April 1907,] 



223 



Timbers, 



prevent the burning of the wood, there was provided a perforated cage having 1J 

 inch space between said cage and outer shell for the liquor. There was a down- 

 take pipe about 5 inches diameter to take down the liquor through the centre of the 

 cage. This down-take pipe was removable, so that it could be taken out when the 

 boiler was being filled, These boilers were 10 or 12 feet deep, and about 4 feet 

 diameter, the working pressure being about 200 lbs. per square inch. Caustic soda 

 was used, and the wood was boiled off in three hours. 



The Goole Company commenced making pulp in 1890, but has not been 

 in operation for some time. The North Eastern Pulp Company also turned out 

 pulp, but is not now doing so. Messrs. Brown, Stewart & Co. had digesters at 

 Newton Paper Mills and at Dahnarnock Mills for making their wood pulp ; but this 

 also has all been discarded. This was about twenty years ago. In those days 

 the cost by Francke's process of wood and chemical plant for the production of 30 

 tons of sulphite pulp per week was estimated at £8,000, and with the Ekmann process- 

 then just at work at Ilford— £13,000 to £14,000 was spent on plant, machinery, and 

 wood to produce 20 tons per week. The cost of raw wood to make a ton of paper at 

 Hull or Liverpool was estimated at £5. 



In the early days of sulphite manufacture I went to Sweden and studied 

 the bi-sulphide process at Francke's mills. Mr. Edward Partington and Mr. James 

 Galloway about this time visiting the same mills, with the view of adopting the 

 process. Subsequently Mr, Parington erected a sulphite wood pulp plant at Glossop, 

 and worked a system of his own. In 1814 Kellar took out letters patent in Germany 

 for a wood pulp grinding machine, but for want of capital sold it to Voelter. J. 

 Macfarlane, of the Canada Paper Company, told me that he first introduced wood 

 to the country in 1874, that he offered some bass-wood to Bruce' s of Kinleith, and was 

 laughed at. He finally offered them a farthing per pound over and above the 

 market price for the paper ; the pulp was eventually accepted, and proved such a 

 success that the Bruces, very naturally, kept the matter to themselves as long as 

 possible. 



The Partington process acquired by the American Sulphite Pulp Company 

 about 1844 was the first to be made use of in the United States of America. It was 

 also conducted in this country by the Kellner-Partington Paper Company, but was, 

 I believe, abandoned a few years ago. Mitscherlich, who by the way, was Professor 

 of Chemistry of Munich, began his experiments with the sulphite process about 1876» 

 and later on went to Thodes Mill, near Dresden, and has already been referred to. 

 He started commercially about 1881. Many lawsuits were fought in respect of the 

 rival patents, which showed very close resemblance in their claims. Behrend, in 

 1883, disputed the validity of the Mitscherlich patents on the grounds of the priority 

 of Tilghman British patents, and the German Board of patents concluded that the 

 Mitscherlich process did not differ from that of Tilghman's to entitle it to protection. 

 There were numerous patents in connection with the lining and the digester 

 which we need not refer to in detail. The treatment by the sulphite process 

 consists first of all in preparing the liquor. This is done by causing the vapour 

 of sulphurous acid obtained by burning either "pyrites" (sulphide of iron) or 

 sulphur in ovens, and conveying the vapour up from the bottom to the top of a 

 tower of about 105 feet in height, packed with limestone— a spray of water 

 is introduced at the top and trickles through the limestone. The vapour 

 combines with the water to form sulphurous acid, which acts upon and dissolves the 

 limestone, forming bi-sulphite of lime. In the Ekmann process, a stone consisting 

 chiefly of magnesia is used, whereby bi-sulphite of magnesia is produced. The liquor 

 standing at about 11° Tw., and containing about two-thirds of the sulphurous acid 

 in. the free state and one-third in combination with lime, is run into a sulphite. 



