IMPROVEMENTS IN. TREATING CERTAIN FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR MANU- FACTURING PAPER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Langley Mills, in the Parish of
Brancepeth, Paper Manufacturer, and James Hollingworth, of the same
Place, both in the County of Durham, Manager, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN. TREATING CERTAIN FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR MANU-
FACTURING PAPER."
Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 31st January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith and James
Hollingworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 31st January 1855.
We, JOHN SMITH, of Langley Mills, in the Parish of Brancepeth, Paper'
Manufacturer, and JAMES HOLLINGWORTH, of the same Place, both in the
County of Durham, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CERTAIN FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR.
MANUFACTURING PAPER" to be as follows:-
Our said improvements refer to the method of bleaching Surat jutė, gunny'
or sugar bagging, and other fibrous materials, suitable to be employed in the
manufacture of paper.
Our process consists in first well cleansing the fibrous material, and then
boiling in lime and alkaline water, and when cool again cleansing, and, while
washing, to add a due quantity of oil, then press the materials preparatory to'

page_text: bleaching. We employ chlorine gas for the bleaching process, and, after
washing in water, add a little sulphuric acid or muriatic acid. After a short
while the materials are to be again washed, and then boiled in an alkaline
solution, and thus prepared are ready to be treated with chloride of lime, and
finished by soaking in a dilute solution of sulphuric acid or muriatic acid;
after which, being removed and pressed or dried, the materials are in a fit state
for being used in preparing the pulp for manufacturing paper, as customary.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith and James HoHingworth in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
Smith, of Langley Mills, in the Parish of Brancepeth, Paper Manufacturer,
and JAMES HOLLINGWORTHI, of the same Place, both in the County of Durham,
Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Smith and James Hollingworth, Her special licence that we,
the said John Smith and James Hollingworth, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Smith and James Holling-
worth, our 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 TREATING
CERTAIN FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR MANUFACTURING PAPER," upon the condition
(amongst others). that we, the said John Smith and James Hollingworth,
by an instrument in writing under our 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 to 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 we, the said John Smith and James Holling-
worth, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to De particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our said improvements refer to the method we employ for bleaching Surat
jute, gunny or sugar bagging, and other fibrous materials, suitable to be
employed in the manufacture of paper... And for the better understanding of
our said Invention we will now proceed to detail the particulars of the same.
In carrying out our process, we proceed by sorting, dressing, and cutting the
fibrous materials, which must then be freed from sand, grit, and like foreign
matter, by willowing with a willow scutcher or duster, and next washed in a
pulping machine, or by other suitable machinery. When sufficiently cleaned
by such means, the materials must be transferred to a drainer, or to a boiler,
and boiled therein in milk of lime, about the specific gravity of 2 on Tweedale's
hydrometer, for twelve hours, or thereabouts. The materials being removed
when cold, are to be re-washed by the same kind of machinery as at first
employed, adding a small quantity of oil or grease, and when sufficiently
cleansed must be finished by washing with a weak solution of hydrochloric
acid, either hot or cold, and prepared by draining or pressing for bleaching
with chlorine gas, by the methods usually employed for such process. When
the bleaching is completed, the chlorine gas must be washed out by operating
with the before-named pulping or other machinery, commencing with lukewarm
water, and not exceeding the temperature of 108°, or thereabouts, observing,
as before, to add a small quantity of oil or greasy substance. When well
washed, about six ounces avoirdupois of sulphuric acid must be added to
every one hundred and twelve pounds weight of materials a few minutes
before their removal to the boiler or the drainer, the water in which should
have dissolved in it four pounds of sulphite of soda to each six pounds of
soda ash, until it is the specific gravity of 12 on Tweedale's hydrometer, or
thereabouts, then be boiled about six hours, and allowed to stand two hours;
meanwhile clear water should be percolating through the materials, whereby
they will be cleansed ready for being treated for three to four hours, or there-
abouts, with chloride of lime or bleaching liquor, either hot or cold, as
desired; or they may be boiled at two operations, with half the alkali and for
only three hours each time. The materials are then to be drained nearly dry,
and steeped or bathed in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, or hydrochloric
acid; and being afterwards removed, drained, and dried, they will be in a fit
state for employment in preparing the pulp for the manufacture of paper, as
customarily practiced.
Having thus fully described one mode of proceeding in practically carrying
out the several operations of our process, we would observe that we do not

page_text: restrict ourselves. to any precise description' of machinery or apparatus, the
novelty of our improvements consisting in washing out from the materials
the chlorine gas with warni water; the boiling of the gas-bleached materials
in sulphite of soda and alkali, or-soda ash; and the employment of sulphuric
acid after washing out the gas before boiling the materials in alkaline
solutions. And we do 'declare that what we claim as our Invention is, namely;
the process of bleaching natural or manufactured fibrous materials suitable
for the manufacture of paper, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Smith and James Hollingworth,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1855.