AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CRAIG, of Newbattle Paper Mill, in the Parish of Newbattle, and County of
Edinburgh, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Craig, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the the said James Craig, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Craig, my exors, adiiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of “AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING PAPER;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said James Craig, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancellary in England,
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Craig, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the three Sheets of Drawings annexed, and the
figures and letters of reference marked thereon, drawn to a scale, and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
My Invention may be divided into two parts, the one consisting of an
improved apparatus for boiling and washing rags or other material previous
to their being put in into the breaking-in engine trough to be reduced into
pulp and the other to the application of part of said apparatus to the
breaking-in engine," so as to cause it to wash rags or other material,
and reduce more effectually than by the method in common use. These
apparatus, and the method of using them in both cases referred to, shall
now be particularly described.
Sheet I. of the Drawings is descriptive of the boiling and cleaning apparatus,
Figure 1 being a plan of the cistern or trough of the engine, the parts whereof
may be made of cast iron or other suitable material; Figure 2 a longitudinal
section, and Figure 3 an end section thereof. Figure 4 represents one of my
methods of forming the grating for supporting the drainers in their places.
In the three first-mentioned Figures, A represents a drum or roller, on the
periphery of which are fixed a number of paddles, as indicated in the several
Figures, which paddles, being made to act upon the rags or material while
boiling and washing, causes them to circulate round inside the cistern or trough.
Motion is communicated to this drum by any first mover; and, in order to boil
the rags or material, steam is introduced into the chamber B by pipes C, or it
may be introduced into the chamber without the aid of such pipes, as that at
the junction pipe C, Fig. 1, but in either case a grated cover, Figure 4, is to be
laid down above the chamber to form the bed for another cover frame of wire
cloth, or cloth of any suitable material, and over this cloth another grated
frame is to be laid and properly secured. This frame must have openings
in it corresponding to those beneath the cloth, so that steam can easily
ascend through the cloth, and thereby act upon the rags or material to be
boiled. The rags or material having undergone the process of boiling, a
copious supply of water is made to run into the mass, and afterwards drawn
off therefrom through wire cloth (as quickly as possible) which is placed on
the side of the engine trough, and also through the false bottom, and finally
escapes at F. These drains in the inside of the trough consist of framework
fitted into the engine trough in separate panels, or other convenient means;
and one mode of effecting this is indicated by yellow lines, as at D, and the

page_text: width or heighth of such drainer may be twelve inches, more or less,
according to the nature of the work to be performed by the apparatus. When
formed into panels or compartments, each may be from two feet to two
feet and a half long, more or less, according to circumstances; each panel may
have suitable supports behind it to support the wire cloth or other drainer,
so as to prevent the weight of the mass of rags from pressing the drainers
too much backwards. Behind these drainers a cavity is formed in the
trough of the engine, seen at E, Figure 2, and the water when drained
passes into this cavity, and thence it is allowed to escape, at any required
heighth, at the discharge pipe F, or at a determined heighth, or by a different
arrangement, as in Sheet II., next to be described. Instead of forming the
cavity E in the engine trough itself, in some cases I substitute pipes placed
around the outside of the engine trough, through which I lead the water
drained from the rags or material under the process of washing. By the
methods described the full effect of the cleansing is obtained, so that the
impurities from the rags or material are carried off on being loosened and
separated by the previous boiling and action of the paddles. In order to prevent
escape of heat during boiling, the engine trough is provided with a cover
having hinges; and in the "fore slope" of the trough a sand-trap of wire cloth
is placed, as at G, Figures 1 and 2, and any impurities escape at the pipe H,
and another trap at I, in same Figure, formed of grooved bars, which slido
out and in for intercepting buttous, nails, or other hard substances disengaged
therefrom.
