with india-rubber, gutta
percha, ballata, or any other suitable plastic materials impervious to water,
and rolled into tubes, or otherwise wound round the wires, or attached by any
other suitable means, either in a plastic or semi-plastic state; or it may be
formed into tubes, cases, and other hollow configurated articles when the pulp
is beat up suitable as for paper making by the vacuum principle, as described
in a former Patent granted to me upon perforated metallic moulds covered
with felt, and submerged in the fibrous animal pulp, or in pulp composed
of a combination of fibres and other materials. In the construction of
non-inflammable safety casks, cylinders, cases, flasks, and such like hollow
articles for containing gunpowder, or other combustible matters, I prefer to

page_text: employ the plastic animal fibre mixed with woollen or other fibrous waste, and
pressed by dies into the required form, employing the adhesive materials best
suited for the purpose of uniting the parts, or they may be made in sundry
parts by dies and pressure; and put together by bands, hoops, and similar
means. For carding bands and similar purposes I form the bands of the
animal fibre, as before described, in combination with a woven fibre, as before
described in constructing driving bands for machinery and other purposes.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact quality or proportions of the mixtures or chemicals herein
described, as others may be employed; but what I claim is, the production of
size and fibre from animal substances, treated and applied as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harcourt Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named John Harcourt
Brown in the presence of,
GEO. A. JAMES,
22, Essex Street, Strand,
Solicitor.
J. H. BROWN. (L.B.)