IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND IN MANUFACTURING PAPER PULP, ALSO IN PREPARING, BLEACHING, AND TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS AND FIBROUS AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN PRODUCING AGENTS. USED IN PART OF THE INVENTION
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Constant Vautier, at Paris, Town in the
French Empire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FIBROUS
MATERIALS, AND IN MANUFACTURING PAPER PULP, ALSO IN PREPARING,
BLEACHING, AND TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS AND FIBROUS AND TEXTILE
FABRICS, AND IN PRODUCING AGENTS. USED IN PART OF THE INVENTION."
Sealed the 6th January 1863, and dated the 22nd July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Constant Vautier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd July 1862.
I, ANTOINE CONSTANT VAUTIER, at Paris, Town in the French Empire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND IN MANUFACTURING PAPER POLP, ALSO IN
PREPARING, BLEACHING, AND TREATING FIBROUS. MATERIALS AND FIBROUS AND
TEXTILE FABRICS, AND' IN PRODUCING AGENTS USED IN PART OF THE INVENTION," to
be as follows:-
. To obtain fibrous materials from trees, shrubs, and plants, and from parts
and products thereof, I subject the tree, shrub, plant, part or product,
berein-after to avoid repetition called the "matters," to a process of disintegra-
tion, whereby I dissolve their gummy and resinous constituents and separate
the fibrous from the other portions, and sometimes in the same operation
bleach the fibres. This process consists wholly of physical and chemical

page_text: means, as distinguished from mechanical means, that is, I do not use tools
machinery, or mechanical instruments or apparatus.
According to my Invention I subject the matters to one or more boilings,
cookings, or hot treatments in alkaline, acid, saline, soapy, or calcareous liquors
or solutions before, after, or between which the matters are soaked, macerated,
or immersed, or both macerated and immersed, in alkaline, acid, or calcareous
liquors or solutions, or in water hot or cold, or in soapy or saline liquors, and
when desirable washed or rinced in such liquors or solutions. The boiling,
cooking, or hot treatment may be performed in an open or a closed vessel
under pressure or not, and by hot liquors kept up to and above boiling point,
or by injections of steam or by both liquors and steam. The liquors used aro
soapy, acid, alkaline, calcareous or saline, or both alkaline and saline, or
calcareous and saline, and they may or may not contain lime, calcareous and
aluminous earths or clays. Sometimes I proceed by repeated macerations in
such liquors as aforesaid with or without boilings or immersions. In the
course of the operations the matters may be washed once or oftener in puro
water or in soapy, alkaline, calcareous, or acidulated liquors, hot or cold; the
neid washings may be alternated with 'washings in alkaline or calcareous
liquors; during, between, or after the stages of the process the matters may bo
exposed to air or steam, or both air and steam, between the boilings or hot
treatments and washings, they may be. macerated sometimes for several days
together in alkaline and saline or other liquors, and sometimes they may be
first subjected to acid or alcoholic fermentation or other known process to
extract the fecula, alcohol, and coloring principles, the disintegrating being then
completed as above; I frequently find that the immersions dissolve the gummy
and resinous portions, the boilings or cookings and macerations disintegrate,
and the washings separate the fibrous from the other portions. The disinte-
grating process may be interrupted at any stage. For example, when I have
partially disintegrated some barks, plants, and matters (which for certain
plants will be after once boiling) I obtain threads fit for rope and other uses
and a fibre which I call "crin végetal,' or vegetable horse hair, which I also
produce from fir leaves. Two or more descriptions of the aforesaid liquors may
be used in one process or series of processes, alternatoly or otherwise.
In treating matters containing thick or coarse filaments I sometimes first
separate the fibres from the fleshy, gummy, and resinous portions, and hackle
and spin them wet or dry, or convert them direct into cordage and various
other articles, or into paper pulp. From barks so .treated various products
may be obtained, such as threads, yarns; and fabrics, inatting and other rush
work, tow,. rope, and cordage: and caulking.agents. When the matters are
"

page_text: naturally dry I generally soak them for one or more days in alkaline, calcareous
and-acid solutions, or in either; I sometimes macerate in still water or subject
the matters to incipient fermentation induced by yeast or other artificial ferment
whereby I render the juices, gums, and resins soluble and commence disinte-
gration. I sometimes operate direct on trunks or stems without first
removing the bark, branches, and leaves, and strip off the bark after boiling.
or else separate the fibre after disintegration, or I strip off the bark before
boiling and treat it and the leaves apart. Among the plants and trees from
which I obtain-silky, cottony, and fibrous products I may mention mulberry,
ailanthus, elm, chestnut, acacias, lime, willow, white poplar, mahernia,
imahonia, pawlonia, hibiscus, kernelled fruit trees, fir leaves, hop bine, stalks
of cotton plants, shrubs, and herbage, stalks of the mallow tribe, common
mallows, mallow rose; hollyhocks, and various malvaceous plants, climbers,
or creepers, stalks and stems of beans, pease, and other pulse, and legumini-
ous plants, nettles, hemp, flax, and other textile plants, retted or otherwise,
broom, rush, Spanish or scented broom, yucca, agaves, aloes, palms, bananas,
plantains, sugar cane stalks and leaves, reeds and rushes, phormium tenax,
pandanus, ricinus, gladiolus, erythrinæ, erythrinia, cactus, fig leaves, and fig
tree bark.
In ordinary modes of treating flax it has been sought to disintegrate and
separate the fibre from the boon or stalk by dissolving the gummy and resinous
matters; whereas according to my Invention I separate the fibres from the
boon or stalk, and at the same time bleach it. For this purpose I continue
the first treatment, and when the gummy matters have become soluble, imme-
diately after immersions and retting, by known processes, or after boiling and
otherwise proceeding by my process, I wash in cold or warm water, immerse
or wash in acid solutions, and rinse in puro water. If need be I immerse in
alkaline or calcareous liquors between the acid immersions and acid and cold
washings 'till the fibre gets white.
The main distinctive feature of my process as regards raw flax, hemp,
nettles, and some other plants is this, that I boil in alkaline or calcareous
liquors, before which I sometimes immerse in such liquors, and afterwards
wash in such liquors, or in pure water, or acid liquors, till white fibre is
obtained. Sometimes, however, 'when ordinary modes of retting are used, then
instead of boiling or cooking I--complete the process by washing in pure
water, or in acid, alkaline, or calcareous liquors, until I obtain the desired
whiteness. I sometimes ret by boiling from eight to ten hours, or I immerse
the matters for a day or. more in an alkaline or calcareous solution; after
which I boil for some hours in' an alkaline or calcareous and saline solutions,

