IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR TEXTILE PURPOSES AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STOCK
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Routledge, of Ford Works, near Sunder-
land, Paper Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR TEXTILE PURPOSES AND FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STOCK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Routledge at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1872.
I, THOMAS ROUTLEDGE, of Ford Works, near Sunderland, Paper
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING FIBROUS SUBSTANCES FOR TEXTILE PURPOSES AND
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STOCK," to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are the preliminary preparation and the
subsequent treatment of raw vegetable fibrous substances in order to
reduce them into a fibrous condition suitable for "textile" purposes and
for "paper stock" as also for the utilization of the by or secondary
products resulting therefrom.
•

page_text: The said preliminary preparation consists in a process or series of
processes whereby the gluten, starch, and other amylaceous, gummo-
resinous, and extractive compounds, which more or less constitute a large
proportion of the bulk and a considerable per centage of the weight of
all raw vegetable fibrous substances, are decomposed or partially decom-
posed so far that the ultimate fibres may be separated or eliminated
wholly or partially therefrom, thus constituting "paper stock; " or tho
said ultimate fibres so preliminarily prepared may be further disintegrated
by heckling, willowing, carding, or other analogous process, so as to
be adapted for spinning and various other "textile "
purposes, the
residuary amylaceous and proteine compounds being if desired collected
and utilized.
It is well known that most fibres employed in "textile" manufactures,
with the exception perhaps of silk and cotton, are separated or prepared
for separation from the attaching stalk or parenchyma with which during
their growth they are naturally combined, by a process of steeping or
retting in water, which induces a species of fermentation whereby the
parenchymous, amylaceous, or gummo-resinous compounds or matters
are so decomposed or partially decomposed that by the further mechanical
process of rolling, breaking or beating, scutching and heckling, the
ultimate fibres are separated therefrom; such steeping or retting pro-
cesses however as now practised occupy a very considerable time and
require to be very carefully conducted and watched.
I have discovered that when a certain class of raw vegetable fibrous
substances are subjected to a preliminary alkaline steep and from that
transferred to a fermentative steep, produced artificially, as herein-after
described, the time.necessitated.for-such-steeping-is-very-much-reduced;
and further, by adjusting the temperature of such steeping operations.
the desired decomposition or partial decomposition and subsequent
separation and elimination of such parenchymous and other extraneous
substances-or-compounds-combined with the ultimate fibres is materially
expedited and promoted, and at the same time readily controlled.
:..
The class of fibrous substances to which I have found the above.
preliminary system of treatment more especially applicable, are those
combined with or containing a large proportion of gluten, starch, and
similar amylaceous and gummo-resinous compounds, such as begasse or
sugar cane refuse, maize straw and leaves, rice straw, musa or plantain,
.

page_text: pine apple, yucca, phormium tenax, &c. It is also applicable to the
treatment of flax, hemp, jute, rhea fibre, and similar fibrous substances,
used more especially for "textile "purposes.
:
According to my said Invention the preliminary or first steep is com-
posed of lime water, that is, water in which caustic or hydrate of lime
has been dissolved. I use lime for economy, but any 'other alkaline
steep may be employed. I immerse the fibrous substances to be treated
in a tank or one of a series of tanks or vessels herein-after described,
filled with the alkaline steep liquor, taking care that they shall be sub-
merged or covered, and allow them to remain therein from about
twenty-four to thirty-six hours if at the ordinary temperature of the
water where such fibrous substances are produced, say from about
fifty to seventy degrees Fahrenheit; by the action of such alkaline
steep the parenchymous covering and amylaceous and proteine com-
pounds combined with the fibres will be so far-attached or affected as to
admit of and facilitate the action of the following or fermentative steep,
which (the lime or other alkaline steep liquor being drained or pumped
off) may be conducted in the same, but by preference in one or more of
another adjacent series of tanks or vessels, the fibrous substances being
placed therein and ferment liquor added thereto so as to cover the fibrous
substances; the time required for this second or ferment steep will be
from about thirty-six to seventy hours, according to the atmospheric
temperature. Such ferment steep is composed of water, to which has
been added a portion of the ferment resulting from a previous ferment
steep, or fermentation may be induced by adding yeast or other fermenting
substance thereto, the natural previously created ferment being prefer-
able, and such ferment in the first instance may be created by allowing
a certain portion of the fibrous substances previously treated by an
alkaline steep to remain under steep-until-fermentation has been
naturally induced, when by using the ferment thus created the process
of steeping may thereafter be conducted continuously from one
steep vessel to another through the series of vessels, with fresh charges
indefinitely.
It will be remarked that both the alkaline and fermentative steeps
may be effected by using water at the natural temperature, but in order
to expedite both the said steeping processes and economise the plant ör
apparatus:required, I prefer the application of-heat; as according-to-the
elevation of temperature of the steep liquors the time required for
.

