IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR CLEANSING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF COTTON WASTE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe, both
of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinners, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR CLEANSING CERTAIN
DESCRIPTIONS OF COTTON WASTE."
Scaled the 23rd September 1857, and dated the 30th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Neild and Natha-
niel Buckley Sutcliffe at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 30th March 1857.
We, ARTHUR NEILD and NATHANIEL BUCKLEY SUTCLIFFE, both of Ashton-
under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinners, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR CLEANSING
CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF COTTON WASTE," to be as follows:-
The object of our Invention is to remove the oil, grease, or other impurities
in those descriptions of cotton waste known as "mill sweepings" and "roller
ends," so as to render the fibres of cotton available for manufacturing pur-
poses. In performing our Invention, we submit the cotton waste to the action
of a hot alkaline solution or other solvent of grease, by which the oil, grease,
or other impuritics are removed from the cotton fibres.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 29th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, ARTHUR
NEILD and NATHANIEL BUCKLEY SUTCLIFFE, both of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the
County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe, Her special licence that
we, the said Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Arthur Neild and
Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe, our executors, administrators, 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 Bri-
tain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING OR CLEANSING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF COTTON
WASTE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Arthur Neild
and Nathaniel Buckley Sutcliffe, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 we, the said Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley
Sutcliffe, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The nature of our Invention consists in removing oil, grease, or other im-
purities from those descriptions of cotton waste-known as "mill sweepings"
and "roller ends," so as to render the fibres of cotton available for manu-
facturing purposes. In performing our Invention, we submit the cotton waste
to the action of a hot alkaline solution or other solvent of grease, for sepa-
rating the oil, grease, or other impurities from the fibres of cotton. We have
found in practice that an apparatus similar to a bleacher's kier is well adapted.
for the purpose, and that a solution made with ten pounds of soda ash is

page_text: sufficient for treating or cleansing one hundred pounds of cotton waste. The
cotton waste to be cleansed must be distributed evenly over the false bottom
of the kier; water is then poured on the cotton waste, and a solution made
with about seven pounds of the soda ash is added; steam is then admitted to
force the liquid from the bottom of the kier through a central pipe, furnished
with a cover, by means whereof the alkaline solution is distributed over the
cotton waste, and after percolating through it is again forced up the central
pipe. This process of boiling is continued about an hour, or until a sufficient
quantity of the oil, grease, or other impurities has been separated from the
cotton waste; the dirty liquid is then allowed to run off, and clean water is
admitted at the top of the kier. When the impurities loosened by the first
boiling have been removed by the clean water, a solution made with the
remainder of the soda ash is applied, and the process of boiling is continued
for about five hours; the dirty liquid is then allowed to run off, and the cotton
waste is again washed with clean water. When cotton waste has been thus
treated or cleansed, it is sufficiently free from oil, grease, and other impurities,
and may be used for manufacturing purposes, as before.
In describing the process of treating or cleansing cotton waste, we have
given the requisite details when soda ash is used; we wish it, however, to be
understood that the details given may be considerably varied, according to the
quality of the cotton waste to be operated upon, and to the purpose for which
it is to be used when cleansed. And we would also observe, that caustic soda,
or an alkaline salt or soda, or caustic potash, or an alkaline salt of potash, or
caustic lime, or caustic baryta, may be employed instead of soda ash, to make
the alkaline solution. Other solvents of grease may also be used instead of any
of the above-named alkaline solutions.
Having thus particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we declare that we claim as of our Invention
treating or cleansing those descriptions of cotton waste called "mill sweep-
ings" and "roller ends," in the manner and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Arthur Neild and Nathaniel Buckley
Sutcliffe, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth
day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
ARTH NEILD. (L.S.)
N. B. SUTCLIFFE. (L.S.)