# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 81/October 1912/Permanent Fireproofing of Cotton Goods

Layout 4
* THE PERMANENT FIREPROOFING OF COTTON GOODS
By Professor WILLIAM HENRY PERKIN
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
WHEN I had the honor of being asked to deliver one of the general lectures, I had no choice but to accept and yet it was at once evident to me that I should experience very great difficulty in finding a subject suitable to this occasion and interesting to the brilliant and distinguished audience which I see before me this afternoon.
This difficulty is due to the fact that, while I have always taken an interest in industrial questions and have repeatedly investigated industrial problems from the scientific point of view, my researches have, for the most part, lain in the path of pure science, and any practical application of my researches to the chemical and allied industries, I have had to leave to others.
Among the problems of technical interest which I have worked at during many years are the manufacture of artificial camphor, of "synthetic" rubber and more particularly the permanent fireproofing of cotton goods and other inflammable materials. In considering these subjects, I concluded that the problem of the manufacture of artificial camphor was too technical to be generally interesting and my friend—Professor Duisberg—wishes to introduce the subject of "synthetic" rubber into his general lecture so there remained the subject of permanent fireproofing which in many respects is perhaps as interesting and important and as difficult of accomplishment as the other problems I have mentioned. The problem of the prevention of fire has always been one of the most pressing and at the same time one of the most difficult and perplexing with which mankind has had to deal. In very early times wooden houses caught fire and were burnt down and it is said that the Romans attempted to render wood fireproof by dipping it in a bath made of vinegar and powdered clay.
This treatment, so strongly reminiscent of processes employed many years afterwards, would no doubt be effective in rendering the wood less liable to inflame, but it can hardly have had wide application because vinegar, in those days, was not easily obtained in quantity and was consequently an expensive substance. I have made a search in a number of old books with the object of discovering some other of the actual methods used in early times in connection with fireproofing and the first pamphlet on the subject which I have been able to find dates from ​1638 when Nikolas Sabattini published a remarkable paper in which he discussed the need of reform in the administration and construction of the theaters in Italy and pointed out the danger, which is always present, of fire breaking out on the stage, not only owing to the inflammable nature of the wood employed in the construction of the theater and for the decorations and scenery but also on account of the inflammability of the cotton material used in the scenery and for the dresses of the players.
He recommends, as a safeguard, that the color used in painting the theater and scenery should be mixed with clay and gypsum but says nothing about the fireproofing of the dresses.
At a considerably later date—in 1735—Wild suggested a mixture of alum, borax and sulphuric acid for the same purpose and, in 1710, Fagot, in a paper read before the Academy in Stockholm, recommended a mixture of alum and green vitriol whereas, in the Dictionnaire de l'Industrie published in the year 1786, there is a paragraph in which it is stated that a mixture of alum, green vitriol and salt is effective in making wood and other material fireproof.
After the disastrous fire in Munich on the fourteenth of January, 1823, which completely destroyed the Hof and National Theater, a large number of experiments were made with the result that the wood used in the construction of the roof and other parts of the new theater, was painted with several coats of sodium silicate and chalk.
A coating of this kind lasts for many years and, although it does not render the wood absolutely non-inflammable, it has at least this value that the incipient fire, which, as a rule, begins in quite a small way, meets with resistance at the outset, progresses but slowly and is easily extinguished.
At a somewhat later date, it was discovered that wood saturated with other salts such as, for example, copper sulphate or ammonium phosphate, acquires the property of resisting flame, but of all the salts, zinc chloride seems to be the most efficient for this purpose.
In the first place, zinc chloride has great affinity for, and, therefore, attaches itself readily to, woody fiber, and fibers of all kinds and material saturated with a solution of this salt and then dried are practically non-inflammable. This salt has also this valuable property that it is a powerful antiseptic and therefore very suitable for fireproofing the wood used in the construction of hospitals and other public institutions of a similar nature.
But I do not propose to address you this afternoon at any length on the subject of the fireproofing of wood and other building materials, a subject on which I have made comparatively few experiments and of which I, therefore, have little practical knowledge.
What I wish to discuss, and I hope that the subject will prove ​interesting to you all, is the problem of the permanent fireproofing of wearing materials and especially of cotton and cotton goods and by permanent fireproofing I mean protection which is not removed when the materials are subjected to the ordinary domestic wash.
