IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND SCOURING WOOLS BY THE INTRODUCTION OF AIR INTO THE WATER USING AN AERIFORM WASHING APPARATUS."
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hippolyte Plantrou, junior, of No. 15, Passage des
Petites Ecuries, Paris, in the Empire of France, Dyer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND SCOURING WOOLS BY THE INTRODUCTION
OF AIR INTO THE WATER USING AN AERIFORM WASHING APPARATUS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hippolyte Plantrou at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd September 1861.
I, HIPPOLYTE PLANTROU, junior, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries,
Paris, in the Empire of France, Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND SCOURING WOOLS BY THE
INTRODUCTION OF AIR INTO THE WATER, USING AN AERIFORM WASHING APPARATUS,"
to be as follows:-
Washing wool by the introduction of air into the water combines every
advantage. The air introduced into the water by, say 320 apertures, (more
or less) in a trough, cannot but completely agitate the quantity contained in
the trough, and that so powerfully, that this revolution will even purify the
water; secondly, the water coming from the bottom of the trough or vat
always keeps the wool on the surface, and the air in passing touches all the
fibres. The air passing into the water with pressure, agitates it to such an

page_text: extent, that the fatty and soapy matters possessed by the wool after the
scouring cannot but froth up, and are then driven over the top of the trough by
the water, which is being constantly renewed from the tubes placed beneath.
The air is introduced into the trough by means of a pump. It will be evident
that my Invention is not confined to the arrangement of the trough or vat, 5
but consists more especially in the introduction of air into water for the pur-
pose of scouring and washing wools.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hippolyte Plantrou in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, HIPPOLYTE
PLANTROU, junior, of No. 15, Passages des Petites Ecuries, Paris, in the Empire
of France, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Hippolyte Plantrou, junior, Her special licence that I, the said
Hippolyte Plantrou, junior, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Hippolyte Plantrou, junior, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 WASHING AND SCOURING WOOLS BY
THE INTRODUCTION OF AIR INTO THE WATER, USING AN AERIFORM WASHING APPA-
RATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hippolyte
Plantrou, junior, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Hippolyto Plantrou, junior, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Draw-
ings forming part of this my Specification, and to the letters of reference
marked thereon.
The principle of my method of washing wools rests entirely upon the intro-
duction of air into the water, and the agitation which it produces therein.
The wool placed in a vase or trough and abandoned to itself, no longer receives
the shocks and friction of sticks, claws, or any other foreign body, which may
felt, twist, or entwine it, and is only shaken by the water uniformly agitated in
all its parts by currents of air coming from the bottom of the vase, trough, or
other receptacle. The fatty and soapy matters resulting from the scouring
become frothy, and form a head or scum, which constantly raised escapes very
rapidly over the borders of the vase by the overflow of water. The textile
matter is thus integrally attacked in all its fibres, it is well divided without
felting or rolling, and being always held in suspension near the top of the
water, it permits all its soapy parts to escape easily. By this process, wool
enclosed in a vase may be washed in any locality where there is a simple well,
and without the aid of a river, with a very small expenditure of water com-
pared with what would be required under any other system. To arrive at
these results, an apparatus is required to give the compressed air, and a ver-
tical or horizontal bellows or blowing engine fulfils this object.
In the annexed Drawing is shewn a system of trough apparatus, by which
my Invention may be carried into practical effect, but I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details therein shewn, as such
nay infinitely vary without in any way affecting the principle of my Invention.
The trough may have three, four, or five compartments (as shewn in the
Drawing), or more, according to the production to be treated. The air arrives
by the pipe A, lodges in the air tube B, and escapes through the orifices a, b, c,
which are pierced in the bottom of the trough. These orifices may be mul-
tiplied in each compartment at will according to the nature of the wools; the
size of the compartments is also proportioned to the description and quantity
of wool. The water arrives by a pipe C, and divides within the trough through
the openings k, g, 1, which may also be multiplied at will. The air thus spread
through the mass of water introduces itself into the light wool, touches all its
fibres, prepares them for dying, and the grease which envelops them, leaves
with its dissolvent the water by the gratings M, N, placed on each side the
trough. The clear water which, as above stated, arrives from the bottom, also
traverses the wool, and escapes over the borders O, O, to descend by the pipe T.
The washing is completed in a few minutes, and the wool is taken out
with a pole, and placed in a basket. The force of the air in entering the

page_text: water, may be regulated by a valve S applied in the air reservoir B, and by
this same valve it is easy to empty all the water from the trough.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hippolyte Plantrou, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
H. PLANTROU, FILS. (L.S.)