page_text: steeping is materially reduced or abridged and more readily controlled.
For example, the best results are obtained by alkaline steeping from
about one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty degrees for about
ten to twelve hours, and ferment steeping at about one hundred degrees
for about ten to twelve hours, sufficient decomposition of the extraneous
compounds, without injurious action on the ultimate fibres being
thereby attained with most convenient and regular working of the
steeping plant or apparatus and succeeding processes.
The plant or series of tanks or vessels in which the aforesaid steeping
processes (as also those for the subsequent boiling, washing, and
bleaching processes herein-after to be described) are performed, may be
constructed of any convenient form of wood, masonry, concrete, or
metal sunk into or placed on the surface of the ground, but as crude or
raw vegetable substances in their normal condition are generally ex-
tremely bulky, for economical considerations, especially when mere
steeping alone is desired, it will be found most convenient to construct
them in the ground, and of capacity sufficient to contain a ton or there-
abouts of the fibrous substances to be treated; the vessels should be
water-tight, furnished with perforated false bottoms, and connected
together by pipes or channels fitted with the necessary cocks or valves,
in order to connect or disconnect each vessel as desired, in such manner
that the warm steep or other liquor, being run into the top of the first
vessel of the series (charged with the material to be treated), which is
connected by a pipe or otherwise from under the false bottom to the
upper portion of the second vessel of the series by hydrostatic pressure
is forced or gravitated downwards and then upwards successively and
continuously through eight, ten, or more vessels constituting the series,
the eighth or last vessel of the series being connected by a return pipe
or other channel with the first of the series, so that the steeping, boiling,
or other processes may thus be proceeded with continuously, and as each
vessel is also provided with a connection fitted to and under the false
bottom it may be emptied as desired. By this system the steep or
other liquors may be used again and again until they have become
inoperative or surcharged with extractive matters, meanwhile, however,
utilizing the heat, if heat bo cumployed, and thus economising fuel and
water; or the whole or a certain portion of the liquors in either case may
be run off to waste or otherwise utilized, and fresh added to supplement
the portion thus run off, and revivify the steep or other liquors; or the

page_text: steep or other liquors may be pumped or syphoned from one vessel to
another, as may be desired; but I have found the continuous system as
described most convenient in practice. The temperature of the steep
liquors is maintained by blind pipes laid under the false bottoms of the
vessels, heated by steam or water, or naked steam may be employed for
sucli purpose.
It will be known when the effect desired has been attained by taking
a portion of the fibrous substances which have been treated in the hand,
when if they are found to have lost their natural harshness, and to havé
become soft, viscous, or greasy, and the fibres readily separated or
detached from the parenchyma and from each other by rubbing, they
may be removed from the steep and subjected to pressure in any con-
venient manner, or without pressure, trodden on a paved floor, passed
through stampers or rollers, or otherwise treated, to complete the, dis-
integration resulting from the steeping processes previously described,
washed in water, when the glutinous and other compounds or substances.
will separate freely therefrom. The comparatively clean fibre or fibrous
material may be pressed into cakes in any convenient manner, and dried
artificially or otherwise, or by preference, especially if the cost of carriage
is an object, the fibres may be reduced materially in bulk, and still further
deprived of extraneous matter after being pressed to extract the excess
of moisture by passing them when dried or partially dried through a
willow or carding machine, by which they will be converted into a
fibrous or tow like condition, when they may be baled, forming in this
condition crude paper stock. The glutinous proteine or other compounds
left diffused in the washing waters will deposit in the vessels and may
bo collected and utilized.. If the fibres are desired only for "textile ".
purposes, neither the alkaline nor the ferment: steeping processes should
be carried so far as when the fibres are desired for "paper stock," partial.
decomposition of the parenchyma and proteine compounds having been
sufficiently effected, further disintegration of the fibres should be pro-
duced by greater mechanical manipulation of the rolling and-washing
processes, and by subsequent scutching, heckling, &c., &c.
I
The crude "paper stock" prepared as described is suitable for con-
version into brown wrapping and other common papers, but when it is
desired to manufacture therefrom printing, writing, or other bleached
papers, such “paper stock" must be subjected to a process of boiling in
alkaline:leys, as ordinarily practised, or by the peculiar system of boiling,