Many disastrous accidents are on record which have been brought about by clothing catching fire: sometimes it is the case of a child whose garments have come in contact with a spark or lighted match and sometimes disasters of much greater magnitude have resulted from the ignition of costumes made of tow or other inflammable material on the occasion of charity entertainments or fancy dress balls.
It has long been recognized that impregnation with certain salts very much reduces and indeed may entirely destroy the liability of cotton goods to inflame and, of these fireproofing agents, I may perhaps be allowed to refer to a few only of the better known and more efficient. If a garment, after washing in the ordinary way, is rinsed in a solution containing alum or is starched with a starch containing a proportion of alum, the material, after drying, shows a marked reluctance to ignite, but this treatment has many draw-backs. In the first place it makes the material very dusty, and secondly, the fireproofing is only of a temporary nature since it is at once removed by contact with water and the process must therefore be repeated every time the goods are washed. I can easily demonstrate this and, in these and all my other experiments, I purposely take only very narrow strips in order that any smoke produced may not cause inconvenience in this hall. Another solution which has been strongly recommended for the same purpose is made up with 3 parts of ammonium phosphate, 2 parts of ammonium chloride and 1 part of ammonium sulphate in about 40 parts of water. If the material after washing, is impregnated with this solution and dried, or if it is starched with starch made with the solution instead of with water, the dry material only ignites with difficulty, and, as it does not dust and is not prejudicially affected in any other way, this process has been used with advantage not only in connection with wearing material but also for the fireproofing of lace curtains and other inflammable decorations. But in this case also, the fireproofing agents employed are all soluble in water and one washing is sufficient to remove them entirely, leaving the goods at least as inflammable as before. The process must therefore be repeated every time the goods are washed and this means expense which, in the long run, becomes considerable.
But a much more serious drawback to processes of this kind is the trouble they entail since, in order to fireproof the garment the washerwoman must have alongside the ordinary wash tub, a second tub containing the fireproofing solution and this complication, added to the expense of the salts, has been shown to be so serious that processes of this kind are quite impracticable, especially in the homes of the poor. ​Again, unless the materials or garments after washing, have been dried before immersion in the fireproofing solution, this solution can not be kept uniform since, each garment being wet when put in leaves the solution weaker than before and therefore of less protective value. To dry each garment between the washing and the fireproofing entails so much trouble and labor and expense that it would obviously prevent any general adoption of the practise. Although the substances I have mentioned and the salts of ammonium in particular, possess in a high degree the property of rendering material fireproof, there is one substance which confers the property of resisting fire to cotton goods in such a remarkable degree that it has long attracted attention and must be specially mentioned, and that is sodium tungstate.
A piece of muslin soaked in a weak solution of sodium tungstate and then dried is practically non-inflammable but unfortunately this salt is again so excessively soluble in water that a mere rinsing in clean water is sufficient to remove it completely and the fireproofing is lost. And this applies not only to sodium tungstate but also to all the other salts which have, from time to time, been recommended for fireproofing purposes; the result is not permanent because the proofing is at once removed when the goods are washed in the ordinary way.
The problem on which I was engaged for several years and which has now been successfully solved, in a very simple manner, was that of attempting to discover some process which not only made the goods non-inflammable but also permanently non-inflammable, and the researches on this subject were originally started in connection with flannelette, a material very largely and widely used for clothing, especially by the poorer classes, and one of the most, if not the most, inflammable of all cotton goods.
Flannelette may be briefly described as a kind of calico the surface of one or both sides of which has been "carded" or "raised" into a nap, the result being that the surface of the calico becomes covered with a fluff of minute fibers somewhat resembling a thin layer of cotton wool. This effect is produced by subjecting the surface of the calico to the action of a series of revolving rollers covered with a vast number of small pieces of sharp steel wire, which tear up the surface, and the material is passed over these rollers over and over again until the required amount of nap has been raised. The result of this superficial covering of nap is—as everybody who has handled flannelette will know—a warm, pleasant and cosy feel and this is no doubt due to a covering of air being imprisoned by the minute fibers thus producing a layer which acts as a non-conductor much in the same way as in the case of flannel.
