CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE FLEECES OF SHEEP WHEN ON THE ANIMALS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MEIN, Accountant, in Glasgow, Trustee upon the sequestrated estate of the
late James Smith, of Deanston, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of December, in the
fourteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Alexander
Mein, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege, and authority, that I, the said Alexander Mein, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Alexander Mein, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all
times thereafter, during the term of years therein mentioned, should & lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Colonies and Plantations abroad,
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING THE FLEECES OF
SHEEP WHEN ON THE ANIMALS;" communication from the late James Smith,
of Deanston, North Britain; in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, requiring that I, the said Alexander Mein, shall particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next-and-immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Alexander Mein, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that
is to say:
The Invention consists of employing chemical solutions prepared suitably for
obtaining, when used in succession, an insoluble or sparingly soluble and water
repellent coating to the fibres of wool of the sheep so treated; by which
means the natural clothing of sheep will be rendered waterproof, or
repellent of moisture, and by which the health of the sheep will not only be
benefitted, but the wool will be found more valuable for its useful purposes
in manufactures. The materials which are used in carrying out the Invention
are those well known to chemists, and which have before been employed in
rendering woven fabrics repellent of moisture, by first impregnating them with
one solution, and then with the other, so as to leave the fibres of the fabrics
coated with an insoluble or moisture repellent matter. And this Invention
consists of applying chemical solutions, capable, by their mutual action on each
other, of so acting in such manner as to cause the wool, whilst on the live
animal and constituting its clothing, to be repellant of moisture, in place of
employing the grease and matters now ordinarily employed. The chemical
solutions which I prefer as the best for carrying out the Invention, are a
solution of alum and a solution of soft soap, commonly called black soap. The
alum is dissolved in water, using at the rate of about twenty pounds of alum
to about forty gallons of water; the quantity of alum above mentioned is first
dissolved in about four gallons of hot water, and then the other thirty-six
gallons of cold water are added, and with this quantity one hundred sheep
may be dipped. The soap solution is prepared by dissolving about thirty-one
pounds of soap in a like quantity of water. In dipping sheep, a trough or
vessel about four feet long and two & a half feet wide, into which about
twenty gallons of the solution of alum are to be placed, and this quantity
will generally serve for dipping about fifty sheep. The dipping is most
conveniently performed by three men, two to hold the legs, and one to
hold the head up out of the solution when the body is immersed. The
sheep is held with its legs upwards, and the body dipped and moved about in

page_text: the solution, the men holding the legs using one hand to rub or press the
solution in. amongst the fleece, and care is to be .observed to. cause the
solution to enter thoroughly amongst the fibres. The dipping of a sheep
takes about half a minute; the sheep: is then, to be lifted out and placed:
on a board by the side of the trough, so arranged that the solution draining
off may run back into the trough. The men are to press the liquid as much
as possible out of the wool. The sheep, so dipped is then allowed to stand on
its legs till nearly dry, which generally takes place in about two hours,
when it is to be again dipped, but in the solution of soap before mentioned,
the dipping in this solution being performed in a similar manner to that"
above described; and immediately such dipping is completed, the sheep may
go to its pasture, and if the dipping. has been carefully done, each fibre of
the fleece will have the quality of repelling water, and the wool will thus
be kept dry, the warmth of the animal will be secured, and the fleece
improved for manufacturing purposes. Instead of the soap, which I
recommended as the simplest method, a solution of glue or other gelatine
may be used, and the wool is in this case made repellent; in this case
the alum is to be used as before stated, but the solution of glue may
be substituted for the solution of soap. The well-known substances, such
as arsenic and preparation of sulphur, used for preventing the attack of
insects on sheep, may be used in combination with the above mode of
making wool repellent, & may be applied either mixed with the solution
or separately, as they have heretofore been used.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention & the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that the same is not confined
to the details herein given, but I claim the application of chemical solutions
suitably prepared to obtain, when used in succession, an insoluble or sparingly
soluble and water-repellent coating to the fibres of wool when on the
animal.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Mein, have hereunto (and also
unto the marginal addition on page first hereof.) set my hand and
seal, the Twenty-ninth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-one.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Alexander Mein came before our said
Lady the Queen in-Her-Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one.