page_text: which I now proceed to describe. The system of boiling which I prefer,
not only for such crude "paper stock," prepared as described, but for
other fibres or fibrous materials, to which the foregoing preliminary
steeping processes are not applicable, consists as follows:-
I employ for the said boiling and subsequent washing processes a
similar series of eight or more vessels to those herein-before mentioned,
so connected together that I can employ the alkaline ley for boiling
again and again, until the free alkali therein is completely neutralised,
by which I effect a great saving, not only in the original relative per
centage quantity of alkali employed, but I save fuel and enormously
reduce the quantity of water required by the ordinary process as now
followed, besides producing the desired effect upon the fibrous material
under treatment with the minimum of waste or loss to such material.
The vessels may be heated in any convenient manner by injection of
either low or high pressure, or superheated steam, or by blind pipes with
steam or water circulating therein. I prefer employing the bowking or
vomiting system, as it is desirable that circulation of the alkaline leys
be from time to time kept up during the boiling process, the same being
also necessary to maintain the requisite temperature of the leys; this is
most conveniently effected by injecting steam into the kier or vessel
immediately under the ordinary vomiting pipe, which is fixed in the
centre of the kier and attached to the false bottom thereof, this system
being applicable with either low or high pressure steam, and to either an
open or a closed vessel or a boiling pan. It is desirable the bonnet
superimposed over the vomiting pipe should be adjustable to control the
flow and circulation of the vomited leys, and where fuel is costly I
prefer the special arrangement of blind pipes for producing boiling and
circulation herein-after described.
In commencing the boiling process one of the vessels of the series
being filled with the fibrous materials to be treated I run thereon the
boiling ley, filling the vessel above the level of the pipe or channel
connecting it with and to the next vessel of the series, which second
vessel being charged I again run a charge of ley into the first vessel,
which, the valve of communication being then opened from under the
false bottom of the first vessel, an equivalent quantity of ley is forced
by gravitation from it into No. 2 vessel, by which time No. 3 vessel is
charged, and so on progressively and continuously, so that assuming 10

page_text: hours would by the ordinary system be employed for boiling with one
charge during such period, by my system five successive charges would
be run-on, over, and through the fibres in No. 1' vessel, which would
then be found to be sufficiently boiled. I then disconnect No. 1 by
closing the connection between it and No. 2 vessel, thus constituting
No. 2 for the time being No. 1 vessel, and run water into No. 1
for washing No. 2, having received its final charge of ley is then
disconnected from No. 3, which in its turn becomes, as it were, No. 1,
and No. 2 is connected again with No. 1, and a fresh charge of
washing water being run into No. 1, forces over a corresponding
quantity into No. 2. By this system it will be seen that both the
leys and the succeeding rinsing or washing waters will be used again
and again. By the time the first ley introduced has reached No. 5
or No. 6. vessel, it will be found to have become neutralised by
the gummo-resinous coloring and extractive matters, and may then
be run off to waste, or evaporated to recover the alkali therefrom,
and when the succeeding washing waters have been run progres-
sively in the same manner from vessel to vessel, it will be found that'
by the time they have reached, say the sixth or eighth vessel, they
will have attained the same strength as the original ley. The fibrous
material in No. 1 being perfectly cleansed, and, if desired, cooled by a
final rinsing water, may then be removed from the pan or vessel, and is
ready for bleaching without further mechanical or other washing.
.
By this means I am enabled to employ concentrated leys, thus saving at
least two-thirds the quantity of water usually employed, thereby ensuring
economy of the fuel required for maintaining the necessary temperaturo
during the boiling process, reducing also the quantity of water to be sub-
sequently evaporated, and thus effecting a further saving if it is desired
to-recover-the-alkali-employed; moreover, as each fresh charge of alkali
removes, and, so to speak, pushes forward the proteine and coloring
matters, every successive charge acts on fresh surfaces, and the ultimate
cleansing and purification of the fibres is ensured, with a saving of thirty
per cent. and upwards of the alkali now employed, and, as previously
remarked, with less injurious action upon the fibrous materials under
treatment:

