IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène Lardenois, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES."-
A communication from Bonnet Frederic Brunel, residing in Brussels.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène Lardenois at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th April 1859.
I, EUGÈNE LARDENOIS, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES,"
(communicated to me by Bonnet Frederic Brunel, residing in Brussels,) to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing pulp from vegetable substances
without rags, by subjecting them 1st, to the action of steam; 2nd, to the blows
of heavy hammers and to pressure between rollers; 3rd, to solutions of pro-
toxide of sodium under pressure; 4th, to mineral acids, and to washings in
water; 5th, to chlorine' or chlorides, to carbonic acid, to oxalic acid, to heat,
to galvanic currents, and to pressure.
15 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugene Lardenois in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE.
LABDENOIS, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Merchant, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Eugene Lardenois, Her special licence that I, the said Eugene
Lardenois, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Eugene Lardenois, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PULP FOR PAPER, PASTEBOARD, AND OTHER
LIKE ARTICLES," (communicated to me by Bonnet Frederic Brunel, residing in
Brussels") upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Eugene
Lardenois, 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 Eugene Lardenois, 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:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing pulp from vegetable substances
without rags, by subjecting them, first, to the action of steam; second, to the
blows of heavy hammers, and to pressure between rollers; third, to solutions
of protoxide of sodium under pressure; fourth, to mineral acids, and to
washings in water; fifth, to chlorine or chlorides, to carbonic acid, to oxalic
acid, to heat, to galvanic currents, and to pressure.
The manner in which I carry my Invention into effect is as follows:-
First operation. I submit to the softening action of steam all those solid
vegetable substances, such as roots, bark, and all others, the interior of which
is not tubular or hollow, for a period varying with the nature of the matter
treated, but generally about one hour will surfice. On being removed from the
steaming vats, the matter is hammered until thoroughly crushed. Tubular
vegetable substances such as straw, reeds, cane, &c., are rolled to split up the
tubes and crush the knots.
Second operation.-The crushed substances which have been rolled are

page_text: placed in a vessel containing a boiling solution of protoxide of sodium or
protoxide of potassium, marking 7° or 8°. The vessel is then hermetically
closed, and heat is continued to be applied until the pressure inside has been
raised to that of one atmosphere, and continued for about one hour. For those
substances which have been crushed by the hammer the pressure must be
raised to two atmospheres, and in some cases to three atmospheres, and main-
tained for from about two hours to two hours and a half. The protoxide
of sodium at a high temperature and under great pressure, causes the
separation from the vegetable substances of all fatty, resinous, and silicious
matters, and causes the saponification of such matters. The vegetable fibres
resulting from this second operation are ready for the third.
Third operation. The vegetable fibres are next submitted to pressure for
the purpose of squeezing out the liquid therefrom, after which they are
thoroughly washed in clean water to prepare them for the next and,
Fourth operation.-The fibres are placed in a wooden vat containing a
weak solution of hydrochrolic and oxalic acids. As soon as the fibres are
entirely submerged in this bath it is electrified, and for the space of about one
hour the voltaic currents are polarized about every five minutes. The object of
this operation is, first, to dissolve all metallic oxides contained in the fibres;
second, to attack and commence the removal of color from the fibres, and to
prepare them for subsequent bleaching. On being removed from the bath the
fibres are placed to drain.
.
Fifth operation. -The fibres, after having drained, are washed until all
trace of the last bath is removed. If in this state they are placed in an
ordinary pulping engine they yield a pulp fit for the manufacture of the
common sorts of paper hangings, for packing papers, pasteboard, and other
coarse papers and articles; but if destined for the superior sorts of paper,
cardboard, &c., they are placed, after being washed, in what I term the
"electro-chlorigene."
Sixth operation. The washed fibres are placed in the " electro-chlorigene,"
which is a vessel in the form of a cask with hollow axles lined with lead,
which are placed and free to revolve in suitable bearings, the vessel revolving
with them. Inside the vessel I fit sets of blades of platina or other suitable
metal, and connect one set of blades with the positive and the other with the
negative poles of a battery. The vessel is provided with a pressurge guage and
with a thermometer, also with cocks and with an aperture, which can be
hermetically closed for the purpose of charging it and emptying it. The fibres
still damp, are introduced into the vessel until they occupy, say, four-seventhş

