NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE MATERIALS WITH CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS OF SILK, WOOL, OR FEATHER DOWN, OR MIXTURES THEREOF
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lorentz Albert Groth, K.G.V., Civil Engineer and
Proprietor of the Scandinavian Patent Office, under the Firm of L. A. Groth
& Co., 97, Finsbury Pavement, London, E.C., for an Invention of "NEW
OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE MATERIALS WITH CHEMICAL
SOLUTIONS OF SILK, WOOL, OR FEATHER DOWN, OR MIXTURES THEREOF."
A communication from abroad by H. R. Paul Hosemann, of Berlin, in the
German Empire.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lorentz Albert Groth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th July 1881.
LORENTZ ALBERT GROTH, K.G.V., Civil Engineer and Proprietor of the Scan-
dinavian Patent Office, under the Firm of L. A. Groth & Co., 97, Finsbury
Pavement, London, E.C. "NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE
MATERIALS WITH CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS OF SILK, WOOL, OR FEATHER DOWN, OR
MIXTURES THEREOF." A communication from abroad by H. R. Paul Hosemann,
of Berlin, in the German Empire.
According to this Invention a solution of silk, wool, or featherdown is first
prepared in the following manner:-
A clear solution is made of hydroxyde of alkali (about 36° Bé.). To 10 kilo-
grammes of this solution are added from 200 to 300 grammes of, for example, silk
fibre.
This solution is slightly warmed, and the silk fibre dissolves rapidly in it; it is
then diluted with distilled water to 10°, 15°, 20°, or 30° Bé. This dilution is for
the purpose of enabling the stuff to be coated more or less with the silk solution as
may be required.
In the first silk bath in which the material to be coated is placed it is preferable

page_text: to disolve and boil a quantity of good tallow, then to stir it well, and finally to put
in the goods.
Instead of tallow, stearine, palmetine, or other fat may be used.
The production of the solution of wool is similarly effected. To both solutions
stiffening materials, such as gelatine, starch, or lime may be added.
When dyed silk or wool fibres are dissolved in the above described way, they will
precipitate the colour on to the fibres, and so effect a corresponding colouring
thereof.
The bleaching process with permanganate of potass and sulphate of soda is
applicable to fibres prepared with the above described solutions of silk, wool, and
featherdown.
When the solution is sufficiently concentrated, which depends upon the character
of the fibres to be treated, the previously slightly moistened stuff (fibre, yarn, or
tissue, is placed in the silk or wool solution, left a time therein, then taken out and
dried. These operations are repeated several times, and conducted in such a manner
that a strong bath (silk or wool solution) is used at first, and then weaker and
weaker baths.
The stuff is then placed in a strong bath of sulphuric acid, and is kept in
motion therein for about two hours. A careful washing in water then removes
the acid therefrom. A main point in this process is that the stuff treated with
solution should be immediately dried, and not until then further worked.
The drying is best effected in warm drying rooms.
The bath of silk or wool solution may be used cold, lukewarm, or hot, according
to the character of the fibres.
If hot baths are commenced with they must be gradually ceased, and the finishing
effected with cold ones. The process requires no special appliance, such as currents
of electricity, vacuum, and so forth, but is accomplished with the solutions in the
way and by the treatment above described, and the material so treated may be
bleached and dyed without losing any of its character.
The dyeing is more easily and more beautifully effected the stronger the precipitate
of silk upon it. The yarns and tissues prepared with silk solution are subsequently
treated by hot pressing, beating, stretching, etc., as usual with silk yarns or tissues
for bringing up the gloss and crackle (kracken).
The solutions of silk, as well as those of wool, may be made by any other known
method of solution, but due regard must be had as to the relation of the solvent to
the quality of the fibres to be treated therewith.
By this treatment dull, glossless, and inferior silk is materially improved by a
solution of finer glossy silk.
If silk (especially Tussah) be treated in the above process with frequent appli-
cations of an appropriate silk solution, its weight can be materially increased,
because silk is precipitated on silk, and thereby the manufacture of weighted silk
yarns and tissues at present practised is replaced with suitable material at small
cost.