page_text: ton of fibre under treatment. By the foregoing system I find from about
five to seven per cent. sufficient, or even less, and I also am enabled to
recover a larger proportion of the effete alkali after it has been used in
the boiling process and from the washing and rinsing waters, which
are also by being thus used again and again concentrated to nearly an
equal strength of contained soda to the original leys employed.
1.
In the ordinary process of boiling now practised in single or detached
kiers or other vessels, the charge of alkaline ley requisite to treat a ton
of fibrous material, such as esparto, is from about nine hundred to 1000
gallons, such alkaline ley being constituted by from about 8 per cent. to
10 per cent. of soda to the fibre treated. By my continuous system, as
herein-before described, I am enabled to use the ley in a far more
concentrated form, the quantity of liquor being reduced to about 300
to 400 gallons; and its relative per centage strength of soda to the
fibre treated to about 6 to 7 per cent., thus saving about three cents. of
alkali and more than half the water to be boiled and ultimately evaporated
if the soda is intended to be recovered.
Having thus so far described the preliminary preparation by alkalino
and fermentative steeping, and the subsequent system of boiling and
washing, I have now to add that when fuel is not an object of economy
a material reduction in the time required for the said preliminary
steeping processes, and a consequent saving of the plant or apparatus
employed therein, may be effected by still further elevating the tem-
perature of the lime or other alkaline steep to from about 160 to
180 degrees, and continuing the same from about 8 to 10 hours,
the-warmth-mellowing, softening, and swelling. the fibrous substances,.
so that the covering, silicious coating, and their pores are more readily
permeated and acted upon, the parenchyma and proteine compounds
being thereby, sufficiently decomposed to allow of their being readily
removed-by-the-processes-herein-before-described.--
-
"It is desirable when subjecting begasse or similar harsh ligneous fibros
to the above treatment, to increase the quantity of lime present in the
steep liquors, not however exceeding from about 15 to 25 per cent.
of the fibre treated; but in treating maize and similar fibres of a
more delicate texture the lime or other alkaline steep liquor should be
clear or nearly clear.

page_text: Begasse thus treated, or by the alkaline and fermentative steeps as
first described, can then be efficiently boiled by my peculiar continuous
or other system, and manufactured into fibrous "paper stock "fit for
bleaching and conversion into pulp and paper with one half or less
than half the quantity of soda were such preliminary processes omitted.."
With maize and similar fibres the saving of soda will be in the same
proportions, and with such fibres, when thus preliminarily treated, the
soda may be used in its mild or carbonated form..
When it is desired to utilize the glutinous and amylaceous compounds
produced, they should be washed in fresh water to purify them from the
alkaline.and fermentative steep liquors, such water however need not be
wasted, as, if allowed to repose, these compounds will be deposited, and
can then be removed and reduced to a compact condition, and dried for
transit.
When it is desired to bleach the paper stock or fibrous substances, I
prefer to employ a continuous system by. hydrostatic percolation. in a
similar series of vessels, connected together as previously described with
respect to the boiling and steeping processes. Such "paper stock,"
purified by washing, may then be dried and prepared for transport in
any convenient manner.
The special arrangement of blind pipes herein-before referred to for
boiling is as follows:- -I take wrought-iron tubing, say, of one to two.
inches diameter, and bend the same into a helix or coil proportioned in.
height to the size of the vessel in which the materials are boiled, the
internal diameter of said helix being kept from about 5 to 8.inches and:
it's exterior surrounded with thin sheet iron, when it forms as it were
the vomit pipe. I connect the bottom of the said helix with a coil. of
pipe formed into a flattened worm or volute corresponding with the
diameter, and placed under the false bottom of the boiling vessel, the
extremity of said worm or volute being protruded through the bottom of
the pan and furnished with a tap, so that steam being admitted into the
upper portion of the helix passes through the whole coil of pipe,.the.tap
being_so_regulated as merely to allow the condensed steam as water to

page_text: venient manner, covered with wire cloth or similar reticulated material,
the said drum revolving in a case or trough; and its interior being fitted-
with shelves placed diagonally or transversely. thereto, four, six, or moro
in number, forming as it were a hollow screw, so that the material being
fed thereto will be rotated itherein. and gradually passed through the
drum, and a pipe or stream of water being supplied to the interior of the
drum, such material during its passage is cleansed from. the glutinous
and other compounds which pass through the exterior reticulated surface
of the covering of the drum into the exterior case, from which they can
be removed, while the cleansed fibre is discharged from the further end
of the drum. A convenient size for such drum will be, say, nine to
twelve feet long and four to five feet in diameter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Routledge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROUTLEDGE, of Ford Works, near Sunderland, Paper Manufacturer,
send greeting..
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One tliousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Routledge, Her special license that
Ithe said Thomas-Routledge, my executors, administrators; and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Routledge, my executors, admini-
strators, or 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 TREATING FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES FOR TEXTILE PURPOSES AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER STOCK,”.
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Routledge,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the, same was..to bo per--a
.4

