IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA-GRASS AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Montgomery Jennings, of Cork, in
the Kingdom of Ireland, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Inven-
...tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA-GRASS AND
OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
Sealed the 23rd April 1853, and dated the 15th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Montgo-
mery Jennings at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 15th November 1852.
1, FRANCIS MONTGOMERY JENNINGS, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP.
CHINA-GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES" to be as
follows:-
I'take flax, hemp, china-grass, or other similar vegetable fibrous
materials in the state they are usually met with in commerce, or
in the state of straw; more or less perfectly cleaned, and I then
steep or wash the fibres in a heated or cold alkaline solution, after
which the fibres may, if required, be again washed and then placed
for a short time in a solution of soap, or, if preferred, a suitable
Price 8d.

page_text: quantity of oil, grease, or soap may be added to the alkaline solu-
tion in the first instance, and, by the operation of boiling, the oil or
grease will be converted into soap, and will greatly soften the
vegetable fibres, which must then, either before or after washing, be
steeped in an acid solution, or subjected to the vapor of acid. The
fibres may then be washed, and will be found to present a clean,
soft, and silky appearance.
In carrying out these improvements, instead of placing the
vegetable fibres in a mass in the various solutions, I find it con-
venient, and therefore prefer, to place them with some regularity
therein, so as to prevent the fibres from becoming entangled, and
to allow the solutions or chemical ingredients to penetrate and act
properly thereon. The most convenient way of so doing is to
suspend the fibres in small quantities in the vessel, and allow the
chemical solutions to flow freely around them, or they may be
placed horizontally on trays or hurdles.
The fibres may be bleached by chlorine, or other means, in con-
nection with the above processes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Francis Montgomery Jennings in the
Great Seal Patent Ofhce on the 14th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J.
FRANCIS MONTGOMERY JENNINGS, of Cork, in the Kingdom of Ireland,
Manufacturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis Montgomery
Jennings, Her special license that I, the said Francis Montgomery
Jennings, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Francis Montgomery Jennings, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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 PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA-GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis Montgomery Jennings, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Francis Montgomery Jennings,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to
say):
My Invention of improvements in preparing flax, hemp, china-
grass, and other vegetable fibrous substances consists in causing
such substances to be impregnated with soap or soapy matters, and
then subjecting them to the action of an acid for the purpose of
extracting from them the alkali of the soap, and leaving them
impregnated with the oily, fatty, waxy, or resinous matters of the
soap, so as to render them more-soft and pliable, and, in some cases,
give them a more Instrous appearance. Flax, hemp, cotton, and
other fibrous substances may be thus treated either before, during,
or after being manufactured into thread or cloth.
The various modes of obtaining the fibres of flax and other
vegetable substances, and cleansing them from extraneous matters,
are well known, and need not be described, and I consider flax,
cotton, and hemp, as usually sold in commerce, to be in a suitable
state to be operated upon, according_to_my_Invention. But when
I apply my Invention to unmanufactured flax, or other fibrous
matters which have not been thoroughly cleansed, I prefer to
cleanse them by subjecting them to the action of an alkaline solu-

