IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Manu- FACTURE OF PRINTED FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Knowles, of Tollington Mill, near Bury,
in the County of Lancaster, and Joseph Ashworth and Richard
Ashworth, both of Ainsworth Mill, near Bolton, in the same County,
Calico Printers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Manu-
FACTURE OF PRINTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 15th August 1871, and dated the 8th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Knowles, Joseph
Ashworth, and Richard Ashworth at the Office of the Commis-
sioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 8th April 1871.
We, SAMUEL KNOWLES, of Tollington Mill, near Bury, in the County
of Lancaster, and JosЕРи АsшWORTH and RICHARD ASHWORTH, both of
Ainsworth Mill, near Bolton, in the same County, Calico Printers, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PRINTED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
printed fabrics. At the present time in place of using indigo to dye a
blue color, aniline salt and chlorate of potash is sometimes employed.

page_text: According to our Invention we produce patterns in various colors on
such an aniline ground, and this we do by first printing the cloth and
then submitting it to the aniline salt and chlorate of potash.
To produce a white figure on the blue ground, we print the fabric
with a deoxidising material, such as spelter ore or zinc ore, and then by
means of a padding roller we pad the cloth with aniline salt and chlorate
of potash. The fabric is then aged or exposed to the air for somo time
in a warm room, it is then passed through acid to remove the zinc orc,
and afterward through lime water or other alkaline solution to destroy
the green shade of the ground and bring up the bluc.
If a yellow or orange figure be required together with the white or
alone it also is printed before treating the fabric with aniline salt and
chlorate. Salts of lead are employed for this purpose, such as the acetate
or pyrolignite with litharge or oxide of lead, avoiding any free acid.
After ageing the fabric is in this case treated with sulphuric acid and
afterwards with a chromate of salt. Other colors may in like manner be
printed on the fabric before applying the aniline salt and the chlorate.
The ground color of the fabrics may be varied by suitable additions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Knowles, Joseph Ashworth, and Richard
Ashworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th October
1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
KNOWLES, of Tollington Mill, near Bury, in the County of Lancaster,
and JOSEPH ASHWORTH and RICHARD ASHWORTH, both of Ainsworth
Mill, near Bolton, in the same County, Calico Printers, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Samuel Knowles, Joseph Ashworth and
Richard Ashworth, Her special license that we, the said Samuel
Knowles, Joseph Ashworth, and Richard Ashworth, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel
Knowles, Joseph Ashworth, and Richard Ashworth, our executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PRINTED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Samuel Knowles, Joseph Ashworth, and Richard
Ashworth, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Ashworth, on behalf of
myself and the said Samuel Knowles and Joseph Ashworth, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of printed fabrics. At the present time in place of using indigo to dye
a blue color aniline salt and chlorate of potash is sometimes employed.
According to our Invention we produce patterns in various colors on
such an aniline ground, and this we do by first printing the cloth and
then submitting it to the aniline salt and chlorate of potash or other
oxydizing agent.
To produce a white figure on the blue ground we print the fabric with
a deoxydizing material, such as spelter ore, or zinc ore, and then by
means of a padding roller we pad the cloth with aniline salt and chlorate
of potash. The fabric is then aged or exposed to the air for some time
in a warm room. It is then passed through acid to remove the zine
orc, and afterwards through lime water or other alkaline solution to
destroy the green shade of the ground and bring up the blue.
If a yellow or orange figure be required, together with the white or
alone, it also is printed before treating the fabric with aniline salt and
chlorate of potash. Salts of lead are employed for this purpose, such
as the acetate or pyrolignite with litharge or oxide of lead, avoiding
any free acid. After aging the fabric is in this case treated with
.

page_text: sulphuric acid, and afterwards with bichromate of potash and alkali.
Other colors may in like manner be printed on the fabric before
applying the aniline salt and the chlorate. The ground color of the
fabric may be varied by suitable additions.
In carrying out our Invention we prefer to proceed as follows :—
After bleaching the cloth in the usual way we print the white or colors
required, always using deoxydizing or reducing agents, or alkaline
substances, and afterwards padding with pin rollers or otherwise
impregnating the fabric with a salt of aniline combined with an
oxydizing agent, and preferring chlorate of potash or salt of chromium.
For white we first print with spelter or zinc ore in fine powder in
the proportion of 1 to 3 lbs. of spelter ore to 1 gallon of water, and
thickened with starch and British gum or flour paste, as required.
For orange or yellow we print with acetate or basic acetate of lead
in the proportion of from 6 to 9 lbs. per gallon of water, with or without
from 2 to 4 lbs. of sulphate of lead, and thickened by boiling with flour
and British gum or flour, as required.
For green we take a similar proportion of acetate or basic acetate of
lead as for orange or yellow, thickened as above and adding when cold
from 1 to 3 to 1 to 5 of Prussian blue free from acid.
For red we print with a luminate of soda of a strength according to
shade required or a neutral or basic acetate of alumina with or without
tin crystals and thickened in the usual way.
After the fabric is printed we pad them with pin rollers or otherwise
in a solution of chlorhydrato or tartrate of aniline in the proportion of
from 8 to 16 ozs. per gallon, adding 1 to 3 ozs. chlorate of potash which
has been previously dissolved in boiling water and with or without
thickening. After padding and drying, the fabric is hung or aged
in a room for 12 to 48 hours, and heated to from 70 to 95 degrees
Fahrenheit.
If a blue ground with white alone is required, we pass the goods after
printing and padding as above, through a solution of lime water or other
alkaline solution, with or without a small quantity of bichromate of potash,
then washing dry.
If a blue ground with orange is required, we pass the goods after
printing, padding, and dyeing as before described, through a weak
solution of lime water, cleanse in water, then pass through sulphuric

page_text: acid, wash and raise the orange through bichromate of potash, lime water,
or alkaline solutions in the usual way.
For producing red with the other colors, we print, pad, and age as
before described, and afterwards pass the goods through a solution of
sulphate of soda or arseniate of soda, salammoniac or a weak solution
of sulphuric acid wash, and afterwards dung and dye with madder or
garancine and raise the orange in the usual way.
Before finishing, and to render the colors permanent, we pass the
fabrics through a solution of basic acetate of lead of about 3 to 6 degrees
Twaddle, with or without combination with resin soap.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be understood that
we claim, printing patterns of white, blue, green, orange, yellow, red, or
other colors upon fabrics, and afterwards padding such printed fabrics
in a solution of aniline salt and chlorate of potash or other oxydizing
agent substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Ashworth, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.