page_text: '
with or without lime, and calcareous and aluminous earths or clays. Raw
flax and products obtained from flax, barks, plants, and shrubs (whether
textiles or not) by retting in the ordinary manner or otherwise, and
unbleached flax and cutton yarns and threads I disintegrate and bleach by
immersions or soakings and macerations in alkaline solutions alternated, pre-
'ceded, or succeeded with washings in pure or acid water. A single boiling of
from 8 to 10 hours suffices after preliminary immersion. Sometimes I boil
the matters more than once.
Silk consists of two portions, the fibrous derived from the mulberry leaf,
and an azotized gummy substance secreted by the worm; its lustre is due to
the fibre, independent of the secretion. Now, according to my Invention, I
prepare coatings, varnishes, or compositions in which I employ the azotized
gummy substances secreted by the worm or those discharged from silk in the
process of scouring or ungumming it, or of discharging its gum; or I produce
compositions of azotized and gummy substances analogous to the aforesaid
substances, such as combinations of vegetable gums or gummy substances, or
resins, or gums and resins, with azotized matter, such as gelatine, albumien, and
others, using water, ether, or alcohol, as the vehicle or solvent. With these
agents I treat flax, mulberry tree bark and other barks, and other leaves,
fibres, and matters previously treated by my processes, or otherwise, also
fabrics, threads, and yarns produced therefrom, and I thus obtain-products
resembling the silks of commerce. I also use for the purpose oleaginous,
fatty, albuminous, and gelatinous bodies, and especially such as aro used in
dyeing and printing cotton and wool.
':
I treat, boil, soak, or immerse silk waste, and refuse floss silk.and shreds,
and rags of silk and defective cocoons, with or in alkaline or calcareous
solutions, whereby without soap I completely discharge the gum from the
same, and I then reduce it by mechanical means, so as to make a sort of floss,
which I comb or heckle and spin. The matters may be divided by tearing
or unravelling when dry or damp. I also use alkaline or calcareous solutions
without soap for ungumming, scouring, or discharging the gum from silk.
When I treat the silk damp I rince or wash in a slightly alkaline liquor, and
dry and hackle.
I manufacture paper pulp by my herein-before described processes, from
various trees, shrubs, and plants, and parts and products thereof. I treat
mulberry and other plants and matters by cooking, boiling, or hot
treatments, and by immersion, maceration, or soaking and washing or
rinsing, using such liquors as those described for extracting fibrous: materials.
When the fibres are too long they can be reduced like rags. In that case I

page_text: do not dry the matters between the stages. After separating the fleshy portions
from the fibrous, I reduce the latter mechanically; before or after which I
bleach them. Sometimes the. fibrous need not be completely separated from
the fleshy or feculent portions, and my process may be confined to dissolving
the gummy and.resinous portions, which may be done by boiling or cooking,
and.then rinsing or washing. The liquors may be alkaline, saline, calcareous,
acid, or soapy (or two or more of these), combined or not with lime and
calcareous and aluminous earths or clays. If one boiling is insuflicient I boil
again, or immerse in alkaline or calcareous or acid solutions used alternately,
singly, or otherwise; after which I drain off and rinse. When the gums and
resins are sufficiently dissolved I sometimes soak the matters in baths of
chloride of lime, alkaline hypochlorites, or alkalies, which disintegrate and
bleach the pulp. I sometimes subject the matters to repeated baths of
chloride of lime or other agents, alternated with acid baths, until I obtain a
white, uniform, and. well-reduced pulp. Sometimes instead of disintegrating
and bleaching, as above, I continue or repeat the boilings and immersions
after dissolving the gums and resins until I completely disintegrate the pulp,
which may be then bleached by ordinary means. The process of obtaining
paper pulp may be carried on continuously from the first boiling-to the final
bleaching without drying the matters between whiles, or breaking or crushing
them mechanically.
Many plants when prepared for producing paper pulp will also yield coarso
tow or fibre, or a "crin végetal." I obtain pulp from the pulp of beetroot
detritus, and. ligneous cane trash and refuse of distilleries, treating them as
soon as possible after the operations they have undergone. I sometimes
proceed by washing them in pure cold or warm water. 1 then boil them,
wash and immerse them in acid, alkaline, soapy, or saline liquors. They may,
when desired, be reduced by mechanical means while still damp after boiling
or washing. Silk waste and shreds, treated as before described, may also be
used for the production of paper pulp.
Among matters from which I obtain paper pulp I may mention chaff of
corn, oats, and rye; various grasses, plants fit for fodder, rye grass, plantains,
esparto, rushes, reeds, fir leaves, diss, palmetto, palm, and sugar cane stalks
and leaves, and other native and exotic plants. I sometimes employ chloride
of lime, alkaline bypochlorites, acids, lime, or calcareous matters, and alkalies
to complete or effect disintegration and separate the fibrous from the other
portions of the plant after having dissolved the gummy. or resinous parts,
wholly or partially, by cooking or boiling, whereby mechanical reduction may
be dispensed with.