page_text: formed, 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 Thomas Routledge, 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 following statement, that is to say ;-
The objects of this Invention are the preliminary preparation and the
subsequent treatment of raw vegetable fibrous substances, in order to
reduce them into a fibrous condition suitable for "textile". purposes,
and for " paper stock," as also for the utilization of the by or secondary
products resulting therefrom.
The said preliminary preparation consists in a process or series of
processes whereby the gluten, starch, and other amylaccous, gummo-
resinous, and extractive compounds which more or less constituto a
large proportion of the bulk, and a considerable per centage of the
weight of all raw vegetable fibrous substances, are decomposed or
partially decomposed so far that-the ultimate fibres may be separated
or eliminated wholly or partially therefrom, thus constituting "papër
stock," or the said ultimate fibres so preliminarily prepared may be
further disentegrated by heckling, willowing, carding, or other analogous
process, so as to be adapted for spinning and various other "textile "
purposes, the residuary, amylaceous, and proteine compounds being, if
desired, collected and utilized.
.
!
It is well known that most fibres employed in." textile." manu-
factures, with the exception perhaps of silk and cotton, are: separated
or-prepared for-separation-from-the-attaching-stalk or parenchyma
with which. during their growth they are-naturally combined by a
process of steeping or retting in water, which induces a species of
fermentation, whereby the parenchymous, amylaceous, or gummo-
resinous compounds or matters are so decomposed or partially decom-
posed that by the further mechanical process of rolling, breaking or
beating, scutching and heckling, the ultimate fibres are separated
therefrom; such steeping or retting processes.however as now practised
occupy-a very considerable time and require to be very carefully con
ducted and watched.

page_text: I have discovered that when a certain class of raw vegetable fibrous
substances are subjected to a preliminary alkaline steep, and from that
transferred to a fermentative steep produced artificially, as herein-after
described, the time necessitated for such steeping is very much reduced,
and furthur by adjusting the temperature of such steeping operations
the desired decomposition or partial decomposition, and subsequent
separation and elimination of such parenchymous and other extraneous
substances or compounds combined with the ultimate fibres is materially
expedited and promoted, and at the same time readily controlled.
The class of fibrous substances to which I have found the above
preliminary system of treatment more especially applicable are those
combined with or containing a large proportion of gluten, starch, and
similar amylaceous and gummo-resinous compounds, such as begasso
or sugar cane refuse, maize straw and leaves, rice straw, plantain,
thormium tenax, &c. It is also applicable to the treatment of flax,
hemp, jute, rhea fibre, and similar fibrous substances used more especially
for "textile" purposes.
According to my said Invention the preliminary or first steep is
composed of lime water, that is water in which caustic or hydrate of
lime has been dissolved or disseminated; I use lime for economy, but
any other alkaline steep may be employed. I immerse the fibrous
substances to be treated in a tank or one of a series of tanks or
vessels, herein-after described, filled with the alkaline steep liquor,
taking care that they shall be submerged or covered, and allow them
to remain therein from about 24 to 36 hours, if at the ordinary tem-
perature of the water where such fibrous substances are produced, say,
from about 50° to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, by the action of such alkaline
steep the parenchymous covering and amylaceous and proteine com-
pounds combined with the fibres will be so far attacked or affected
as to admit of and facilitate the action of the following or fermentativo ;
steep, which (the lime or other alkaline steep liquor being drained or
pumped off) may be conducted in the same but by preference in one
or more of another adjacent series of tanks or vessels, the fibrous
substances being placed therein and ferment liquor added thereto so as
to cover the fibrous substances, the time required for this second or a
ferment steep will be from about 36 to 70 hours, according to the
atmospheric temperature. Such ferment steep is composed of water.
to which has been added a portion of the ferment resulting from a

page_text: previous ferment steep, or fermentation may be induced by adding
yeast or other fermenting substance thereto, the natural previously
created ferment being preferable; and such ferment in the first instance
may be created by allowing a certain portion of the fibrous substances
previously treated by an alkaline, steep to remain, under steep until
fermentation has been naturally induced, when by using the ferment
thus created the process of steeping may thereafter be conducted.con-
tinuously from one steep vessel to another through the series of vessels
with fresh charges indefinitely.
"
It will be remarked that both the alkaline and fermentative steeps
may be effected by using water at the natural temperature; but in
order to expedite both the said steeping processes and economise the
plant or apparatus required, I prefer the application of heat, as according
to the elevation of temperature of the steep liquors the time required
for steeping is materially reduced or abridged and more readily con-
trolled. For example, the best results are obtained by alkaline steeping
from about 110 to 120 degrees for about 10 to 12 hours, and ferment
steeping at about 100 degrees for about 10 to 12 hours, sufficient
decomposition of the extraneous compounds without injurious action
on the ultimate fibres being thereby attained with most convenient
and regular working of the steeping plant or apparatus and succeeding
processes.
·
I have now to add that when fuel is not an object of economy a
material. reduction in the time required for. the preliminary. preparation
of the fibrous materials, and a consequent saving of the plant or
apparatus employed therein may be effected, by elevating the tempera-
ture of the lime or other alkaline steep to from about 160° to 180°, or
even to a boiling temperature, and continuing the same from about 8
to 10 hours, the warmth mellowing, softening, and swelling the fibrous
) substances so that the covering, silicious coating, and their pores are
more readily permeated and acted upon, the parenchyma and proteine
compounds being thereby sufficiently decomposed to allow of their being
readily removed by the washing process herein-before mentioned..
It is desirable when subjecting begasse or similar harsh ligneous fibres
5 to the above treatment to increase the quantity of lime present in the
steep liquors, not however exceeding from about 15 to 25% of the fibre
treated; but in treating maize and similar fibres of a-more delicate

