Patent GB-538396-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in the treatment of wool to reduce its tendency to felt
IPC: D06M13/02
Filed: 1939-10-30
Abstract: 538,396. Treating textiles with liquids. TOOTAL BROADHURST LEE CO., Ltd., HALL, A. J., and WOOD, F. C. Oct. 30, 1939, Nos. 28940/39, 29914/39, 31914/39, 32197/39 and 4849/40. [Class 15 (ii)] Wool is rendered resistant to felting and shrinking by treating it with a re-agent comprising an alkaline substance, an organic solvent for the alkaline substance, and an organic liquid which is a non-solvent or a poor solvent for the alkaline substance but is miscible with the solution of the alkaline substance in the organic liquid. The re-agent may contain a small amount of water, e.g. 2 per cent. or less or it may be free from water. The alkaline substance is one which in presence of water would give hydroxyl ions, and it may be an alkali or an organic base or a substance producing or capable of producing an alkali or organic base, preferably of stronger basic nature than ammonia. It mav be an organic ammonium, sulphonium, or iodonium hydroxide such as benzyl trimethyl ammonium hydroxide, or a tertiary amine oxide, hydrazine, sodium butylate, potassium ethylate, sodamide, a sodium derivative of aceto-acetic ester, acetone, or methyl ethyl ketone, or a peroxide or hydroxide of sodium or potassium hydroxide. The organic solvent for the alkaline substance may be an aliphatic alcohol, particularly one containing 3-8 carbon atoms but also oleyl, stearyl, ricinoleyl, or an aromatic alcohol such as benzyl or phenyl ethyl alcohol. It may be a hydroaromatic alcohol such as cyclohexanol, or it may be an ether of ethylene glycol, acetone, ethylacetoacetate, aniline, ethyl acetate, or amyl acetate. The non-solvent may be a petroleum distillate such as paraffin, hexane, white spirit, or petrol, or a chlorinated hydrocarbon, or an aromatic or hydroaromatic hydrocarbon such as toluene, tetrahydronaphthalene, or pyridine, ketones, ethers, esters, or higher alcohols. The materials which are to be treated with the re-agent may contain some water. Wool may be treated at raised or reduced temperature or pressure. Re-agents containing constituents which are normally gaseous, e.g. butadiene may be used. Local effects may be obtained by textile printing methods. Wool in admixture with cotton, viscose rayon, nylon, linen, or rubber, may be subjected to the alkaline treatment. In an example, knitted woollen fabric is dried and then placed in a closed vessel and allowed to absorb methyl alcohol vapour. It is then placed in a solution of caustic soda, butyl alcohol, and white spirit, squeezed, neutralized and washed. In another example, wool fabric is treated with a solution of ethylene diamine, white spirit, and butyl alcohol. Wool fabric is immersed in a solution or dispersion obtained by dissolving caustic soda in butyl alcohol, diluting with white spirit, saturating with carbon dioxide, and adding a further quantity of the uncarbonated solution to the resulting dispersion. Wool is treated with a dispersion obtained by dissolving lithium in ethyl alcohol and diluting with white spirit. Sodamide is treated with aniline in an atmosphere of coal gas. The solution of sodiophenylamine in aniline is diluted with dichlorethylene, and the solution is used for treating wool. Wool is treated with a solution of caustic soda in ricinoleyl alcohol, dichlorethylene and white spirit. Wool may be treated with liquors prepared by treating solutions of caustic soda in alcohols diluted with a non-solvent for the alkali before or after reaction of these solutions with hydrogen sulphide or carbon bisulphide. Such liquors probably contain sodium sulphide, thiocarbonates, or alkali alkyl thiocarbonates. Specification 538,428 is referred to. The third and fourth Provisional Specifications comprise also the treatment of cotton, regenerated cellulose, cellulose ester, natural silk, and other textile materials with the alkali composition.