IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS, WEBS, BOARDS, PANELS, BLOCKS, AND THE LIKE
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harcourt Browne, of Millbrook Mills, Crickhowell,
in the County of Brecon, Paper Manufacturer, and David Lloyd Davies, of
Abbotsfield, St. Michael's Hamlet, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS, WEBS,
BOARDS, PANELS, BLOCKS, AND THE LIKE."
Sealed the 5th December 1879, and dated the 18th June 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harcourt Browne and
David Lloyd Davies at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
18th June 1879.
JOHN HARCOURT BROWNE, of Millbrook Mills, Crickhowell, in the County of
Brecon, Paper Manufacturer, and DAVID LLOYD DAVIES, of Abbotsfield, St. Michael's
Hamlet, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SHEETS, WEBS, BOARDS, PANELS, BLOCKS, AND THE LIKE."
The object of this Invention is to produce in a better and more economical
mode than hitherto sheets and webs of artificial leather, parchment, and vellum;
also boards, panels, and blocks from refuse, waste, and other pieces of hides, skins,
and leather, and which manufactures shall be sufficiently strong and durable to bear
sewing, nailing, or stretching, so that they can be put to the same uses as ordinary
skins of leather, parchment, and the like; also to produce long lengths or webs
suitable after being coloured, embossed, gilded, or otherwise ornamented for wall
covering and other similar decorations; and to produce boards, panels, and blocks
suitable for railway carriage building and other building purposes.
In carrying out these improvements we prefer to use what is known as ox scrolls
or glue pieces, parchment, chamois and washleather cuttings or roundings, and
curriers' shavings, which we proceed to sort or pick (according to the class of sheets,
webs, boards, panels, or blocks that are to be manufactured), and to cleanse them
by washing, scraping, or dusting, so as to free them from all foreign matter, and
then to cut or chop them into small pieces, and place them in a washing and
breaking engine and reduce them to what is known as "half stuff," and immerse
them in a weak solution of suitable bleaching liquor, such as chloride of lime and
water, until the fibre becomes sufficiently firm or hard.

page_text: When white or light coloured sheets or webs are required we proceed ns herein-
after described, but for dark colours, or where colour is no object, we at once beat
the "half stuff" to fibre and make it into sheets, webs, boards, panels, or blocks,
as hereinafter set forth. For the white or light coloured sheets, webs, boards,
panels, or blocks, we drain off the bleaching liquor and place the stuff in sufficient
water to allow it to be stirred, and then mix with the water about one part of
sulphuric acid to about one hundred and fifty parts of water, stirring it well for a
time, then drain off about half the water, add clear bleaching liquor, and continue
to stir or agitate it for from three to six hours. We next drain it as dry as possible,
and place it in an ordinary beating engine with a small quantity of bisulphate of
soda, and then well wash and beat it, and add certain quantities of wood-pulp or
other fibre, kaoline or china clay, and alum, dyes or colouring matter being added
as may be necessary. When sufficiently beaten or reduced to fibre we make it in
sheets, webs, boards, panels, or blocks, as may be required, either with moulds by
band or on a paper making machine, but we previously raise the temperature to
between ninety and one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit. When a paper-
making machine is used we increase the vacuum power by placing one vacuum box
under the tubes and another in front of the couch-roll, and use a very light coucher.
We also cover the cylinders with flannel jackets and keep them at a low tempe-
rature, only partially drying the sheets or webs on them, and complete the drying
by continually changing them between sheets of absorbent paper. When continous
lengths or webs are required for wall decorations or other purposes we prefer to
pass the web of pulp as soon as it leaves the couchers between rolls or under
swing presses, which may be engraved, stamped, impressed, or otherwise, so as to
give to the web of pulp the figure or pattern required as it passes through or under
them, and it should be dried partially on the cylinders and completed in a warm
room. They also can be made plain, and after being dried they may be either dyed,
coloured, grained, embossed, impressed, or gilded in the same manner to paper when
employed for similar purposes.