page_text: texture, the lime or other alkaline steep liquor should be clear or nearly
clear, especially when it is desired to utilize the by products.
The plant or scries of tanks or vessels in which the aforesaid steeping
processes (as also those for the subsequent boiling, washing, and bleaching
processes herein-after to be described) are performed, may be constructed
of any convenient form of wood, masonry, concrete, or metal sunk into
or placed on the surface of the ground, but as crude or raw vegetable
substances in their normal condition are generally extremely bulky for
economical considerations, especially when mere steeping alone is desired,
it will be found most convenient to construct them in the ground,
and of capacity sufficient to contain a ton or thereabouts of the fibrous
substances to be treated; the vessels should be water-tight, furnished
with perforated false bottoms and connected together by pipes or
channels fitted with the necessary cocks or valves in order to connect or
disconnect each vessel as desired, in such manner that the warm steep
or other liquor being run into the top of the first vessel of the series
(charged with the material to be treated), which is connected by a pipe
or otherwise from under the false bottom to the upper portion of the
second vessel of the series by hydrostatic pressure is forced or gravitated
downwards, and then upwards successively, and continuously through 8,
10, or more vessels constituting the series; the 8th or last vessel of the
series being connected by a return pipe or other channel with the first of
the series so that the steeping, boiling, or other processes may thus be
proceeded with continuously, and as cach vessel is also provided with a
connection fitted to and under the false bottom it may be emptied as
desired. By this system the steep or other liquors may be used again
and again until they have become inoperative or surcharged with
extractive matters, meanwhile utilising the heat if heat be employed,
and thus economising fuel and water; or the whole or a certain portion
of the liquors in either case may be run off to waste or otherwise utilised a
and fresh added to supplement the portion thus run off, and revivify the
steep or other liquors; or the steep or other liquors may be pumped or
syphoned from one vessel to another as may be desired; but I have found
the continuous system as described most convenient in practice; the
temperature of the steep liquors is maintained by blind pipes laid under 3
the false bottoms of the vessels heated by steam or water, or naked steam
may be employed for such purpose.
TL
11 1

page_text: °
a portion of the fibrous substances-which have been treated in the hand,
when if they are found to have lost their natural harshness and to have
become soft, viscous, or greasy, and the fibres readily separated or
detached from the parenchyma, and from each other; by rubbing they
may be removed from the steep and subjected to pressure in any con-
venient manner or without pressure trodden on a paved floor, passed
through stampers or rollers or otherwise treated to complete the dis-
integration resulting from, the steeping processes previously described,-
and then washed with water, when the glutinous and other compounds
or substances will separate freely therefrom. The comparitively clean
fibre or fibrous material may be pressed into cakes in .any convenient
manner, and dried artificially or otherwise, or by preference, especially
if the cost of carriage is an object, the fibres may be reduced materially
in bulk and still further deprived of extraneous matter after being
pressed to extract the excess of moisture by passing them when dried
or partially dried through a willow or carding machine; by which they
will be converted into a fibrous or tow-liko condition, when the drying
being completed they may be baled, forming in this condition crude
paper stock. The glutinous proteine or other compounds left, diffused in
the washing waters will deposit in the vessels and may be collected and
utilized. If the fibres are desired only for "textile" purposes neither
the alkaline nor the ferment steeping processes should be carried so far as
when the fibres are desired for "paper stock," partial decomposition of
the parenchyma and proteine compounds having been sufficiently
effected, further disentegration of the fibres should be produced by
greater mechanical manipulation of the rolling and washing processes
and by subsequent scutching, heckling, &c., &c., as now pràcticed.
The crude "paper stock" prepared as described is suitable for con-
version into brown wrapping and other common papers, but when it is
desired to manufacture therefrom printing, writing, or other bleached
papers, such "paper stock" must be subjected to a process of boiling
in alkalino leys as ordinarily practised, or by the peculiar system of
boiling which I now proceed to describe. The system of boiling which
I prefer not. only for such crude "paper stock" prepared as described,
but for other fibres or fibrous materials_to_which the foregoing preli
minary steeping processes are not applicable consists as follows:-
I employ for the said boiling and subsequent washing processes a
similar series of 8 or more vessels to those herein-before mentioned, so