page_text: I also apply my processes to the bleaching and preparation of yarns, threads,
and fabrics; and treating unbleached-yarns;-threads, and.fabrics of flax, cotton,
and other materials in order to free them. from. the. gummy.bodies that
surround and cement the fibres, to bleach them, to impart. novel effects.or
particular qualities, and to prepare them for dyeing. For these purposes. I
mostly proceed by. my processes of immersing, soaking, boiling, or hot treat-
ment in alkaline or calcareous and saline liquors, mixed or not, with lime,
calcareous matters, and aluminous earths or clays. Afterwards washing and
immersing in pure water, or in alkaline; calcareous; .or. acidulated: liquors.
When I boil in liquors that are both alkaline and saline, or calcareous and
saline, I sometimes use therein carbonate of soda (natrons).:and sometimes
between the alkaline or calcareous, or. alkaline and.saline liquors, .or. calcareous
and saline liquors, wash in acidulated. liquors until. the articles are bleached.
After separating the gummy. and resinous bodies: I sometimes; bleach: by
sulphurous acid, chlorine, chlorides, bypochlorites, and other:known bleaching
ngents. These modes of bleaching I also apply to other matters previously
treated according to my Invention. I prefer to bleach threads and yarns
before weaving or felting, as thereby, improved fabrics may be obtained.
Various of the liquors herein mentioned may have added to. them lime;
calcareous matters, and aluminous earths. or clays, especially those used in
boiling or cooking and maceration; and lime may be used. instead of alkali. in
some liquors or solutions. After, boiling and maceration: I. sometimes wash in
pure water, or in liquor containing acid. Among the acids. I use in my processes
for my liquors or solutions are sulphuric, acetic, pyrolignie, hydrochloric, and
others. Among the alkalies are soda, potassa, carbonate of soda,. and others.
Among the before-mentioned varnishes, coatings, or compositions of gummy
and azotized character for treating.fibrous matters, as aforesaid, I may state
that I prepare a particular varnish or coating by combining gum, gelatine,
albumen, and resin, and pure water, or resin and. alcohol. This is one of the
coatings that I use to impart to fibres a silky character.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Antoine Constant Vautier in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
CONSTANT VAUTIER, at Paris, Town.in the French Empire, send greeting. *1:
...WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and. successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Antoine Constant Vautier, Her special licence that I, the said Antoine
Constant Vautier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said. Antoine. Constant Vautier, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND IN MANUFACTURING PAPER
PULP, ALSO IN PREPARING, BLEACHING, AND TREATING FIBROUS MATERIALS, AND
FIBROUS AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN PRODUCING AGENTS USED IN PART OF THE
INVENTION," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Antoine
Constant Vautier, 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 Antoine Constant Vautier, 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 following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
To obtain fibrous materials. from trees, shrubs, and plants, and from parts
and products thereof, I subject the said trees, shrubs, plants, parts, or pro-
ducts, herein-after to avoid repetition called the " matters," to a process of,
disintegration, whereby I dissolve their gummy and resinous constituents and
separate their fibrous from their other portions, and sometimes by the same
operation I bleach the fibres.
My process consists wholely of chemical means as distinguished from
mechanical means, that is to say, I do not use tools, machinery, or mechanical
instruments or apparatus, I subject the matters to one or more boilings,
cooking's, or hot treatments in alkaline, acid, saline, soapy, or calcareous (lime)
liquors or solutions before, after, or between which I soak or macerate, or botlí
soak and maceratė, the matters in hot or cold alkaline, acid, calcareous (lime),
soapy or saline liquors, or in hot or cold water, and I wash or, rinse them in
such liquors. The operation. which I call boiling, cooking, or hot treatment
consists in placing the matters in open or close vessels. under pressure or not,
in..which are liquors made and kept hot up to or below boiling point, or it may