In making sheets, boards, panels, and blocks of extra strength we place between
two sheets of pulp, either made by hand or machine (before being pressed), a piece
or pieces of woven, reticulated, felted, or other suitable material, which we prefer
should be dipped in or passed through any suitable adbesive solution, and then by
pressure unite these so as to form a solid sheet, board, panel, or block, and dry them
in the air or otherwise.
When manufacturing thick boards, panels, or blocks for railway carriage building
or other uses, we soak them in linseed or other suitable oils and paraffin or petro-
leum, and dry them at a temperature of from one hundred and eighty to two
hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Harcourt Browne and David Lloyd Davies in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th December 1879.
JOHN HARCOURT BROWNE, of Millbrook Mills, Crickhowell, in the County of
Brecon, Paper Manufacturer, and DAVID LLOYD DAVIES, of Abbotsfield, St. Michael's
Hamlet, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SHEETS, WEBS, BOARDS, PANELS, BLOCKS, AND THE LIKE.'
"
The object of this Invention is to produce in a better and more economical
mode than hitherto sheets and webs of artificial leather, parchment, and vellum;
also boards, panels, and blocks from refuse, waste, and other pieces of hides, skins,
and leather, and which manufactures shall be sufficiently strong and durable to
bear sewing, nailing, or stretching, so that they can be put to the same uses as
ordinary skins of leather, parchment, and the like; also to produce long lengths or
webs suitable after being coloured, embossed, gilded, or otherwise ornamented,
for wall covering and other similar decorations; and to produce boards, panels, and
blocks suitable for railway carriage building and other building purposes.
In carrying out these improvements we use what is known as ox scrolls or glue
pieces, parchment, chamois and washleather cuttings or roundings, and curriers'
shavings, which we sort or pick according to the class of sheets, webs, boards, panels,
or blocks that are to be manufactured.
When using ox scrolls or glue pieces we place them in lime water of suitable
strength until they become soft and pliable, and they are then scraped with knives
to free them from the fatty and foreign matters which are generally found adhering
to them. We then immerse them in a caustic solution until the epidermi can be
removed by brushing or scraping, or the pieces may be freed from the epidermi
after being soaked the first time, in the same manner as leather or skins aro
generally curried or scraped. The pieces are then cut or chopped into small pieces
and placed in a breaking engine, such as is used by paper makers, and well washed
and broken down until they assume a jelly-like appearance, and we add about seven
pounds of ordinary bleaching powder to about one hundred and twelve pounds of
skin. The powder should be first dissolved in water to prevent dirt or the like
getting into the engine. As soon as the fibre begins to form we empty the engine
into what is called a drainer. As soon as all the water has drained away the stuff
can be placed in a washing engine, and treated in the manner that pulp or half
stuff is usually treated in the manufacture of paper, care being taken to wash out
and kill the bleach. We have found it advantageous to use bisulphate of soda for
so doing, colouring matter, china clay or kaölin, wood pulp, and other vegetable
fibre being added according to the quality of skin and the colour we wish to make.
When we desire white parchment or skin wo take the half stuff and place it in a
poaching engine or other suitable vessel, with sufficient water to allow of it being
stirred, and introduce into the water about one part of sulphuric acid to about one
hundred and fifty parts of water, and after agitating or stirring it well for a time
we draw off about half the solution and add a solution of clear bleaching liquid
made from chloride of lime and water, about five degrees Twaddles, number 1
specific gravity, and the stirring is continued until the fibre becomes sufficiently
white and hard. The stuff is next drained as dry as possible in any suitable
manner, and washed in an ordinary washing or beating engine, and about three
pounds of bisulphate of soda to about one hundred and twelve pounds of fibre
being added; it is then beaten, as paper stuff is usually beaten, into a short fibre.