page_text: connected together that I can employ the alkaline ley for boiling again
and again until the free alkali therein is completely neutralised, by
which I effect a great saving not only in the original relative per centage
quantity of alkali employed, but I save fuel and enormously reduce the
quantity of water required by the ordinary process as now followed,
besides producing the desired effect upon the fibrous material under
treatment with the minimum of waste or loss to such material.
The vessels may be heated in any convenient manner by injection of
either low or high pressure or superheated steam, or by blind pipes with
steam or water circulating therein. I prefer employing the Bowking
or vomiting system, as it is desirable that circulation of the alkaline leys
be kept up during the boiling process, the same being also necessary to
maintain the requisite temperature of the leys. This is most conveniently
effected by injecting steam into the kier or vessel immediately under the
ordinary vomiting pipe, which is fixed in the centre of the kier and i
attached to the false bottom thereof; this system being applicable with
either low or high pressure steam, and to either an open or a closed
vessel or boiling pan. It is desirable the bonnet superimposed over the
vomiting pipe should be adjustable to control the flow and circulation
of the vomited leys, and where fuel is costly I prefer the special arrange- 1
ment of blind pipes for producing boiling and circulation herein-after
described.
In commencing the boiling process, one of the vessels of the series
being filled with the fibrous materials to be treated, I run thereon the
boiling ley, filling the vessel above the level of the pipe or channel a
connecting it with and to the next vessel of the series, which second
vessel being charged with the fibrous material, I again run a charge
of ley into the first vessel, which the valve of communication being
then opened from under the false bottom of the first vessel, an equivalent
quantity of ley is forced by gravitation from it into No. 2 vessel, by 3
which time No. 3 vessel is charged, and so on progressively and con-
tinuously; so that assuming 10 hours would by the ordinary system be
employed for boiling with one charge during such period, by my system
five successive charges would be run on, over, and through the fibres in
No. 1 vessel, which would then be found to be sufficiently boiled. I g
then disconnect No. 1 by closing the connection between it and No. 2
vessel, thus constituting No. 2 for the time being No. 1 vessel, and run
water into No. 1 for washing; No. 2 having received its final charge of

page_text: ley is then disconnected from No. 3, which in its turn becomes as it were
No. 1, and No. 2 is connected again with No. 1, and a fresh charge of
washing water being run into No. 1 forces over a corresponding quantity
into No. 2. By this system it will be seen that both the leys and the
succeeding rinsing or washing waters will be used again and again. By
the time the first ley introduced has reached No. 5 or No. 6 vessel it
will be found to have become neutralised by the gummo-resinous coloring
and extractive matters, and may then be run off to waste or evaporated
to recover the alkali therefrom, and when the succeeding washing waters
have been run progressively in the same manner from vessel to vessel,
it will be found that they will ultimately attain nearly the same strength
as the original ley.
By this means I effect a saving of at least %rds. the quantity of
water usually employed for making the leys, thereby economising the fuel
required for maintaining the necessary temperature during the boiling
process and at the same time reduce the quantity of water to be sub-
sequently evaporated, thus effecting a further saving of fuel if it is
desired to recover the alkali employed; moreover, as each fresh charge
of alkaline ley removes and, so to speak, pushes forward the proteine
and coloring matters, every successive charge acts on fresh surfaces,
and the ultimate cleansing and purification of the residuary fibres is.
ensured with a saving of 30% and upwards of the alkali now employed,
and as previously remarked with less injurious action upon the fibrous
materials under treatment.
For example, for esparto and similar fibres the present practice is to
use not less than 8 and frequently 10% and upwards of soda to the ton
of fibre under treatment, and the charge of alkaline ley consists of from
800 to 1200 gallons of water in which the above quantity of soda has
been dissolved. By the above described continuous process I find from
about 5 to 7% of soda dissolved or combined with from 300 to 400 gallons.
of water, or even less, sufficient to produce the desired effect, thus saving
from 3 to 5% of the alkali now employed, and more than half the
water which would otherwise have to be kept boiling and subsequently
evaporated, if desired, to recover the alkali employed.
After the boiling is completed the washing and rinsing is conducted
continuously in the same vessels as described in my Patcut, No. 2470,