Sheet II. is descriptive of my "breaking-in trough," in which Figure 1 is
a plan of the engine trough; Figure 2 a longitudinal section, Figure 3 a
side elevation, Figure 4 an end vertical section, Figure 5 a vertical section,
of the discharge pipe for draining the water from the rags or material, cr
from the pulp; and Figure 6 a section, shewing how the water can be kept
at a certain heighth by other means than that described as applicable to
Figure 5. In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5, are representations of the discharge
pipe. B in Figures 1, 2, and 3, are representations of a pipe for draining
off the water from behind the wire cloth. C are representations of a pipe
for receiving the water from the top washers or draners, seen in Figures 1
and 2. D the top drainers, shewn at Figures 1 and 2. These consist of
frames of wood, or other suitable material, fitted loosely into the engine
trough between the sides thereof and the "midfeather," and across the bottom
of these frames a wire-cloth drainer is fixed, or a drainer of any suitable
fabric; this being let down upon the surface of the rags or material, the
water in the mass ascends through the drainers, from whence it runs off at

page_text: the sides of the engine trough by the pipe C, or down through the "mid-
feather," and thence through the bottom of the engine. For this purpose
a notch (not seen in the Drawing) is cut in the side of the drainer frame,
opposite to the opening of the pipe C, or to the opening of the "midfeather,"
so as to complete the fairway for the escape of water from the mass of rags
or material, and to prevent the rags or pulp passing into the mouth of the
exit pipes between the sides of the drainer frame and engine trough. I also
fit a slide valve either upon the engine trough or upon the side of the
drainer frame, which shuts off all communication except that by which
the water to be run off passes when the valve is slidden up or down. These
top drainers are more efficient when laid with a slight inclination from the
level than when laid otherwise, that is, the end of each frame towards the
current of the rags or pulp in its course round the inside of the engine trough,
is made higher than the further end; this will be understood by referring to
Figure 2, where the frames are shewn out of level, as I use them. The dotted
lines in this Figure indicate the continuation of the frames of the drainers.
These drainers are lifted on and off from their places by any convenient means.
By the use of these drainers in the sides, bottom, and top of the engine trough,
the rags or material or pulp from them are more effectually and speedily brought
to a proper state for paper making than by any other means now in use.
E, place of the engine roller for reducing the rags into pulp; and F, in Figures
2, 3, 4, and 5, are drainers, of wire cloth or other suitable material, and made to
line the inside of the engine trough, or as much thereof as is deemed advisable,
in each particular instance, but in general the drainers line the whole inside
of the engine trough, as far as the "foreslope "G, G, and the backfall H
admit. These parts are seen in Figures 1 and 2. In some instances I line
these "backfalls" and "foreslopes" with drainers to drain off the water
from the rags or material, or from the pulp. The midfeather L, seen in
Figure 4, is also lined with drainers. On one or both sides, immediately
behind these drainers, or opposite to the surface or place of the mass of rags
or material to be drained, a free passage is made to allow the escape of water,
and with it impurities from the materials undergoing washing, or reducing
into pulp, or other preparatory process. With this view, and in so far as
new apparatus may be wanted, I form in the engine trough itself all neces-
sary cavities or ducts for leading away the water, as seen at K, in each of
the Figures, also at E, Sheet 1.; or instead of these cavities I use a pipe or
pipes around the engine trough, by which the water is discharged. Old
engine troughs are capable of having my improvements adapted thereto,
in which case I. place the drainers inside the trough, leaving a clear space

page_text: around and behind the drainers, into which the water falls after passing the
drainers, and from this cavity the water is conducted through pipes to the
place of discharge. The discharge pipe, mentioned in Sheet I., is herein
more fully described, and it consists of a fixed part m, which being a half
pipe open to the other half n, and to which half pipe n is attached a metallic
sluice or division 7, which divides the whole pipe m, n, into two pipes, and
the half pipe n, with its sluice, is made to slide up and down upon a flange
face attached to the fixed half pipe m by means of a handle and screw, or
other contrivance, so that the top of the sluice n may be brought to any
required heighth, up or down, and the water flowing over the top of the
sluice, down by the pipe r, and thence into its place of discharge, and so
on, until the level of the water in the engine trough is reduced to the heigth
required to wash the rags or material or the pulp in the best manner. Another
method of taking off the water from the drainer, as seen at Figure 6, where
K. is the cavity into which the water falls after passing through the drainers,
and which, having risen to the heighth of that cavity, falls over the top of
the division u into the outer cavity X, from which cavity it can be taken off
at the bottom, or any other part thereof, by a pipe, or otherwise. In addition
to the side drainers described, I also place drainers in one or both sides of
the "midfeather" L, so that the water drained off thereby falls into the
cavity L, seen in Figure 4, from whence it passes through the hole M, seen
in Figure 2, and thence below the "backfall" of the engine trough into
the cavity X, which surrounds the sides of the trough, and which takes
away the water drained from the side drainers E, as already described. By
this arrangement the fluid drained off by the drainers in the "midfeather"
finally mixes with the water drained other parts, and in addition I also apply
drainers to the top surface of the rags or material, to drain off the greatest
possible quantity of water during washing.