page_text: tion, either in a cold or hot state, as may be found requisite. And
the fibrous substances may, if desired, be further cleansed by
steeping them alternately in weak alkaline and acid solutions, and
afterwards washing them in water.
If it be intended to bleach the material to be operated upon, I
prefer to bleach it before treating according to my Invention,
because the bleaching may diminish the beneficial effects produced
by my Invention.
I will now describe the mode in which I prefer to perform my
Invention in those cases in which it is intended to be applied to
flax and other long fibrous substances.
I take the flax, hemp, or other vegetable fibre which I intend to
treat according to my Invention, and having prepared a suitable
vessel of wood, stone, metal, or other material, having an arrange-
ment of steam pipes or other means of heating it, I fill about three
fourths of it with water; I then tie the flax or other fibres together
in bundles, by ligatures, at about six inches from one end, and
place those bundles tied together in pairs astride of rods or
pieces of timber, or I suspend bundles of the fibres to the rods in any
other way which will allow the solutions herein-after mentioned,
into which the fibres may be put, to circulate as much as possible
through the fibres, and the bundles may be turned, or the places
where they are tied may be changed, so as to ensure as much as
possible a perfect action of the liquor upon all parts of the flax or
other fibre.
The rods for sustaining these bundles of fibres I place in or upon
a frame which can be immersed in the vessel above mentioned, and
I frequently plunge the frame, with all the bundles of fibres, into
the liquor in the vessel, and again withdraw it, so as to cause the
liquor to act more effectually upon the fibres. The same effect
may, however, be produced by agitating the fibres amongst the
liquid in the vessel in any other suitable manner, or the liquid
itself may be kept continually in a state of agitation, either
by pumping, or any other convenient means.
When treating vege-
table fibres according to my Invention I prefer to use the liquors

page_text: hot, because I find that they are more easily wetted when the
liquor is from 190 degrees to 212 degree of Fahrenheit, but a
cold liquid may be used if the time of soaking be proportionably
increased in length.
When the flax or other fibres are to be cleansed I add to the
water in the vessel in which the fibres are to be immersed an
alkali or alkaline solution. I prefer caustic soda or potash, or their
carbonates, and I prefer soda as being cheaper; and to make the
solution contained in the vessel of a strength varying from being
barely alkaline, say 1001 specific gravity to 1025 or more.
The fibres having been washed in the solution, I prefer further
to wash them in water before submitting them to the solution of
soap. For the purpose of submitting the fibres, whether pre-
viously washed or not, to the solution of soap, they are to be
immersed in the solution, and agitation applied until the fibres
become sufficiently impregnated with the soapy matters in the
solution; this may be done in the same manner already described as
to the washing and the agitation before mentioned, and, according to
my experience, it is best effected by an up and down motion. Any
description of soap may be used for this purpose, but if it be
intended that the fibres shall be impregnated with some particular
oily, fatty, resinous, or waxy matter, a soap containing such
matter must be used; and I prefer to use about as much soap as
will be equivalent to half an ounce of oily, fatty, resinous, or waxy
matter to a pound of fibres in the ordinary state of dryness; these
proportions may, however, be varied so as to increase or diminish
the quantity of oily, fatty, resinous, or waxy matters to be deposited
in or upon the fibrous matters.
For the purpose of accellerating the impregnation of the fibrous
matters with the soap I prefer to have an excess of alkali in the
soapy solution, either by making the soap with such an excess, or
by adding alkali to the solution of soap. And I also prefer to make.the-
temperature-of-the-solution-of-soap into which the fibrous matters
are plunged from 190 degrees to 212 degrees of Fahrenheit's
thermometer, because fibrous matters do not absorb moisture so
readily at low temperatures, and when-the-solution is made in the
-

page_text: manner and heated to the temperature I have mentioned I deem
from a quarter of an hour to an hour to be sufficient to effect the
impregnation of the fibres. After the fibrous matters have been
sufficiently impregnated with the soap I take them out of the
solution, and unless the fibres themselves are intended to be
covered with the oily, fatty, resinous, or waxy matters, I prefer to
wash them in water so as to remove the superfluous solution of
soap. I then plunge the fibrous matters into an acid solution, so
that the acid may unite with the alkali of the soap, and liberate its
fatty, resinous, or waxy matters. The fibrous matters should be
agitated in the acid solution so as to accelerate the action of it.
Instead of immersing the fibrous matters in a liquid acid in
this way, they may be subjected to the action of an acid gas or
vapour in a chamber made of a material suitable for that pur-
pose, and the fibrous matters may be agitated in the chamber
to accelerate the action. In either case the action of the acid
ought to be continued until the decomposition of the soap has been
completed.
I prefer using as an acid vinegar or dilute acetic acid, made by
mixing about ten gallons of acetic acid of the usual strength met
with in commerce (about 1040 specific gravity) with about two
hundred gallons of water, and I prefer using it at a temperature
of about or a little below the boiling point, and to keep the fibrous
matters in it for about half an hour, or longer if colder. I prefer
acetic acid as being a vegetable acid, volatile at low temperatures,
and little, or not at all, injurious to vegetable fibre.
Any other acid which will produce the effect of decomposing the
soap without destroying the vegetable fibre, for instance, dilute
sulphuric or muriatic acid, may be used, and the vapour of acids,
such as sulphurous or acetic acids, may also be used.
If sulphuric acid or muriatic acid be used, the diluted acids may
be made by combining the acids with water in proportions varying
from one to four pints of the acids to two hundred gallons of water;
but I prefer using the acids as weak as conveniently may be for
effecting the purpose, and they may be used warm or cold to pro-
duce the effect, but, if cold, they require a longer time. If acetic