In the first two samples in the little book which you each received as you entered the hall are calico and flannelette and you will notice at ​once the great difference in the feel between the comparatively hard flat surface of the calico and the raised surface of the flannelette.
Flannelette is indeed little, if at all, inferior to flannel as a nonconducting material and as it is very cheap and does not shrink in the wash, it has become very popular and is manufactured in enormous quantities and almost universally used for the clothing of children, especially in the homes of the poorer classes.
But it was not long before its increasing use showed unmistakably that it has one terrible drawback—the nap, which is its peculiar feature, makes it highly inflammable and much more so than the calico from which it was manufactured.
Flannelette is in fact, as I have already said, very much like calico on the surface of which a thin layer of cotton wool has been spread and this layer is, of course, highly inflammable.
I can easily demonstrate the difference in the inflammability of calico and flannelette by applying a light to strips of each, when it will be seen that while calico burns in the ordinary way, in the case of flannelette, the flame flashes over the whole surface of the fluffy cotton layer and travels with extraordinary rapidity.
It is, of course, this property which makes flannelette one of the most dangerous of materials for clothing purposes. The alarming frequency of deaths by burning due to the wearing of flannelette became common knowledge, the coroners all over Great Britain repeatedly called attention to the matter and by degrees the agitation against its use for clothing became so persistent that the Coroners' Committee of the Home Office was directed to inquire into the matter.
The committee recognized that whilst, to quote the words of their report, "We think the common opinion attributing to it (flannelette) a large share of the blame (of burning accidents) is not far wrong" that it was impossible to prohibit its use without causing great hardship, especially to the poor. Several years before this inquiry was held, one of the largest firms of flannelette manufacturers in Manchester, Messrs. Whipp Bros, and Tod, becoming alarmed at the frequent occurrence of fatal burning accidents and fearing lest these might lead to the prohibition of the sale of the material, came to me and asked whether I would undertake a series of experiments with the object of endeavoring to find a remedy for this state of things, and, after looking carefully into the matter, I consented to do what I could. That the problem was a difficult one from many points of view will be readily understood if I briefly state the conditions which had to be kept constantly in mind while the experiments were being carried on. A process to be successful must in the first place not damage the feel or durability of the cloth or cause it to go damp as so many chemicals do, and it must not make it dusty. It must not affect the colors or ​the design woven into the cloth or dyed or printed upon it; nothing (such as arsenic antimony, or lead) of a poisonous nature or in any way deleterious to the skin, may be used and the fireproofing must be permanent, that is to say, it must not be removed, even in the case of a garment which may possibly be washed fifty times or more. Furthermore, in order that it may have a wide application, the process must be cheap. What was really to be aimed at was to treat the flannelette in such a way that it acquired practically the properties of wool, which, for all ordinary purposes, may be taken as the standard of a safe material. Apart from the other conditions which I have laid down, when one considers the vigor with which the ordinary washerwoman scrubs garments with soap, not infrequently with the assistance of the scrubbing brush, and takes into account the wonderful mechanical appliances now so largely used for washing clothes with the least expenditure of time, it will not be thought surprising that the discovery of a process of fireproofing sufficiently permanent to resist all these conditions seemed to me at first to be almost an impossibility.
In describing the course of the research, I may perhaps be allowed to give a brief sketch of the development of the subject and to outline the reasoning which led to the institution of the various experiments. Some idea of the difficulty of the subject will be gathered when I say that Mr. Samuel Bradbury, who so ably assisted me in the work and has kept a record of each experiment, tells me that upwards of 10,000 separate burning tests were made before the solution of the problem was reached. Besides these, a great number of further experiments have since been made to see whether an even cheaper process than that which has now been in commercial use for nearly ten years could be discovered.
I suppose that every one would agree that, at the outset of the experiments, the condition which seemed most difficult of realization was that of finding a substance which not only fireproofs, but which during the process becomes so permanently fixed that it will prove to be absolutely resistant to washing with soap and water or mechanical rubbing. Obviously the substance which is to fulfil these conditions must, in the first place, be insoluble in water and secondly in order that it is not liable to be removed by mechanical rubbing and does not render the cloth dusty, it must be fixed in the fiber and not be merely on the surface. I have already explained that when calico is dipped in a dilute solution of sodium tungstate, and then dried the material possesses in a remarkable degree the property of resisting flame and then again alum has often been recommended for the same purpose. Now when solutions of sodium tungstate and alum are mixed, an insoluble aluminum tungstate is produced and it is clear that, if this insoluble salt could be fixed in the fiber, the material would certainly ​be fireproof. It furthermore seemed reasonable to suppose that, as the salt is insoluble in water, it would remain in the fiber even after several washings and therefore that permanent fireproofing might be achieved in this manner.