The precipitate of silk by the method above described adheres very strongly and
durably to all fibres.
The wool solution is also made to suit the quality of the fibres for which it is
intended. The precipitation from the solution on to the fibres gives to the latter
the perfect appearance of wool; and the treatment with baths, as before described,
imparts even to vegetable fibres a kind of nap or frieze.
The so called "Cosmos fibre" recently produced from waste jute, flax, hemp,
etcetera, acquires by the treatment with wool solution herein described a fresh
importance and applicability, as vegetable fibres are thereby covered with animal
matter, which imparts to them the appearance and peculiarity of animal fibres."
Fibres, yarns, and tissues of flax, cotton, and so forth, acquire in the bath of
wool solution the appearance of yarns and tissues of carded wool, and those of
china grass and combed flax the appearance and feel of combed wool

page_text: If the materials are first treated with silk solution and then with wool solution,
or vice versa, according to the above described grounding process, remarkable effects
are obtained. These effects present themselves at one time as a sprinkling of the
silk surface with small silk velvet bodies, at other times as a decoration of a velvet
surface with brilliant silk glossy tinsel. The solvent suitable for each separate
body being chosen, the two solutions may be employed mixed together. The
treatment remains exactly the same as the above described grounding process.
In the same way as silk and wool are dissolved and precipitated on yarns,
according to the above description, so the down of feathers may be dissolved in
similar alkaline baths.
In these baths of feather solution the textile materials become covered with small
particles or bodies which have or produce the appearance of feather down.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Lorentz Albert Groth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th January 1882.
LORENTZ ALBERT GROTH, K.G.V., Civil Engineer and Proprietor of the Scan-
dinavian Patent Office, under the Firm of L. A. Groth & Co., 97, Finsbury
Pavement, London, E.C. "NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE
MATERIALS WITH CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS OF SILK, WOOL, OR FEATHER DOWN, OR
MIXTURES THEREOF." A communication from abroad by H. R. Paul Hosemann,
of Berlin, in the German Empire.
According to this Invention a solution of silk, wool, or featherdown is first
prepared in the following manner: A clear solution is made of hydroxyde of
alkali (about 30° Baumé). To 10 kilogrammes of this solution are added from
200 to 300 grammes of, for example, silk fibre. This solution is slightly warmed,
and the silk fibre dissolves rapidly in it; it is then diluted with distilled water
to 10°, 15°, 20°, or 30° Baumé, according to requirements. This solution is for the
purpose of enabling the stuff to be coated more or less with the silk solution as
may be required. In the first silk bath in which the material to be coated is
placed it is preferable to dissolve and boil a quantity of good tallow, then to stir
it well, and finally to put in the goods.
Instead of tallow, stearine, palmetine, or other may be used. The production of
the solution of wool is similarly effected. To both solutions of stiffening materials,
such as gelatine, starch, or lime may be added.
When dyed silk or wool fibres are dissolved in the above described way they
will precipitate the colour on to the fibres, and so effect a corresponding colouring
thereof.
The bleaching process with permanganate of potass (kalium permanganate) and
sulphate of soda (natriumsulphate) is applicable to fibres prepared with the above
described solutions of silk, wool, and featherdown.
When the solution is sufficiently concentated (which depends upon the character
of the fibres to be treated) the previously slightly moistened stuff (fibre, yarn, or
tissue) is placed in the silk or wool solution, left a time therein, then taken out
and dried. These operations are repeated several times, and conducted in such
manner that a strong bath (silk or wool solution) is used at first, and then weaker
and weaker baths. The stuff is then placed in a strong bath of sulphuric acid, and
is kept in motion therein for about two hours.
A careful washing in water then removes the acid therefrom. A main point in
this process is that the stuff treated with solution should be immediately dried, and
not until then further worked.
The drying is best effected in warm drying rooms.