Sheet III. is descriptive of other methods for draining and washing rags
or other materials, wherein I employ a wheel a, seen in Figure 1, which
is a plan of the engine trough, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of the
trough, shewing a side elevation of the wheel attached to it, and Figure 3 a
cross section of the engine trough and wheel a. The ring a in these Figures
consist of a hollow metal rim closed all around its periphery, and also on
its outsides, and its inside is open towards its axle at the places b, c, and to
this rim hollow spokes are fastened. These join with and open into the
hollow axle e; and on the outside of these spokes, and between the rim a and
the axle, wire cloth is stretched on both sides of the wheel to form drainers,
and the water drains into the vacuity formed between them, and falls into

page_text: the hollow part of the rim b, c, f, by passing in at the open side c, b, and
from thence through the spokes a into the axle e, during the revolution of
the wheel, till above the level of the axis thereof. To effect this the rim a is
shut up with cross pieces, as at c, f, acting against the water to carry it
round within the rim a far enough to be discharged through the spokes d
into the axle c. In Figure 2 the wire cloth is shewn only upon the front
of the wheel, the remainder being left bare to shew the spokes d, &c., within
it. The wire cloth is put in in panels between the spokes, or the whole
circle may be covered with one piece of wire cloth, fastened to slips of wood
attached to the outside of the hollow spokes. The inside of the rim a is
made to pass up behind the wire cloth, as at Figure 4, where g, h, is the
wire cloth on each side of the wheel, and a, k, l, a section of the rim, as
already noticed. The water drained passes along the axle e and falls into
the pipe m, from whence it is discharged. na pulley through which the
axle e passes, and the centre picce p is afterwards put in to bind the axle e,
pulley n, and axle q together. I also employ a disk-A for draining, shewn in
Figure 5, which is a plan of the engine trough and of this disk. Figure 6
a longitudinal section of the trough, shewing a front elevation of the disk;
Figure 7 a cross section of the same; Figures 8 and 9 elevation and section
of the same parts, on a scale of two inches to the foot. This disk a is a thin
rim of metal supported by spokes, and the spaces between its spokes are
covered on one side of the disk with wire cloth. In the middle of each
spoke and around the side of the rim a groove is made, into which slips of
wood are fixed for nailing the wire cloth upon. The periphery of this disk
is made to work in a metal collar 7, fixed to the side of the "midfeather," or
to the side of the engine trough, so that the water drained falls into the
space between the disk and midfeather or side of the trough, from whence
it escapes through a hole as at s into a vacuity t in the "forcslope," from
which it is drawn off by the stopcock u. v, a pulley for a bolt, for giving motion
to the disk w, a, in the line of the level of the pulp in all the Figures in this
Sheet. The axle of this disk works into boxes or collars y, fixed on the
"midfeather" and side of the engine trough. I also employ a dipper.
Figure 10 is an elevation of it, on a scale of two inches to the foot. When
working it is mounted on an axle, and discharges its water in the same way
as the wheel already described. Wire cloth is stretched across each end
of the dippers y, and the water drained, falling into the cavity between them,
is lifted up by the spokes i and discharged at the axle j. The dippers
dip into the pulp as far as shewn in the Drawing. These revolving drainers
1 make to work at any convenient part of the engine trough, and I mount