We now add about twenty five per cent. of fine white china clay or kaölin, and
when we wish the sheets or webs to be very opaque we add about twenty per cent.
of prepared wood pulp or pulp made from rags, which should be beaten very finę

page_text: before using. A small quantity of ultramarine is added to counteract tendency to
a yellow tinge, and we add about twenty pounds of finely ground alumn to every
one hundred and twelve pounds of pulp about one hour before it is ready to be let
down into the chests or vats from which it is to go on to the paper making machine,
or into vats for making by hand.
-
Parchment cuttings can be treated in a similar manner to that hereinbefore
described for ox scrolls or glue pieces, but it is not necessary to remove any
epidermi, unless very fine sheets or webs are required. Chamois or washleather
cuttings also undergo the same process, with the exception of the caustic bath and
scraping operation. It is sufficient when using these cuttings to have them well
sorted and dusted, and cut or chopped into suitable pieces, and placed at once in
the washing engine, after which we proceed in the manner hereinbefore described
when using ox scrolls or glue pieces.
When making any of the above mentioned materials into sheets or webs on a
paper making machine we cause the pulp to be heated, by steam or otherwise, before
'it passes on to the wire, to from ninety to one hundred and twenty degrees
Fabrenheit. We also increase the vacuum power by placing one vacuum or suction
box under the tubes, and another just before the couch roll, and we prefer to uso a
very light couch roll. We also prefer to cover the cylinders with flannel jackets,
and keep them at a low temperature, only partially drying the sheets or webs on
them, and wo complete the drying by continually changing them between sheets of
absorbent paper...
When continuous sheets or webs are required for wall decorations or other
purposes, we prefer to pass the web of pulp as soon as it leaves the couchers between
rolls or under swing presses, which may be engraved, stamped, impressed, or other-
wise, so as to give the web of pulp the figure or pattern required as it passes
through or under them, and the web should be dried partially on the cylinders, and
the drying completed in a warm room. The sheets or webs can also be made plain,
and after being dried they may either be dyed, coloured, grained, embossed,
impressed, or gilded in the same manner as paper when employed for similar
purposes. Curriers' shavings can also be used and treated similarly to the chamois
and washleather cuttings, but they are mostly suitable for use when dark coloured
sheets or webs are required, and they as well as the chamois and washleather
cuttings can also be used for manufacturing into sheets, webs, boards, blocks, and
panels, when used in combination with other fibre, without bleaching powder being
used. The shavings are cleansed and well washed, and broken down at once into
When we wish
half stuff, and used as rags are used in the manufacture of paper.
to produce thick sheets, boards, panels, and blocks of extra strength, we mix
certain proportions of the pulps made from the various skins or refuse waste, as
herein before described, and certain proportions of vegetable pulps, or we take one
kind of animal pulp and mix it with a portion of vegetable pulp, the proportion
naturally depending on the kind of sheet, board, panel, or block we wish to make,
and we place between two sheets of pulp (either made by hand or machine before
being pressed) a piece or pieces of woven, reticulated, felted, or other suitable
material, such as fine thin canvas or felt, and which we prefer should be dipped in
or passed through any suitable adhesive solution, and then by pressure we unite
the sheets of pulp and the interposed material so as to form a solid sheet, board,
panel, or block, which we then dry in the air or otherwise.
Boards, panels, or blocks for railway carriage building or other purposes we soak,
after being thoroughly dried, in linseed or other suitable oil, to which paraffin or
petroleum is added, until the articles are completely saturated, and we then dry
them at a temperature of from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and
twenty degrees Fahrenheit, but befere soaking the articles in oil it is desirable to
have them rolled similarly to millboards, so as to give them a smooth and even
surface.
-Having thus described our said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, we wish it to be understood that wo do not confine ourselves to the precise

page_text: details herein laid down, as the same may be varied without departing from the
peculiar character of our Invention; but what we do claim is,―
The improvements in the manufacture of sheets, webs, boards, panels, blocks, and
the like, substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harcourt Browne, for and on behalf of
myself and the said David Lloyd Davies, have hereto set my hand and
seal, this Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
G. F. REDFERN,
Patent Agent,
4, South Street,
Finsbury,
London.
J. HARCOURT BROWNE. (L.S.)