The bath of silk or wool solution may be used cold, lukewarm, or hot, according
to the character of the fibres. If hot baths are commenced with they must be
gradually ceased and the finishing effected with cold ones.
The process requires no special appliance, such as currents of electricity, vacuum,
and so forth, but is accomplished with the solutions in the way and by the treat-
ment above described, and the material so treated may be bleached and dyed
without losing any of its character.
The dyeing is more easily and more beautifully effected the stronger the
precipitate of silk upon it. The yarns and tissues prepared with silk solution are
subsequently treated by hot pressing, beating, stretching, and so forth as usual

page_text: with silk yarns or. tissues. for bringing up the gloss and crackle (krachen). The
solutions of silk, as well as those of wool, may be made by any other known method
of solution, but due regard must be had as to the relation of the solvent to the
quality of the fibres to be treated therewith.
By this treatment dull,, glossless, and inferior silk is materially improved by a
solution of finer glossy silk. If silk especially (Tussah) be treated in the above
process with frequent applications of an appropriate silk solution its weight can
be materially increased, because silk is precipitated on silk, and thereby the manu-
facture of weighted silk yarns and tissues as at present practised is replaced by
the use of suitable material at smaller cost.
The precipitate of silk by the method above described adheres very strongly and
durably to all fibres. The wool solution is also made, as above mentioned, to suit
the quality of the fibres for which it is intended. The precipitation from the
solution on to the fibres gives to the latter the perfect appearance of wool, and
the treatment with baths, as before described, imparts even to vegetable fibres a
kind of nap or friese. The so called "Comos" fibre recently produced from waste
jute, flax, hemp, etcetera, acquires by the treatment with wool solution, herein
described, a fresh importance and applicability, as vegetable fibres are thereby
covered with animal matter, which imparts to them the appearance and peculiarity
of animal fibres. Fibres, yarns, and tissues of flax, cotton, and so forth, acquire
in the bath of wool solution the appearance of yarns and tissues of carded wool,
and those of china-grass and combed flax the appearance and feel of combed
wool.
If the materials are first treated with silk solution, and then with wool solution,
or vice versa, according to the above described grounding process, remarkable
effects are obtained. These effects present themselves at one time as a sprinkling
of the silk surface with small silk velvet bodies, at other times as a decoration of
a velvet surface with brilliant silk glossy tinsel. The solvent suitable for each
separate body being chosen, the two solutions may be employed mixed together.
The treatment remains exactly the same as the above described grounding
process.
In the same way as silk and wool are dissolved and precipitated on yarns,
according to the above description, so the down of feathers may be dissolved in
similar alkaline baths. In these baths of feather solution the textile materials
become covered with small particles or bodies which have or produce the appearance
of featherdown.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-
Firstly. The treatment of textilile fibres of all kinds and forms in cold, warm, or
hot, and more or less diluted alkaline solutions of silk, wool, or featherdown, or
mixtures thereof, without the employment of pressure, electricity, etcetera, whereby
the silk, wool, or featherdown forming the principal ingredient or ingredients of
such solutions is or are precipitated upon the said textile fibres so as to cover them
therewith in such manner that the covered textile fibres can be subsequently
dyed, bleached, and finished, as herein before described.
Secondly. The process for loading silk or woollen yarn or web with silk or wool
solution for the purpose of improving the quality of such yarn or web, as herein-
before described.
Thirdly. The employment of mixtures of silk and wool solutions, of silk and
featherdown solutions, of wool and featherdown solutions, or of silk, wool, and
featherdown solutions for covering textile fibres of all kinds, and the employment
of the said solutions of wool, silk, or featherdown, either any two or all three in
succession, as additions to textile fibres, as herein before described.
Fourthly. The use of solutions of dyed silk fibre, dyed wool fibre, or dyed

page_text: featherdown for precipitation of dyed silk, wool, or featherdown on to and as a
covering for textile fibres, as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lorentz Albert Groth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
LORENTZ ALBERT GROTH. (L.S.)