Improvements in the Treatment of or Finishing of Manufactured or Partially Manufactured Materials from Cotton or Similar Fibres or other Substance containing Cellulose.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Dec., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 16th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 17th Dec., 1890
Improvements in the Treatment of or Finishing of Manufactured or
Partially Manufactured Materials from Cotton or Similar Fibres
or other Substance containing Cellulose.
:
I, HORACE ARTHUR LOWE, of Heaton Moor, in the County of Lancaster, Technical.
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This process relates chiefly to the treatment of fibrous inaterial such as cotton yarns,
cloth and the like, for the purpose of giving a better finish to the material, though it
may also be applied to other yarns or cloth or such substance as paper pulp made from
fibrous or other material having a base of, or largely composed of cellulose.
It consists essentially in treating the material with a chemical preparation such as a
strong solution of caustic soda, a strong solution of caustic soda containing oxide
of zinc, or a strong solution of chloride of zinc or other similar hydrolytic sub-
stances which will act on the fibre by changing or modifying the cellulose contained
therein, thereby endowing the fibre with a better appearance and feel, together with
the property of being more quickly, uniformly, and economically dyed, and giving
increased strength and elasticity.
In carrying out the process I prepare a cold bath of one or other of the above
mentioned chemicals and immerse the material therein for a comparatively short time
say from five to thirty minutes more or less, according to the texture of the material
and then thoroughly wash or rinse it with water. After being so washed or rinsed, in
certain cases, 1 still further treat the material in a bath containing dilute acid or a
bleaching compound in order to bleach it or remove any colour and to eliminate all
traces of the alkaline or other solution primarily used. The material may be treated
either in the form of cloth, yarn, or pulp as may be desired.
When applied to cloth I prefer to apply it during the process of bleaching, when
this process is about half or three quarters completed, though it may be applied after
the bleaching is thoroughly completed.
When applied to yarn the yarn may be treated in the form of warps, or in hanks
or in cops.
When applied to pulp the pulp will be treated in a vat and subsequently spread
into sheets and rolled and dried in the usual way, or it may be so treated after
being made into sheets. A textile fabric, the inaterial comprising which has been
so treated during one of the processes of manufacture will I consider possess some
or all of the following advantages over a fabric prepared in the usual way :-
(a) It will be considerably stronger.
(b) It will have a greater capacity for absorbing or containing natural moisture.
(c) It will have a more regular, a closer, and wiry appearance making it com-
parable to a better quality of material, and
(d) It will take up certain dyes, such as indigo more readily and more economically
than a material not so treated.
Although this method of treatment is primarily intended for producing what is
known as a pure finish upon the cloth or fabric, the same may subsequently be
finished with size, china-clay, or other filling or loading material at present employed
in the finishing of some kinds of textile fabrics, or it may be put through machines
for beetling, calendering or stretching.
Dated this 16th day of December 1889.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of or Finishing of Manufactured or
Partially Manufactured Materials from Côtton or Similar Fibres
or other Substance containing Cellulose.
1, HORACE ARTHUR LOWE, of Heaton Moor, in the County of Lancaster, Technical
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
This process relates to the treatment of materials composed of cellulosic fibres-
such as cotton and flax &c.-either in the form of cops, hanks, or woven lengths,
for the purpose of giving a better finish or appearance to the material together with
the properties of being dyed more quickly and economically and of taking deeper,
brighter and faster shades and of adding to its strength.
It consists essentially of a process whereby the material is treated with a strong
solution of sodium-hydrate (or solution of sodium hydrate and oxide of zine or its
chemical equivalent, potassium-hydrate) which will change or modify the cellulose
therein hy combining with it and whereby the soda in this combination may be
eliminated therefrom, and regenerated and returned to the process for subsequent
operations.
In a vat, or other suitable apparatus, I prepare a bath of a concentrated solution
of hydrate of soda of a density of from 25° to 75° Twaddle (for general work [
prefer 40°—55° Twaddle) with which the material is saturated. The density will
be regulated according to the thickness, twist and quantity of the material to he
treated.
The material is immersed in, saturated by, or passed through the solution; and
the duration of the immersion for a solution of it density of from 40° to 55° Twaddle
at 60° F. is so arranged that the material shall be in the liquid for about 2 minutes
-the duration of the immersion however may vary from 1-15 minutes according to
the character of the fibre, the bulk of the material, and 'the strength of the solution
chosen for the special case in hand.
The cellulose of the fibre takes up the sodium-hydrate from the bath, thus reducing
its density, and chemically combines with the cellulose forming a contracted trans-
parent substance.
When removed from the bath (and as much of the mechanically absorbed liquid
drained from the material as can be done by a squeezing or other mechanical
operation) it is thoroughly impregnated or rinsed with water (preferably warm) which
is showered upon it in a fine spray or otherwise to completely saturate it and at
the same time so as to use as little as possible, this treatment may be done
fractionally and the separate washings run off at different strengths to the recovery
process, or they may be mixed previous to recovery. The water decomposes or
dissipates the combination of soda-cellulose and dissolves out all the hydrate of soda
taken up by the fibre but at the same time does not change back the fibre to its
original native condition but leaves it in a modified state so that when seen under
the microscope the original flattened spiral cellulosic cell has become a straight
cylindriform one, with thicker walls.
The fibre so treated is free from soda and any traces remaining in it may be
neutralized with a dilute acid solution.
The sodium-hydrate eliminated from the cellulosic compound as above described is
in such a form that it can be regenerated. The solution is concentrated by a multiple-
effect evaporator to a sufficient degree, viz. :-700-800 Twaddle and then returned
to the bath, the density or strength of which will thus he kept constant, and is thus
available for reproducing the same modification upon the following batches of material.
If it is found that this soda solution obtained by the decomposition of "the cellulosic
compound contains impurities abstracted out of or taken up from the fibres it may
when necessary be filtered or purified before being returned to the process.

page_text: The fibre may now be bleached, finished, dyed or printed.
The material may be treated by this process in the form of woven lengths, or as
yarn in the bank or cop, or after being warped.
Woven lengths of material or warps are treated continuously they are passed slowly
through the bath, then through rollers or squeezers which remove from them most of
the liquor and afterwards passed on to washing tanks where as above described the
decomposition is carried out with as little dilution as possible.
Yarn in the form of cops or hanks may he treated in machines such as are at present
in use for cop dyeing and for hank dyeing or in other similar machines which may be
adapted or constructed for the purpose which will allow of the time of immersion
required, and the use of a minimum quantity of the decomposing agent and the sub-
sequent recovery and regeneration of the soda eliminated by it.
The materials treated as above described will possess some or all of the following
advantages as compared with a fabric prepared in the used way, viz. It will he
considerably stronger; will have a greater capacity for containing or absorbing
natural moisture; will have a more regular, close, and glossy appearance; will have
a firmer feel, and will take up dyes and colouring matters much more quickly and
economically; and will dye richer and faster shades.
The cloth may subsequently, if desired, be finished by any of the ordinary methods
with size, china-clay or other filling or loading material at present employed in the
finishing of some kinds of textile materials or it may be put through machines for
beetling, calendering or stretching.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :--
The process of treating cellulosic fibrous material which consists in subjecting it
to a strong solution of sodium-hydrate and then so treating the soda-cellulose
thereby formed that its contained soda may be regenerated substantially as and for
the purpose described.
Dated this 10th dow of Sentember 1890