page_text: be performed by injections of steam or by both hot liquors and steam. The
liquors which I use are soapy, acid, alkaline, saline, or calcareous (lime), or
both alkaline and saline,.or calcareous (lime) and saline, and the alkaline, soapy,
or saline liquors may or may. not contain lime and calcareous and aluminous
earths or clays. Sometimes I proceed. by repeated' macérations or steepings
in such liquors as aforesaid with or without boilings or cookings. In the
course of the operations the matters may be washed once or oftener in pure
water or in soapy, alkaline, calcareous (lime) or acid liquors hot or cold; the
acid washings.may be alternated with washings in alkaline or calcareous (lime)
liquors during, between, or after the stages of the process; the matters may.be
exposed to air or steami, or both. air and steam, and between the boilings or
cookings and the washings; they may be macerated sometimes for several days
together in one or, more of the aforesaid liquors, and they may sometimes be
first subjected to acid or alcoholic fermentation or other ordinary process for
extracting the fecula, alcohol, and coloring principles, the, disintegration being
then completed as above. I believe that the immersions or soakings dissolve
the gummy and resinous portions, the boilings. or "cookings "and the macer-
ations disintegrate the fleshy portions, and the washing separates the fibrous
portions from them. My disintegrating process may be interrupted at any
stage, for example, when I have partially disintegrated fir leaves, certain barks
and other plants or parts of plants (which in some cases; would be after once
boiling them), I obtain therefrom threads fit for rope and other uses, and'a
fibrous product which I call "erin vegetal" or "vegetable horsehair." Two
or more descriptions of the above-mentioned liquors may be used in one
process, or in a series of processes, alternately or otherwise. When the matters
are naturally dry, I generally soak them for one or more days in alkaline,
saline, calcareous, and acid solutions or in either; I sometimes macerate them
in still water or subject them to an incipient fermentation induced by yeast or
other ferment, whereby I render the juices, gums, and resins, soluble and
commence the disintegration. In ordinary modes of treating flax it has been
sought to disintegrate and separate the fibre from the boon or stalk by dis-
solving the gummy and resinous matters, whereas according to my Invention
I separate the fibres from the boon or stalk and at the same time bleach them.
For this purpose I continue the first treatment, and when the gummy portions
have become soluble immediately after soaking and retting by ordinary
processes, or after boiling and otherwise procceding by my processes, I wash
the matters in cold or warm water, inimerse or wash in acid solutions and
rinse in pure water. If need be, I immerse in alkaline or calcareous (lime).
liquors between the acid immersions and acid and cold washings till the fibre

page_text: .
gets white. Sometimes in treating raw flax, hemp, nettles, and some other
like plants, I-boil or cook in alkaline or (calcareous) lime liquors, before which
I immerse and wash in the said liquors or in pure water or acid liquors till a
white fibre is obtained. Sometimes, however, when ordinary modes of retting
are used, then instead of boiling or cooking I complete the process by washing
in pure water or in acid, alkaline, or lime liquors until. I obtain the desired
whiteness. Raw flax and products obtained from flax, barks, and plants by.
retting in the ordinary manner, and unbleached flax-and cotton yarns and
threads, I free from their gummy.and other extraneous portions or impurities
and bleach by soakings and macerations in alkaline: or in lime solutions
alternated, preceded, or succeeded by washing or soaking in pure or acid water;
a single boiling of from 4 to 6 hours suffices generally after.. a preliminary
soaking, but sometimes I boil the matters more than once. The silk of the
bombyx or ordinary silk. worm consists of two portions, the fibre which the
worm derives and absorbs from the mulberry leaf, and an. azotized gummy
substance which the worm secretes, the lustre of silk being due to the fibre,
and independent of the secretion to which certain properties of silk and especially
its effects of color are due. Now according to my Invention I prepare
coatings, varnishes, or compositions in which I employ the azotized gummy
secretion discharged from silk in the ordinary process of scouring or ungum-
ming it (or of discharging its gum), or I produce compositions of azotized and
gummy substances analogous to the aforesaid substances produced by combining
vegetable gums, guinmy substances, or resins or gums and resins with azotized
matter such as gelatine, albumen, or like matters, using water, ether, or alcohol
as the vehicle or solvent.. With these agents I treat threads and fabrics
obtained from flax, mulberry tree bark, and other barks and other leaves, fibres,
and matters previously treated by my processes, and I thus obtain products
resembling the silks of commerce.
I manufacture paper pulp by my herein-before described processes from
various trees, shrubs, and plants, and parts and products thereof, for which
purpose 1 treat mulberry and other plants and vegetable matters, by cooking,
boiling, or hot treatment, and by immersion, soaking, or maceration and
washing or rinsing in liquors, such as those described, for extracting fibrous
materials. When the fibres are too long they can be reduced in the same
manner as rags; in' that case I do not dry the matters between the stages,
after separating the fleshy portions from the fibrous, and I reduce the latter
mechanically, before or after which I bleach them. Sometimes the fibrous
need not be separately separated from the fleshy or feculent portions, and my
process may be confined to dissolving the gummy and resinous portions, which

page_text: may be done by boiling or cooking, and then rinsing or washing in alkaline,
saline, calcareous: (lime). acid, or. soapy liquors, or two or more of these; if
one boiling. is insufficient, I boil ior cook, again, or immerse in alkaline lime
or.acid solutions, used alternately, singly, or together, after; which I drain off
and rinse and then soak the matters in baths of chloride of lime, alkaline
hypochlorites, or alkalies, whereby the matters are, at the same time, disin-
tegrated, and: bleached; and a pulp obtained without mechanical pulping. I
subject: the matters to repeated baths of chloride of lime; or, other ordinary
bleaching agents, alternated with acid; baths, until I obtain a fine white homo-
genous pulp. The process of obtaining paper pulp may be carried on conti-
nously from the: first: "cooking" to the final, bleaching, without drying the
matters between.the stages, or breaking or crushing them mechanically. Many
plants when prepared for producing. paper pulp. will also yield coarse, tow, or.
fibre, or my.".crin vegetal." I obtain pulp from the detritus or ligneous
residua of beet. root, and from, cane trash, which I treat as soon as possible
after the manufacturing: operations they had undergone (i.e. those from which
the refuse was obtained.;). I wash them in cold or warm-water, and then boil
them and wash and immerse; them in acid, alkaline, soapy, or saline liquors..
Silk waste. and. shreds, boiled or cooked in alkaline liquors, washed in the
aforesaid liquors, and reduced by ordinary rag tearing.machinery, may be used
for the production. of.superior paper pulp.. I employ. chloride of..lime, alkaline.
hypochlorites, acids, lime, or other calcareous matters and alkalies, to com-
plete or effect the disintegration. or separation. of the fibrous from the other
portions of the plaut, after having wholly or partially dissolved the gummy
or. resinous parts by cooking or boiling, whereby mechanical reduction is
dispensed with. I also apply my processes to the bleaching and preparation
of yarns, threads, and fabrics, and treatment of unbleached yarns, threads, and
fabrics of flax, cotton, and other materials,. whereby I discharge the gummy.
bodies that surround and cement the fibres, I bleach the fibres, I impart to
them novel effects or párticular qualities, and prepare them for dyeing. For
these purposes I proceed by my before described processes of .immersing,
soaking, boiling, or cooking in alkaline, calcareous, lime, saline, or combined
alkaline and saline, or calcareous and saline liquors, to some of which calca-
reous matters, or aluminous earths or clays; afterwards I wash and immerse in
cold or warm water, or alkaline, calcareous (lime) or acid liquors. Between
the boilings or cookings or soakings in alkaline, calcareous, or combined
alkaline and saline. liquors, or calcareous (lime) and saline liquors, wash in acid
liquors, pursuing these processes-until the-articles are bleached. After. .sepa-
rating the gummy and resinous bodies, I sometimes bleach by sulphurous acid