page_text: I have stated that it is desirable circulation of the leys should be kept
up during the boiling process in order to ensure this during the passage
of the leys from vessel to vessel when a change is made by the addition
of a fresh charge of ley. Steam is turned on to a pipe inserted in and
reaching nearly to the bottom of the pipe or channel communicating
from under the false bottom of each vessel of the series to the trough
or channel in connection with the upper part of each succeeding vessel
in the scries, thus not only neutralizing the vacuum which would other-
wise be formed by the vomiting pipe in such boiler or vessels but
materially expediting the flow of liquor from one vessel to each suc-
ceeding vessel of the series, and at the same time keeping up the
temperature of the liquors in their passage from vessel to vessel.
When boiling has ceased in any one or more of the vessels, and it is
desired to change the washing waters from vessol to vessel in continuity,
the jet of steam in the pipe communicating vessel to vessel will be
turned on and found to expedite the flow of the said washing waters, at
the same time maintaining their temperature, a matter of no small
importance when the superior solubility of soda in hot over cold water is
considered.
Begasse thus treated, or by the alkaline and fermentative steeps as a
first described, can then be efficiently boiled by my peculiar continuous
or other system, and manufactured into fibrous " 'paper stock" fit for
bleaching and conversion into pulp, and paper with one-half, or less
than half the quantity of soda, were such preliminary processes
omitted.
With maize and similar fibres the saving of soda will be in the same
proportions, and with such fibres, when thus preliminarily treated, the
soda may be used in its mild or carbonated form.
When it is desired to utilize the glutinous and amy laccous compounds
produced they should be washed in fresh water to purify them from the
alkaline and fermentative steep liquors, such water however need not be
wasted, as, if allowed to repose, these compounds will be deposited, and
can then be removed and reduced to a compact condition, and dried for
transit.
When it is desired to bleach the paper stock or fibrous substances, I
prefer to employ a continuous system by hydrostatic percolation, with or
without immediate, intermediate, or finishing scouring by mineral or

page_text: "
vegetable acid, as described in a similar series of vessels connected
together as previously described with respect to the boiling and steeping
processes; and I prefer that such processes should be carried on
at an
clevated temperature, which may be conveniently effected by introducing
during such percolation a jet of naked steam. Such "paper stock
purified by washing may then be dried and prepared for transport in any
convenient manner.
!"
"
..When a high pitch of color is desired I prefer to subject the fibre,
after it has undergone the boiling process in alkaline leys, and has been.
washed to free it from extraneous matter, and, if necessary, willowed or
otherwise opened out, to a bath of either mineral or vegetable acid,
properly diluted, which further cleanses the fibre previous to the
bleaching process.
•
The special arrangement of blind pipes, herein-before referred to, for
boling, is as follows:-I take wrought-iron tubing, say, of 1 to 2 inches
diameter, and bend the same into a helix or coil proportioned in height
to the size of the vessel in which the materials are boiled, the internal
diameter of said helix being kept from about 5 to 8 inches, and its
exterior surrounded with thin sheet. iron, when, it forms, as it were, the
vomit pipe. I connect the bottom of the said helix with a coil of pipe
formed into a flattened worm or volute, corresponding with the diameter,
and placed under the falso bottom of the boiling vessel, the extremity of
said worm or volute being protruded through the bottom of the pan, and
furnished with a tap, so that steam being admitted into the upper
portion of the helix passes through it and the whole coil of pipe, the tap
at the outside of the pan or vessel being so regulated as merely to allow
the condensed steam, as water, to escape.
The washing arrangement herein-before referred to consists of a drum
or cylinder with open ends mounted on bearings, driven in any con-
venient manner, the drum being covered-with-wire-cloth-or-similar
reticulated material, and revolving in a case or trough, its interior being
fitted with projections, ledges, or shelves placed longitudinally and
spirally inside. the cylinder, the projections in one row breaking joint
with those in the next, so that the material being fed thereto through
the open end will be rotated therein, and gradually passed through the
drum, and a pipe or stream of water being supplied to the interior of the
drum, such material during its passage is cleansed from the glutenous
and other compounds which pass through the exterior reticulated surface

page_text: of the covering of the drum into the exterior case, from which they can
be removed while the cleansed fibre is discharged from the further end
of the drum, which is entirely open, a convenient size for such drum will
be, say, 9 to 12 feet long, and 4 to 5 feet in diameter.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my 5
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The preliminary treatment and preparation of raw vegetable 1
fibrous substances in order to reduce them into a fibrous condition suit-
able for textile purposes and for fibrous paper stock, by liberating them
from their glutinous and proteine compounds, substantially as herein-
before described.
Thirdly. The peculiar construction and arrangement of apparatus for
steeping, boiling, and washing fibrous substances, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Routledge, have to this my 20
application set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.