IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF SCOURING, BLEACHING, AND DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Sauvée, of 22, Parliament Street, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROCESS OF SCOURING, BLEACHING, AND DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR
WOVEN FABRICS." A communication from abroad by Aimé Baboin, of Lyons,
in the Republic of France.
Sealed the 14th May 1878, and dated the 21st February 1878.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Albert Sauvée at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st February 1878.
ALBERT SAUVÉE, of 22, Parliament Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF SCOURING, BLEACHING, AND
DYEING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR WOVEN FABRICS." A communication from abroad
by Aimé Baboin, of Lyons, in the Republic of France.
To extract from vegetable or animal textile fibres, or from fabrics containing
those fibres, the foreign matters which cover or are impregnated with them, they
are submitted to various treatments which are know as scouring, boiling out the
gum, smoothing, bleaching, mordanting, and dyeing.
These operations are generally carried on as follows:-The various liquors in
which the materials are plunged are either prepared beforehand and poured into
suitable tubs or prepared direct in double-bottomed pans. The goods, either fibres
or fabrics, are in the case of hanks or skeins mounted on bars, or in the case of
fabrics folded or wound round drums; they are then successively dipped into the
various liquors, but between each dip they are rinsed in a tub or any similar
special vessel, and after that dried in another apparatus. In this mode of treatment
the hanks or fabrics are handled by the workmen during each operation, either to
stir the liquor in order to regulate its action, or to take the materials out and to put
them in the next apparatus. These numerous manipulations, besides the expense
of labour, are objectionable on several accounts, there is the liability of accidents,
and more than that, they strain or distort the net of the fabric.
The object of this Invention is to lessen considerably the manipulations, and
therefore the accidents resulting from them.
All the successive steepings to which the goods are submitted, as well as the

page_text: rinsing and drying following each steeping, are carried out in one and the same
apparatus, in which the goods are placed at first after having been suitably prepared,
and they are only taken out when all the series of steeping, rinsing, and drying
have been completed.
Instead of the goods being carried from one liquor to another, as it is now done,
it is the liquor which is changed.
The apparatus used is represented in the Drawing hereunto annexed, which is a
vertical section of it. It is the well known bydro-extractor, driven either by hand
or steam, in which the outside shell is replaced by a double-bottomed casing C,
heated by steam or any other suitable means. The basket P, which is fixed on the
vertical shaft A, can easily be lifted up to allow of the cleaning of the apparatus ;
to effect this the axis A rests only on the pivot P, and carries at its top a ring
which allows you to lift it.
The mode of operating is as follows:-The liquor in which the goods, fibres, or
fabrics are to be steeped are prepared beforehand and poured into the pan, or
prepared direct in it, and then heated to the required temperature. The goods,
fibres, or fabrics are then put in the basket, to which is then given a speed of
rotation, varying at will, to stir the liquor and regulate its action.
The rinsing and drying are effected by letting the liquor out of the pan by means
of the blow-off cock R (the liquor is either led to a proper vessel if it is to be used
again or run off), which is then kept open, at the same time a jet of water is turned
on the centre of the basket, and by centrifugal force the water is projected through
the goods to the outside of the basket which also runs off through the cock R.
When the rinsing is done the water is turned off, but the basket is still spinning
round and the speed even increased if required, thus drying the goods contained
therein. Then before proceeding to introduce the next liquor the basket may be
lifted and the bottom of the pan thoroughly cleaned.
The next operation is an exact counterpart of the first, the liquor alone is
changed, and so on, till the whole of the process is gone through. The goods are
therefore operated upon without being handled at all, thus effecting a saving of
labour and removing the chances of accident; further, the goods being always
completely immersed in the liquor, and all the operations being carried on in the
same apparatus, the results are more regular.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it under-
stood that claim, submitting textile fibres either from vegetable or animal origin,
whatever may be their shape, their nature, their variety, or their quality, as well
as all the various fabrics that are obtained from those fibres, to the various
treatments of scouring, boiling out the gum, smoothing, bleaching, mordanting, and
dyeing, as well as to the rinsing and drying that follow each treatment, either to
extract the foreign matters contained in those fibres or fabrics, or to mordant and
dye them in one and the same apparatus, so as to do away during the various
treatments with the manipulation and handling of the goods, thus saving expense
in labour and doing away with the chances of accidents.
The hydro-extractor, as shown in the accompanying plan and as described above,
can be altered in shape, or any other apparatus allowing of the improvements in
the above mode of treatment will do equally well.
In witness whereof, I, the said Albert Sauvée, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.