page_text: acid be used, I prefer to wash the fibrous material which has been
acted upon in water to free it from the superfluous acid. If
mineral or other acid (except acetic acid) be used, I prefer after-
wards washing the fibrous substances in a very dilute alkaline
solution so as to neutralize the acid, and then to put it into hot
dilute acetic acid, which may then be used very dilute (say, two
gallons of acid to two hundred gallons of water), after which I dry
the fibrous substances either in the air or in a stove, as may be
most convenient, but I prefer a stove.
If chloride of lime or soda or any such bleaching compounds be
used in bleaching any fibrous matters intended to be treated
according to my Invention, I prefer afterwards to wash them in
water, and then to put them for some hours either into a solution
of sulphurous acid, or sulphite of soda, or potash, or some sulphite
from which sulphurous acid may be liberated, and then adding an
acid to the solution so as to liberate the sulphurous acid in order
that it may unite with or decompose the chlorine contained in the
fibrous matters, and which it would otherwise be difficult to free
them from.
If I operate on Italian hemp, or coarse or dirty foreign or other
flaxes or hemps or vegetable fibres, I find it advantageous to use,
in some cases, a boiling in alkali with or without soap some hours,
always keeping the solution decidedly alkaline, then to wash the
flax, hemp, &c., and put it into a solution of soap with an excess of
alkali, and treat it as herein-before described.
In the case of china-grass, I find a rolling from time to time
during the operation to be advantageous, and that that material
requires a little more time than flax, when being treated according
to my Invention.
The process of impregnating fibrous substances with soap, and
afterwards decomposing the soap by means of an acid, as herein-
before-described, may, if desired, be repeated upon the same quan-
tity of material, but 1 deem one application of the process to be
sufficient for all ordinary purposes. I can use for these operations
the soaps of commerce, but.I.prefer-using-a-soap-made-by-boiling
the required quantity of oil, or other fatty, resinous, or waxy

page_text: matters, in a solution of caustic soda, at the rate of one pound of
oil or grease, &c. to five pints of caustic soda of 1050 specific gravity,
and boiling it for two hours, adding in the oil in about fifteen
minutes, and then adding in water gradually to increase the solution
to about double, agitating well all the time, and keeping the heat
to the boiling point. Soaps containing a proportion of silica or
any other material may, if desired, be used.
If I operate on short libres, such as cotton, tow or flax, hemp, &c.,
in short pieces, I do not, of course, suspend them across sticks, but
put them upon or in frames, or throw them into the solutions in
any convenient way, and proceed as before.
The before-mentioned processes may be carried on either under
pressure or not.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I declare that I do not claim any
particular mode of washing or preparation of the matters to be
submitted to the process of impregnation with soap. But 1 do
claim as my Invention the impregnating of fibrous vegetable
substances (whether previously washed or prepared in any par-
ticular manner or not) with oily, fatty, resinous, and waxy matters,
by saturating such substances with soap containing such matters,
or any of them, and afterwards decomposing such soap by means
of acids, my mode of doing which I have above described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Francis Montgomery Jennings,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
Witness,
FRANCIS MONTGOMERY JENNINGS. (L.S.)
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.