page_text: .
chlorine; chlorides, hypochlorites, and other known bleaching agents.. Lime
may be used instead of alkali, in some of the. liquors or solutions. After
boiling and macerating in lime, I sometimes, wash in water or acid. Among the.
before mentioned varnishes, coatings, or compositions of a gummy and azotized
character, for treating fibrous matters,,I.prepare a particular. coating or agent;
by combining gum, gelatine,-and albumen with resin.and water: or with resin
and alcohol. This is one of the agents that I.use. to impart to fibres a silky
character.. I sometimes operate on the trunk, stem, or stalk of. the tree.or
plant, before removing its bark and leaves; the bark may be removed. after.
one or more boilings, or sometimes I strip off the bark and leaves before
subjecting the plant or tree to my process. Sometimes I separate the textile
fibre 'from the rest of the plant or vegetable matter, after effecting the com-
plete disintegration thereof. I use the expression textile plants. inimy Speci-
fication to imply plants, which are known to certain fibres, suitable, for. textile
manufacturing purposes. I include in the expression boiling, .".cooking," or
hot "treatment," the treating of the matters in liquors.. by boiling, or sim-.
mering (heating the liquors, or. raising them to a heat at.or.. below..boiling.
point and keeping them thereat), and the. treating of the matters.by.steam.
When I boil or cook by steam I first saturate the matters..in one: of the
aforesaid liquors, and then transfer them to a vessel into which I. inject steam.
I select my liquors according. to. the nature. or composition of the matter
operated on, that is to say, I use an alkaline, saline, acid, lime, or soapy liquor,
or two or more of these, and choose for the composition of the same the par-
ticular one or ones of the chemical agents herein-after mentioned, according
to the chemical nature or composition of the extraneous portions of the plant
or matter,
r, or those portions that have to be. dissolved, saponified, precipitated,
or otherwise removed from the fibrous portions. . I sometimes use a single
alkali in one solution, or I combine. several. in. one solution or use different
alkaline solutions alternately, or in any desired order, or I combine. lime with
other alkali in one 'solution, or use lime and alkaline..liquors, alternately..
The saline solutions may be combined with alkaline or lime liquors..
I operate directly upon plants and parts of plants, as well as upon products
obtained therefrom, by ordinary, processes or by my improved processes.
I dissolve the gummy and resinous portions, and separate them and the various
5. other extraneous substances from the fibres by boiling or "cooking."" in a close.
vessel (under pressure), or in an open vessel, or by steeping, them. in hot water,
below. boiling point, or by treating them with injections of steam..in an
open vessel, or in a close vessel- under pressure, or sometimes: by repeated.
macerations. These operations may be repeated as desired and two.or

page_text: more of them combined; the liquors used for the purpose may be soapy,
alkaline, saline, calcareous, or acid. Calcareous matters or aluminous
earths or clays may be added to the saline, alkaline, and soapy liquors, or the
liquors may be solutions of lime. During or between the operations the
matters may be washed in pure alkaline, saline, or acid, hot or cold water, and
may be exposed to the atmospheric.air, or to steam or both. Between two
operations of boiling, cooking, or washing, I sometimes soak or macerate the
matters for one or more days in alkaline, saline, or lime solutions, during which
the fleshy or feculent portions separate from the fibres without fermentation.
I sometimes, commence by subjecting the matters to acid, or alcoholic fermen-
tation, or other ordinary process for extracting the fecula, glucose, alcohol, and
coloring substances so as to free the fibre partially and then complete the
process as herein-after described. The matters may be treated fresh or dry,
but I mostly prefer to treat the plant or tree as soon as possible after cutting
it, and before it becomes dry, but when the matters are dry I first steep them
for a day or more in an alkaline or acid solution, or in both alternately, or I
sometimes macerate or soak them in still water, or wash or steep them in pure
water, and then dry them and wash or steep again, and so on alternately.
I sometimes subject them to incipient fermentation, promoted if necessary
by yeast or other ferment. I thus prepare the juices, gums, and resins of the
plants for being dissolved, and the fleshy or feculent portions for being separated.
My processes completely disintegrate the vegetable matter, and free its fibres
from the other parts, and though they may differ in detail according to the
natural or chemical composition of the matters under treatment and the
subsidiary products, to be obtained, they may all be said to consist essentially
in boiling, cooking, macerating, or soaking the matters in acid, alkaline, saline,
lime, or soapy liquors, or in combined saline and alkaline liquors, combining or
alternating these operations as desired, and in addition thereto washing the
matters, and also drying them between the processes or not. The solutions
(or liquors containing acids, 'salts, alkalies, or soap,) which I use for the
soakings, macerations,' boilings, washings, and hot treatments are thus
composed:-
.
:
I employ for my acid solutions, sulphuric, hydrochloric, nitric, pyrolignous,
acetic, or citric acids, also other vegetable acids. For my soapy liquors,
ordinary soap, including alkaline and resin soaps. For my saline solutions,
chloride of sodium, nitrate of potassa, and natron. For my alkaline solutions,
soda, lime, potassa, and carbonate of soda. For my combined alkaline and
saline solutions, natron or chloride of sodium mixed with one of the afor, said
alkalies.