A piece of flannelette was therefore soaked in sodium tungstate and, after passing through rollers, to remove the excess of the solution, left for a considerable time in a solution of alum. It was then squeezed, dried and was passed through the same process again with the result that the material became almost as fire-resistant as asbestos. When, however, the piece was thoroughly washed with soap and water, it was most disappointing to find that the greater part of the fireproofing was removed during the first washing and after several washings the material was little better than the original flannelette.
While this unexpected result was being investigated, it was noticed that aluminum tungstate is soluble in acetic acid and is reprecipitated when the acetic acid is removed by evaporation or by the action of steam and as the precipitate formed seemed granular in appearance, it was thought that this process, if applied to the flannelette, might yield a better result than the process of double decomposition had done. Accordingly, a solution was made up of sodium tungstate, aluminum sulphate and enough acetic acid to dissolve the precipitate, the flannelette was thoroughly soaked in this solution, dried and then placed in an ordinary steamer and subjected to the action of steam until the odor of acetic acid could no longer be detected.
The material was, of course, non-inflammable and when it was washed it was found that this property was distinctly more resistant to soap and water than was the case in the first experiment, but after several vigorous washings almost every trace of the fireproofing had disappeared. These negative results seemed therefore to indicate that aluminum tungstate was not suitable for the purpose of permanent fireproofing. On the other hand, the failure of this salt was possibly due to some peculiarities in its specific properties and was not considered valid evidence that other insoluble tungstates might not combine more completely with the fiber and thus resist removal by washing.
A careful examination of the tungstates was therefore made and such insoluble salts only selected for experiment which, like aluminum tungstate, are colorless, since it is obvious that a fireproofing agent to be of any use must be capable of application to white cloth without staining it. Several hundred pieces of flannelette were treated under the most varied conditions with all sorts of combinations which it was known would precipitate insoluble tungstates in the fiber, but in no case was a satisfactory result achieved.
However, a fact was noticed which afterwards proved to be of value, and it was this, that, of all the salts, the tungstates of zinc and tin ​seemed to offer the most resistance to washing with soap and water. Thus, when the material had been thoroughly saturated with a solution made up of sodium tungstate, zinc sulphate and enough acetic acid to prevent the precipitation of the zinc tungstate, and the goods after drying were thoroughly steamed, the fireproofing was certainly fixed to some extent, since it required several washings before the material burnt at all freely. But no amount of variation of the conditions produced a really good result and this combination had therefore to be abandoned. Since the tungstate proved to be unsuitable to the exacting conditions of the problem, a general examination of almost every variety of salt, including ferrocyanides, aluminates, arseniates, antimoniates, zincates and plumbates was made. Many of these could not be employed in connection with wearing apparel in any case because of their poisonous nature, but it was thought that this general examination, which lasted several months, might yield some indication of the type of salt likely to prove resistant to soap and water, if, indeed, such type of salt existed at all. And as a matter of fact these experiments did prove to be most valuable, because when the results were all tabulated, the generalization gradually became apparent that certain soluble salts such as aluminates, antimoniates, zincates and plumbates, in which the oxide of the metal functions as an acid, yielded precipitates, especially with zinc and tin salts which exhibited much greater resistance to washing than the commoner insoluble salts, such as barium sulphate or magnesium phosphate. This generalization ultimately led to a very careful examination of the salts of tin, because, as is well known, the oxides of tin dissolve in alkalis to form stannites and stannates and tin therefore belongs to the class of salts just mentioned and it very soon became evident that these salts do actually possess the power of combining with the fiber to a greater extent than any of the salts which had previously been experimented with.