page_text: of its capacity, then I pour over the fibres, until they are covered by it, a
concentrated solution of protoxide of calcium prepared in distilled water. The
electro-chlorigene is then hermetically closed, and rotary motion, at the rate
of about three revolutions per minute is imparted for about one hour and a
half by a belt or otherwise from some prime mover to the axle and through it
to the vessel. Cocks provided for the purpose are then opened and all the
liquid is allowed to run out of the vessel.
Seventh operation.-I close the outlet cocks and pour into the electro-
chlorigene liquid chloride of calcium, until the fibres are completely covered
by it. I then introduce through one of the cocks on the vessel carbonic acid
gas, and by opening another of the cocks the carbonic acid drives out all the
air; this accomplished, and the atmosphere inside the vessel being carbonic
acid gas, the outlet cock is closed, and the gas is still introduced until its
pressure inside is equal to about a quarter of an atmosphere. The inlet cock
is then closed, and steam is introduced through one of the hollow axles, lined
with lead to elevate the temperature in the vessel until the thermometer
rises to about 85° Fahrenheit. Rotary motion is again imparted to the vessel
for about half-an-hour, at the rate of about five revolutions per minute. During
the rotation the blades inside the vessel prevent the fibres from turning as a
ball and break them up, so that every portion may be exposed to the agents
inside the vessel; the fibres will be thus reduced to a coarse pulp, and the
coloring matter therein will be greatly affected. At the expiration of the half-
hour the rotations are carried up to ten or fifteen per minute, then the currents
from the battery are connected to the metal blades, which thus become the
decomposing poles of the battery, the chlorine, the carbonic acid, and the
filamentous matter are electrified; the voltaic currents excite the energetic
action of the gases, chlorine becomes decomposed, and seems under these
circumstances, and in presence of the carbonic acid, to act upon the color of
the filamentous mass precisely in the manner, but more energetically, as it acts
upon mephitic gases. I polarise the voltaic currents every four or five minutes
for about half-an-hour, and then I disconnect the blades from the battery, and
continue the rotation of the vessel for about an hour further. The cocks are
then opened to allow of the escape of the gases from the vessel. All the pre-
ceding operations having been followed in the manner and order previously
described, the result will be that the vegetable fibres will be found converted
into a pulp so good and white as to require only to be submitted to the next
operation to be described to render it perfect. I may remark, that instead of
using liquid chloride previously prepared, as described, an equal volume of lime

page_text: water might have been poured into the electro-chlorigene, and the chlorine
might have been generated in the vessel by simply passing a current of chlorine
into the lime water until saturation.
Eighth operation.---After the escape of the gases from the vessel, I treat
the pulp to about one-fifth of its weight of oxalic acid. I apply the acid in a
state of solution, close all cocks on the electro-chlorigene, and again impart
rotary motion for about one hour, at the rate of from twenty to twenty-five
revolutions per minute, and simultaneously raise the temperature in the vessel
by introducing steam until it rises to about 105° Fahrenheit. The oxalic acid
will have produced its effect; it will have freed nearly all the chlorine from the
pulp, while it will have formed with the lime an oxalate. I then empty the
vessel of its contents, and leave the pulp to drain.
Ninth, and last operation.-After draining, I wash the pulp with a solution
of sulphite of soda, in order to remove the last trace of chlorine. I then
leave it to drain, press and dry it by means of a fan or otherwise, and when dry
it is ready for the market.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the manufacture of pulp for paper, pasteboard, and other like articles
by means of the successive operations, and in manner herein-before described.
Second, the employment in the manufacture of pulp from vegetable sub-
stances, of protoxide of sodium, or of potassium, under a pressure of from one,
two, or three atmospheres, according to the nature of such substances.
Third, the employment of oxalic acid and steam, or other heating medium,
in the manufacture of pulp from vegetable substances, in manner and for the
purposes herein-before described.
And, fourth, the employment in the manufacture of pulp from vegetable
substances of a vessel constructed and acting substantially in manner similar
to that which I have herein designated the electro-chlorigene.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Lardenois, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
EUGENE LARDENOIS. (L.S.)