page_text: I sometimes combine calcareous and aluminous earths and clays to the
before mentioned soapy, alkaline, and saline liquors, as also to the waters
employed for washing. I use as the calcareous earths chalk or plaster, and
for the aluminous earths, plastic and other clays.
I do not use lime for boiling or cooking except for boiling or cooking
plants in a raw state." When I use lime liquor for treating fibres, threads, and
fabrics, or matters disintegrated by boiling or cooking, I always use it cold.
I treat bark whether on the tree or not as follows:-I first steep or
macerate it in pure cold or warm water, or in alkaline, soapy, saline, or acid
liquors, or I boil or cook it in pure water, or in alkaline, soapy, saline, or acid
liquors, at a heat which at first should not exceed 122° Fahrenheit. This
dissolves the albuminous and mucilaginous matters (and if the bark be on the
tree facilitates its removal); the bark is next macerated in cold or warm
water, pure or combined with alkalics, salts, or acids. Two or more of these
operations may be alternately or otherwise combined. Before or between the
macerations the matters may be steeped or washed in acids or in pure cold
or warm water. After these operations I, sometimes complete the process"
by repeated macerations or washings (between which I dry the matters), or
else I complete by boiling or cooking, in which case I may wholly or partially
dispense with the foregoing operations and proceed thus:-I boil or "cook"
the bark in an alkaline, acid, soapy; saline, or lime liquor, or a combined
alkaline and saline liquor, with or without calcareous or aluminous earths or
clays; I heat the liquor gently, raising it gradually to about 122° Fahrenheit;
at which I keep it for an hour or two, and when I consider that the portions
capable of being dissolved or precipitated are sufficiently discharged or prepared
for removal, I gradually raise the temperature to boiling point and act on those
portions which only dissolve or precipitate when boiling. I sometimes pursue
the whole process in one liquor; or transfer the matters into different liquors
at different stages. I sometimes keep the matters simmering the whole time.
I continue the hot treatment until the fleshy or feculent parts aro completely
ilisintegrated, and then separate them from the fibres by washing in cold or
warm pure alkaline, saline, or acid liquors, or cold lime liquor. Sometimes I
complete the process without intermediate drying, but at other times I dry
the matters between the stages of the process, which, especially towards, the
end of the operation, facilitates the elimination of extraneous substances.
When the whole is terminated a fibrous matter is obtained of a silky, cotton-.
like or other character according to the matter operated on. -
I have before stated that I sometimes proceed by treating the plants by.
acid or alcoholic formentation, and by ordinary processes for extracting and.

page_text: 'separating the fecula, alcohol, and coloring principles. All the plants, parts
of plants, and fibres on which I operate contain more or less fecula, which
cements and encloses the fibres, and I sometimes extract, separate, and collect
the alcohol, fecula, glucose, and coloring principles by sulphuric acid, diastasis,
and other ordinary operations before completing the treatment. The method
of treating barks just before described may also be applied to leaves, petioles,
and stalks of trees and plants. .
I apply the treatment above described, modified as herein-after explained to
flax, hemp, nettles, phormium tenax, agaves, aloes, jute, china grass, and other
like textile plants, and also to tow, harl, and fibres obtained by retting therefrom.
As these plants are of simpler composition than other textiles, their fibres máy
be obtained by simplifying the former method as follows:-I macerate or soak
the plants in cold or warm alkaline or acid solutions, or in cold solutions of
lime repeatedly, and between the macerations wash or immerse them in pure
or acid water. Thus I dissolve the "readily soluble gummy, feculent, and
résinous portions, and I then dissolve the remaining gummy and resinous
substances by cooking or boiling them in a soapy, saline, or alkaline liquor for
several hours, or by repeatedly macerating or steeping in alkaline lime or
acid liquors, before or between which operations I wash in cold or warm pure
water or acid liquors. The lime solutions may be alternated' or mixed with
other alkalies. Macerating without boiling takes "longer."
When I boil or cook, I proceed as before described. I raise the
température gradually to about 122° Fahrenheit, keep it some little time at
that heat, and then raise it gradually to boiling point, or I keep the liquor
simmering below boiling point. These treatments disengage the gúmmy,
resinous, and other extraneous substances, and the matters are washed or
steeped in cold or warm water, with or without acid, lime, or alkali. Į
next dry the matters, when the fibres will be readily separated from the
ligneous.
I generally recommend the above specified order of operations, but that
order inay be modified, and I sometimes begin by cooking or boiling, and
finish by soaking or macerating and washing, and if need be by a final
cooking. In the hot treatments the heat should be as uniform as may be:
In cooking or boiling raw plants I place them in heaps or bunches in the
vessel, into which I pour water till the plants are covered thereby, and add a
soapy, saline, acid, lime, alkaline, or saline and alkaline solution. The propor
tion of alkali or soap to the water which I reccommend varies from one to three
per cent. according to the causticity of alkali, the degree of previous disintegra-
tion, and nature of the plants. A slight excess of soap or alkali is not prejudicial

