288 REPORT—1852. 
of Ireland, the Earl of Clarendon, should desire that a scheme which promised 
such important results to this country, so deeply interested in the production 
of flax, should be carefully tested on a proper commercial scale. 
An inquiry having been committed to Sir Robert Kane, Director of the 
Museum of (Economic Geology, I was requested, together with Professors 
Blyth and Murphy of Cork, to make such investigations as might properly 
ascertain the value of the various methods proposed. But, unfortunately, 
the mechanical arrangements which had been made by M. Claussen’s agents, 
to illustrate the production of the new material from unsteeped flax, were not 
capable of affording satisfactory results; and, though some trials with tow 
proved more successful, it was found impossible to carry out the object of the 
inquiry at the locality selected. I am informed that it is the intention of 
the patentees to solicit a full investigation of the methods pursued in their 
operations at works which they have established near London, and where, 
they state, the material is produced in large quantities. The real value 
however of Claussen’s substitute for cotton must be decided by the ex- 
perience of the manufacturers of England. With regard to the ceconomy of 
the processes, it would be improper to give an opinion until the investigation 
which M. Claussen solicits has taken place. The specimens show what can 
be made from the waste tow of the spinner; and it is interesting to find both 
Berthollet and Gay-Lussac, many years ago, pointing out the advantages 
which appear here to be realized from the conversion of tow into a substitute 
for cotton. 
I have now to request attention to a new process, entirely different from 
any of those which have been described, and the first public announce- 
ment of which I am permitted by the patentees to make to this meeting. 
The methods adopted are the invention of Mr. Watt, a countryman and 
namesake of the great philosopher. In this process neither fermentation nor 
the action of acid nor alkaline solutions are employed, the separation of the 
fibre from the useless matters of the straw being effected by subjecting the 
stems to the action of steam, and afterwards by pressure applied by powerful 
rollers. In the first place, Mr. Watt proposes to take seeded flax, and to ex- 
pose it to steam, at the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, in a close cham- 
ber, of peculiar construction, so as to soften and dissolve out the gummy 
and other soluble matters. The chambers which he employs are square 
vessels constructed of wood, or of plates of cast iron, and provided with false 
bottoms, formed of the perforated iron plates used in malt-kilns. Two doors 
are placed in the ends of the chambers, for putting in and removing the flax. 
The top of each vat is formed of cast-iron plates so arranged as to constitute 
a shallow tank for containing water, and through which, extending for some 
inches above the surface of the water, passes an iron pipe, which commu- 
nicates with the interior of the chamber. To the opening of this pipe a valve 
is fixed, which can be opened or closed as required. Resting upon the false 
bottom, there is an arrangement of pipes, which are intended to act like the 
vomiter, or throw-pipe of the bleacher. The process is commenced by 
placing the flax in bundles, as received from the seeding machine, on the 
false bottom, until the chamber is nearly filled. The doors are then secured 
by screws, and steam is discharged into the chamber by a pipe which passes 
between the bottoms, and for some time allowed to escape through the valve- 
pipe in the roof, so as to remove the volatile oil contained in the straw. 
After some time the valve is closed; and the escape of the steam being pre- 
vented, it penetrates through the mass of the flax, softening’ and loosening 
its various parts. Water is now admitted into the metal tank, and the steam, 
which strikes against the cooled roof of the chamber, is condensed and made 
to descend in showers of distilled water, by which the soluble and softened 