In one experiment it was noted that a piece of flannelette, which had first been saturated with a solution of sodium stannate and dried, and afterwards similarly treated with a solution of zinc chloride, was quite non-inflammable. After the sample had been subjected to a vigorous washing with soap and water a considerable amount of the fireproofing still remained, because, when a light was applied to the cloth, it only ignited with difficulty, burned very slowly, and either went out of itself or was easily extinguished on shaking the material.
This development was so promising that the experiment was repeated in a great variety of ways, but, although several results were obtained which were much better than anything which had been seen before, it was disappointing to find that in all the cases the greater part of the fireproofing was lost after repeated washings.
In a later series of experiments the first solution was again sodium ​stannate and the second consisted of sodium tungstate, zinc acetate and sufficient acetic acid to prevent precipitation of the zinc tungstate formed. The result in this case was so good, the material being practically as safe as wool, even after repeated washings, that the first commercial permanently fireproofed flannelette which was placed on the market was made on these lines.
It was soon found, however, that the material thus treated had two serious drawbacks: it had a tendency to go damp, and an unpleasant smell of acetic acid remained, even though the material had been steamed and washed, after the fireproofing process, before being sent out. And apart from these two faults, the fireproofing was still not sufficiently permanent and the cost of the process was too great for it to be considered a satisfactory one.
A further series of careful comparative tests seemed to indicate that the undoubted advance which had been made was mainly due to the use of the stannate, and it was therefore decided to carry out a series of experiments using salts of tin exclusively.
The fabric, after being treated with sodium stannate as before, was, in the earlier of these experiments, passed through a fixing bath containing stannous chloride. A very permanent fireproofing was again obtained, but the stannous chloride being a reducing agent, tended to destroy or affect the colors of the material, and the process would, therefore, be generally applicable only to white cloth.
In order to get over this difficulty stannic chloride was employed, instead of the stannous salt, as the fixing agent, and to avoid any tendering of the material care was taken that the stannic chloride solution should be of such a strength that a little stannate was left unchanged in the material.
An excellent fireproofing was again obtained, for not only did the material show very little tendency to inflame, after it had been washed several times with soap and water, but it had also in such other respects as appearance and feel almost ideal properties, the only objectionable feature being a slight tendency to dust on rubbing and shaking. Now in this particular experiment, in which sodium stannate and stannic chloride had been employed together, the substance which must have been produced in the fiber, and to which the fireproofing must therefore have been due, is stannic oxide, and it seemed clear that this oxide or its hydrate must have some remarkable power of combining with, or attaching itself to, the fiber which enables it to resist removal by washing and rubbing.
But this process still left something to be desired on the score of economy. A certain amount of the tin was undoubtedly wasted, for, in addition to that lost through a portion of the stannate being left unfixed, it was noticed that a considerable amount of the tin oxide ​which was formed by the action of the alkali of the stannate on the stannic chloride, was not permanently fixed in the fibers of the material, and was therefore removed during the subsequent washing. Tin is so expensive that, in a process to be commercially successful, this loss must obviously be avoided.
There are many ways in which stannic oxide may be precipitated from sodium stannate and one of these, commonly used in ordinary analytical chemistry, consists in adding certain soluble salts, such as sodium sulphate or ammonium nitrate to the solution of the stannate, when the whole of the tin is precipitated as oxide or hydrate. In order to find out whether some process of this kind would precipitate this oxide in such a condition that it would remain permanently fixed in the fiber, a number of pieces of flannelette were soaked in sodium stannate and, after thoroughly drying, separately passed through various solutions containing sodium or ammonium salts at the ordinary temperature and at temperatures up to the boiling point. Although, as was to be expected, the results were not uniformly good, a certain degree of permanent fireproofing was always achieved and consequently the matter was systematically followed up with the result that a process was gradually evolved which yielded material possessing quite remarkable properties. The process is briefly this:
The flannelette (or other material) is run through a solution of sodium stannate of approximately 45° Tw. in such a manner that it becomes thoroughly impregnated. It is then squeezed to remove the excess of the solution, passed over heated copper drums in order to thoroughly dry it, after which it is run through a solution of ammonium sulphate of about 15° Tw. and again squeezed and dried.