page_text: and may even accelerate the process, but then it is wise to reduce the tem
perature. Sometimes I ret flax, hemp, nettles, and other plants by soakings
in cold lime solutions alternated with soakings in cold or warm' acid solutions,
or in water; I then separate the fibre from the ligneous part, and finish by the
processes described...
.
.:
I apply the method described. for treating raw flax and hemp to the tow,
harl, or fibrous portions obtained by retting therefrom, as also to threads, yarns,
and fabrics manufactured thereof, that is to say, I steep or macerate the matters
in acid; alkaline, saline, or lime liquors, or in saline and alkaline liquors, or.in
-both, alternated with acid steepings, and between the macerations I immerse or
wash them in pure or acid water. I then boil or cook them for::some hours
in an alkaline, saline, acid; or soapy. solution, or combined alkaline' and 'saline
solution, whereby. I remove the remaining gummy and resinous portions.
The order of the stages may be reversed, beginning" by boiling or cooking,
and then steeping, and if need be boiling or cooking again, but I prefer the
order before mentioned.. I can finish by steeping in a weak. lime liquor.
To keep fibres straight, and prevent them from entangling during the process,
I fasten them.by cords or other binders, or keep them in bags, cases, baskets,
nets, or like holders..
.. I have particularly described two modes of treatment which I usually employ,
selecting one of them according to the nature of the matters operated on.
Thus, to give an example, I treat broom by the method used for flax rather
than by that used for bark, because fibre of broom, like that of flax, is external
and is not much entangled with the fleshy portions, so that the outer covering
alone need be dissolved. I obtain by. my process a white fibro free from
extraneous matters without having recourse to ordinary modes of bleaching.
From plants not hitherto considered as textiles I have obtained fibrous
materials. of a silky, cotton-like, or other character, suitable for spinning and
felting. In treating barks, leaves, and plants, especially when containing
coarse or thick fibres, I sometimes, after freeing the fibres from fleshy bodies,
stop my process (generally after once boiling or cooking:) and comb or hackle
the fibres, which may be spun or worked into or used for ropes, cordage,
paper pulp, crin-vegetal mats, matting, and other rush work, straps, bands,
and caulking materials. Among the matters from which I obtain fibres are
bark and leaves of, mulberry trees of all descriptions and of elm and brous.
sonetia papifera, and maclura aurantiaca (barks. and petiols of ailantus;
chesnut trees, common and Virginia nut, "lime, 'willow, acacia, hibiscus,
pandanus, ricinus, gladiolus, erythrinen, cactus, cytisus or laburnum, peach,
almond, cherry and other kernelled fruit trees, bark and leaves of white

page_text: poplar, stalks and leaves of. palm and banana, stalks of the mallow tribe or
malvaceous plants, and of cotton trees (shrubs or herbaceous) climbers, hop
bine, convolvolus, fir leaves, gobeas, aristolochia, vine, grape or pepper vine
arroja albens, Spanish, comnion and .other broom, agavas, aloes, pine, sugar
canes, reeds and rushes, nettles, yucca, iris, hemp, flax, phormium tenax, jute,
and fibrous products obtained therefrom. Trees and plants, including those
before referred to as supplying fibrous materials, are also applicable for the
manufacture of paper pulp. If their fibres are too long they may be reduced
by rag-reducing machinery. Stalks and other parts of plants having fibres too
short for spinning may especially.also be treated by iny processes to manu-
facture them into paper. pulp. In manufacturing paper pulp I need not
complete the disintegration by my processes, but I first, "cook" the matters
(once generally sufficing) in one of my before-mentioned liquors, preferring a
solution of lime, or of soda or potassa with or without lime, or a combined
alkaline and saline solution, after which I rinse them in warm or cold pure
water, or in lime .water, alternated with acid washings or not. Next I
steep the matters in baths of chloride of lime, or of alkaline hypochlorites,
.which complete the disintegration of the matters and convert them into pulp,
and at the same time bleach them. I repeat these chloride or hypochlorite
baths, alternating them with acid, and sometimes with alkaline or lime baths,
until the matters become reduced to a white, fine, and homogeneous pulp by
the sole action of my treatment, and without using any mechanical means
of reduction. Instead of subjecting the matters to the disintegrating and
bleaching. action of. chlorides or. hypochlorites as just described, I sometimes
pursue the first cooking, boiling, or simmering, or soaking in alkaline, lime,
saline, or acid liquors, and washing till the pulp becomes fine and homo-
geneous; it may be afterwards.bleached in any ordinary manner. By my pro-
cesses I obtain à superior pulp, without any mechanical reduction, from straw
of corn, rye, or oats, grasses, plants used as fodder, plaintains, esparto, reeds,
rushes, fir leaves, diss, dwarf palm or palmetto, and other palms "and plants;
also from 'detritus or ligneous residua of beet root and sugar canes (cane
trash). Leaves, stalks, and plants may be converted into paper pulp by a
continuous operation without drying the inatters before the end of the process.
From certain plants with short fibre, such as straw, fodder, plants, esparto,
and palm, prepared by a simple cooking (as for paper pulp) I can obtain the
partially disintegrated fibrous, substance which I call crin vegetal, and which
may be prepared for use by carding or tearing it.
My various processes may be preceded or accompanied by ordinary opera-
tions for extracting fecula; glucose, and alcohol, such as by acids, diastasis, or

