USRE3228E - Improvement in the manufacture of paper-stock - Google Patents

Description

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HENRY BETTS, OF NORWALK, CONNECTICUT. .Lmm Patmtllfo. 49,069, dated August 1, A1865; reissue Nb. 3,228, dated December 15, 1868.

DIPROVHMIINT OI PAPER-STOCK.

The Schedule referred to in the Letters Patent and making pnrt'ot' the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY Burrs, have discovered a new. Material for. the Manufacture of Paper, and have inveuteda new kind of Paper-Stock; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and'exact description of the same.

. The nature of my discovery and invention consists in themanufacture of paper-stock from the stalks and roots of the plant usually'known as sedge, hitherto considered useless-for all commercial purposes.

To enable others skilled to avail themselves of my discovery and invention, I will proceed to describe it more in detail.

By a series of experiments, I have ascertained that the plant known as sedge, and which has heretofore been considered as almost wholly useless, can be used very successfully and economically in the manufacture of paper-stock.

This plant belongs to the Cyperaccze, and genus Carers, and is usually found growing in waste marshy places, especially along the sea-shore, where the ground is subject to overflow, and unfit for cultivation.

It is also found in large quantities in and about the inland or flesh-water marshes of the country.

This plant is a perennial, and grows, without culture or care, in dense masses, producing aheavy growth of stalks and leaves above ground, and a mass of fine fibrous roots in the soil, to the depth of from six to ten inches.

In manufacturing paper from the stalks of the sedge, I prefer to cut it while green, or before it is ripened, and the stalk becomes hard; and as the plant is avery rapid and vigorous grower, I am thus enabled to obtain 'fileast twocrops ina season from the same ground.

I also find that it is the more readily converted into pulp by cutting it before its becoming fully ripe.

In preparing it for use, I first cut the stalks, and permit'them to lie on the ground as long as possible with out induryto the fibre, after which they are gathered into stacks for I The first step in the process is to cut it up, by means of an ordinary straw-cutter, after which it is placed in a tank, and thoroughly washed by running a stream of clear water through it.

It is then boiled in a solution of caustic soda, until perfectly soft, after which it is put'into the breakingengine and mashed into what is technically termed The machine which I prefer forconverting this into merchantable paper-stock, is constructed similar to the ordinary engine, except that Iprefer to use fly-hars of such form as to beat and press out the fibre, instead of cutting it with sharp edges.

'tough, yet soft and pliable paper.

The remaining processesare the same asarc ordinarily used in the manufacture of paper, and therefore need not be specially described.

In utilizing the roots of this plant, I out or dig up the soft marshy soil in which it usually grows, to the depth of eight or. ten. inches, the greater portion of which I find to be a dense mass of fine roots. This is then washed su'ificiently to separate the mass of roots from the soft mud or earth in which they are embedded, after which they are amvcrted into paper, in nearly the same manner as the stalks.

I, find this material remarkably well adapted for the purpose of making paper, it being very strong, and remarkably free from silex, and hence making a very It bleaches readily, and therefone can he made into fine white paper with great ease.

In the manufacture of the'coarser and harder kinds of paper, such as binders boards, I propose to use, in

connection with the products of the sedge-plant, as above described, certain portions of corn-stalks, such as are left after the leaves and husks have been removed, and used for forage or other purposes.

In certain casesI also propose to use sawdust, meaning thereby, not wood fibre specially disintegrated for the purpose ofmaking paper-pulp, but the ordinary refuse sawdust as'it comes from the saw-mill, or woodwo'rkers shop. s I These ingredients can, either or both of them, be re duced to paper-stock or pulp by processes well known .to paper-maker's, and which need not, therefore, be

herein described.

The amount of either or both of these ingredients which may be used, will of coruse be regulated bythe article that is intended to be produced, and will therefore be controlled by the judgment of the operator.

By my dis overy or invention, I am enabled to produce a very superior and cheap article of paper, in immense quantities, and this I do by using an article which has, previous to my discovery, possessed no appreciable value, millions of tons of it being permitted to annually rot. and go to waste.

- I claim as my invention or discovery, the application of the fibres of the stalks, and also of the root of the plant known as sedge, to the manufacture of fine white or colored paper, whether the same he used in combination with other ingredients, or separate, as herein set forth.

HENRY BET'LS. Witnesses; Josnrrr W. Wrrson,

Joms P..Wn.sou.