Apart from the precipitated stannic oxide, the material now contains sodium sulphate and this is removed by passage through water; the material is then dried and subjected to the ordinary processes of finishing. A long series of trials, carried out under the most stringent conditions, have conclusively proved that material, subjected to this process is permanently fireproofed. No amount of washing with hot soap and water will remove the fireproofing agent, or in other words, the property of resisting flame lasts so long as the material itself lasts. I will demonstrate this by exhibiting four different specimens: (i) material as it leaves the process and before washing, (ii) material which has been washed ten times by hand, (iii) material washed 20 times in a machine in a laundry and (iv) a portion of a garment which has been in actual use for 2 years, washed every week and is, as you see, in rags. This extraordinary property of resisting soap and water seems to me to indicate that the oxide of tin is not present merely as an insoluble precipitate in the cloth but must have entered into some actual combination with the fiber, yielding a compound which is not broken down by ​the action of the weak alkali of the soap. But a matter of hardly less importance from the practical point of view is that the material is not only permanently fireproofed by the process I have just described, it also retains and acquires properties which make it as perfect a material in all other respects as could be desired. In the first place the treatment has no effect on the delicate colors which are now so generally employed in connection with the manufacture of flannelette and other cotton goods and very careful experiments have demonstrated the fact that the insoluble tin compound in the fiber has not the slightest deleterious action on the most delicate skin. In addition, the presence of the tin compound in the pores gives the cloth a softer and fuller feel than that of the original flannelette and what perhaps is the most unexpected result is the fact that the material is considerably strengthened by the process.
A series of tests made by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce proved that the tensile strength of flannelette is increased nearly 20 per cent, as the result of the introduction of the tin compound into the fiber.
Further and very exhaustive tests made at the Municipal School of Technology, Manchester, on a machine specially designed for testing the wearing properties of fabrics, showed an even greater gain in durability in the case of the fireproofed flannelette. These separate and independent tests conclusively showed that the increase in strength and durability was approximately equal to the cost of the fireproofing treatment so that garments made from the permanently fireproofed flannelette are, as a matter of fact, no dearer than those made from ordinary flannelette and are at the same time as safe as if made from flannel. Some of these properties and statements may be easily tested by each of you independently with the samples in the little book which you received on entering the hall.
This permanently fireproofed flannelette is now manufactured on the large scale by Messrs. Whipp Bros, and Tod in Manchester under the name of "Non-Flam" and, although its introduction has been slow, it is being increasingly used and will, in all probability, ultimately entirely replace the ordinary inflammable variety. One of the difficulties experienced in connection with its general introduction is the fact, that, owing to the high price of tin, which is now quoted at about £210 or $1,050 per ton, the cost of the process is not inconsiderable but, even with tin at this high price, the extra cost is not more than 1 d. (2 cents) per yard or about-11/2 d. or 2 d. (3-4 cents) for a child's garment. I have here on the table, rolls of "Non-Flam" of different qualities so that any one who wishes for a larger sample than is contained in the little book can easily obtain it.
It is hardly necessary for me to say that this process can be applied ​to any cotton fabric and is especially valuable in connection with muslin because this material is so often used, especially on the stage, for dresses which, on account of their flimsy nature, are naturally highly inflammable. I have here two strips of the same muslin, one of which has been treated by the "Non-Flam" process without in any way affecting its ordinary properties and was then washed ten times and the difference in inflammability of the two samples is very striking. Whilst the first sample is highly dangerous, it is difficult to imagine that harm could come to any one who happened to be dressed in the treated material even if, by accident, a lighted match came in contact with the dress. Another direction in which the process may be used with great advantage is in connection with lace curtains. Many disastrous fires have occurred by reason of the ignition of lace curtains and there can be no doubt that the greater majority of these would have been avoided if the curtains had been treated by the "Non-Flam" process. As an example of this, I have here a strip of lace curtain which has been subjected to the process and then washed a number of times and it will be seen that if such material did accidentally come in contact with a lighted match, the danger of fire is reduced to a minimum because even supposing the material did catch fire, the flame is put out at once by the least shake.
It seems to me that it is obvious that, if this process or some other process capable of giving the same protection from fire, was adopted in the case of all inflammable cotton goods and especially in the case of material used for garments, many disastrous fires and the appalling loss of life especially among young children, might be avoided and it is for this reason that I have ventured to bring the subject of the permanent fireproofing of cotton goods to your notice this afternoon.