An Improvement in the Sizeing, Dressing, and Finishing of Textile Products, and Material for that purpose.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 15th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 16th Apr., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in the Sizeing, Dressing, and Finishing of Textile
Products, and Material for that purpose.
I EARDLEY BLOIS MANBY of Grove House, Kersal Moor, Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Bleacher and Finisher, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My said invention has reference to the usual sizing, dressing and finishing
processes which are employed to give appearance and substance to textile fibres,
yarns and fabrics, and relates to an improved material having certain features of
utility and novelty, as applied to this special purpose.
The dressing or material which I employ is produced by dissolving any known
form of cellulose such as flax, rhea, hemp, wood pulp, paper, bleached cotton and
the like, in chloride of zinc solution the result being a gelatinous or viscous
substance or solution the fluidity of which can be modified to any required degree.
The solution of cellulose thus obtained can be applied in the ordinary or in any
suitable manner to yarns, warps and textile fabrics of cotton or linen or admixtures
of these or of other vegetable fibres. The gelatinous nature of the solution
increases the bulk of the fibres and gives an improved appearance "handle" or
feel to the yarns or fabrics.
To precipitate the cellulose in or upon the fibres, yarns or fabric, I treat the
yarns or fabric with water or with any other suitable liquid or weak acid or
solution of a salt, or it might be with a vapour or gas which will eliminate the
chloride or oxide of zinc and leave the cellulose. The cellulose which is thus left
in or upon the fibre is insoluble and as it is practically colourless it does not
materially effect the whiteness of the fabric with which it is incorporated.
I would here direct attention to another and important feature of my invention.
As is well known the ordinary finishing dressings which are often employed to give
bulk or stiffness to textile yarns or fabrics are of purely foreign or dissimilar
materials, adding nothing to the real corpus or substance of the goods. But in my
invention the cellulose is or may be of the actual substance of which the goods
are composed, and in the case of cotton goods for example, when cellulose obtained
from cotton is precipitated upon or in the yarns or fabrics, the cloth or yarn is
supplemented, not with a foreign body, but with a material the same as that
composing the goods riz. with cotton (cellulose). In the same manner other
vegetable fibres may be supplemented by a kindred cellulose.
I do not confine the application of my improved finishing material to the
ordinary finishing processes.
For example I might apply it in the processes of calico printing and dyeing.
When so used it might either be mixed with the colouring liquids or it might be
combined with mordants or fixing or discharging solutions when such are used or
the material might be applied to the fabric or yarns before printing and dyeing.
The process of dissolving the cellulose in the chloride of zinc is well known to
chemists and forms no part of my invention.
Dated this 15th day of January 1894.

page_text: An Improvement in the Sizeing, Dressing, and Finishing of Textile
Products, and Material for that purpose.
1, EARDLEY BLOIS MANBY, of Grove House, Kersal Moor, Manchester, in
the County of Lancashire, Bleacher and Finisher, 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:-
My invention relates to the sizeing, dressing and finishing processes applied to
yarns and fabrics made from vegetable textile fibres in order to give them
appearance and substance, and to the use, in these processes, of material which is
of a nature the same as, or analogous to, that of the yarns and fabrics themselves.
For this purpose, I dissolve, in a strong solution of zinc chloride, cellulose in
any of its known forms, obtained from wood or textile fibres, preferring that
obtained from cotton or other white fibres when white yarns or fabrics are to be
treated.
The solution of the cellulose is of a gelatinous consistence and may be rendered
more or less fluid by addition of a little water or dilute solution of the zinc
chloride. I find that in forming the solution of cellulose a good proportion is
from 5 to 8 parts of dry cellulose to 100 parts of saturated solution of zinc chloride,
the solvent action of which is promoted by the addition of a small percentage of
acid preferably hydrochloric acid. For effecting solution heat is required, and
this is best applied by a steam jacket or steam coil. While the cellulose is being
dissolved, caustic soda or other alkali is added sufficient to neutralize the acid
which had been used to acidulate the zinc chloride.
For sizeing dressing and finishing yarns or fabrics I apply this solution in the
same ways as size and other dressing and finishing materials are applied, and I
then wash out the zinc chloride leaving the cellulose precipitated in the material
treated. The zinc chloride solution washed out can be concentrated and applied
to effect fresh solution of cellulose; and this can be done repeatedly.
The cellulose left in the material is insoluble in water and, when white
cellulose is used, it does not affect the colour of the yarn or fabric. The
cellulose moreover, being a product of vegetable fibre, is virtually of the same
nature as the yarns or fabrics and has no prejudicial effect upon them, such as may
result from the presence of material of a different nature. The cellulose solution
may, however, have mixed with it other known finishing mineral materials such as
china clay, steatite, gypsum, barytes and the like, or vegetable materials such as
starch, flour, rice, and the like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The herein described process of sizeing, dressing, and finishing textile products
by treating them with solution of cellulose in zinc chloride, and washing out the
zinc chloride, so as to leave the cellulose precipitated in the textile material.
Dated thin 15th day of Ontalon 1904
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.