page_text: fermenting agents. I apply my mode of treating flax,, hemp, and other textile
plants and fibres obtained therefrom, to the preparation, treatment, and
bleaching of threads, yarns, and fabrics manufactured of flax, cotton, hemp,
and other textile materials. Threads and fabrics of flax, hemp, and cotton,
prepared by my processes are glossy and supple, especially those of flax, and
so silky in appearance, so that I can combine them with silk in textilė manu-
facturing purposes. I prepare threads and fabrics of flax, hemp, cotton, and
other vegetable matters, for my processes of bleaching and purifying, bý
immersing, soaking, and washing then in cold or warm acid, or cold lime
solutions, between which I wash or steep in cold or warm pure or alkalino
water, and sometimes dry them. After this I boil or cook and wash them
once or oftener in the solutions described for flax and other textile products.
I sometimes do away with some of the preliminary steps before boiling or
cooking. I prefer treating the threads before weaving, as they are easier to
weave and bleach better, and fabrics woven therefrom are white and glossy.
Threads, fabrics, and other products prepared by my process may be brouglit
to any ordinary shade of white required in the market by bleaching them in
any ordinary manner, such as by sulphurous acid, chlorine, chlorides, or
hypochlorites, after first purifying them by my process, which brings them to
a brilliant white, while those bleached by ordinary processes are of a dead
white. I obtain products resembling silk by taking the fibres, fabrics, and
threads, treated by my process or obtained from flax, and from mulberry
and other trees and plants, by my disintegrating process, and coating,
varnishing, or treating them with the azotized gummy bodies discharged from
silk during the ordinary ungumming process, and obtained from the liquors
used in such process, by concentration or evaporation, or prepared artificially,
by combining the said gummy bodies or gum arabic, gum lac, gum copal,
gum adragant or tragacanth, or other gum, with albuminous or gelatinous, or
albuminous and gelatinous solutions, with or without resinous solutions. The
aforesaid artificial agents may be mixed with the above-mentioned gummy
bodies obtained from the liquors used in ungumming silk. I apply these
agents in a more or less liquid or diluted state, according as to whether I act
on threads or fabrics, and I then render them insoluble by alcohol, warm
water, steam, hot air, or drying. I prefer to apply them to threads, and in
that case use them thicker, preferring to proceed as follows:-I place the
agents in vessels, at the bottom of which are guide plates, rings, or hooks,
which may be moveable or fixed to a moveable frame; through these guides
the threads pass into the agents, with which they become saturated, and they
are thence conveyed between leather or tow pads, or sponges, which smooth
4

page_text: them and wipe off any excess of the preparation; the preparation is thus
rendered insoluble, as described. Flax, hemp, and other products treated by '
my processes may be spun dry, like silk and cotton. Threads obtained from
flax, hemp, and other like products, by my process, and threads of those
matters treated by my process may be combined with and dyed like silk and
wool; also satins and velvets may be manufactured thereof.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the mode herein-before described of obtaining fibrous materials (of
silky, cotton-like, and other character), from trees, shrubs, and plants, and
parts and products thereof.
Second, the mode herein-before described of treating products obtained from
flax and other textile plants.
Third, the mode herein-before described of treating flax, hemp, nettles,
phormium, and other textile plants and products obtained therefrom, so as to
disintegrate them, separate and purify their fibres, and obtain white and silky
products, without ordinary means of bleaching.
Fourth, the mode herein-before described of treating and preparing threads,
yarns, and fabrics, manufactured of flax, cotton, hemp, phormium, and other
plants, whereby they are freed from gummy and resinous substances, prepared
for dyeing, bleached, and improved in quality and appearance.
Fifth, the mode herein-before described of manufacturing paper pulp
without the use of mechanical means.
Sixth, the employment of chlorine, chloride of lime, alkaline bypochlorites;
aud of the acids and alkalies before-mentioned, for completing the disintegration
of the matters and detaching the fibres from the other constituents of the
vegetable, the same being prepared by macerating, or by boiling or cooking, as
described.
Seventh, the mode of obtaining paper pulp from silk waste or refuse, as
herein-before described.
Eighth, the preparation of agents, for the purpose herein-before described,
by collecting the azotized gummy bodics from waters or liquors used in
ordinary modes of ungumming or discharging gum from silk.
Niuth, the manufacture of artificial agents, similar to the gummy secretion
of the worm, by combining albumen or gelatine with the azotized gummy
bodies collected from liquor used in ordinary modes of ungumming or dis-
charging gum from silk, or by combining gum, gelatine, albumen, and resin,
with water or alcohol.
Tenth, the employment of azotized gummy agents, obtained as herein

page_text: described, for the purpose of coating or treating threads, yarns, and fabrics, as
described.
Eleventh, the mode berein-before described of treating barks of trees and
other parts of plants, by stopping the disintegrating process at an early stage,
for the purpose of obtaining the criu vegetal, also rope or cordage and other
articles, as herein-before described.
Twelfth, the combination of materials and threads, treated or prepared by
my processes herein described, with threads or materials of silk, wool, and
other substances, whereby various fabrics may be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Constant Vautier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
M. HENRY, Patent Agent,
84, Fleet Street, London.
A. C. VAUTIER. (L.S.)