IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, BY WHICH A BRILLIANT LUSTRE IS IMPARTED TO THOSE. SUBSTANCES AND THE FIBRES ARE SEPARATED
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, of Lower Mitcham, in the County of
Surrey, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND
BLEACHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, BY WHICH A
BRILLIANT LUSTRE IS IMPARTED TO THOSE. SUBSTANCES AND THE FIBRES
ARE SEPARATED."
Sealed the 9th October 1863, and dated the 15th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
April 1868.
I, THOMAS GRAY, of Lower Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING AND BLEACHING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, BY WHICH
A BRILLIANT LUSTRE IS IMPARTED TO THOSE SUBSTANCES AND THE FIBRES ARE
SEPARATED," to be as follows:-
By the old method of bleaching flax, hemp, and other vegetable fibres no
separation of the fibres could be effected, and the fibres remained dull and
matted together, and were not available for spinning purposes. By. my
method the fibres are so prepared and bleached that they acquire a brilliant
lustre, besides becoming separated, which will render them of great practical
utility. The process I use is as follows:-I first take any quantity of flax,
hemp, or other vegetable fibres, and lay or boil it in soda ash liquor or other
alkali for three or four hours; after this I take the material, rinse it, and dip

page_text: it in sulphuric acid water, and after draining it slightly I place it in bleaching
liquor for about an hour; I then rinse the material and drain it, and afterwards
dip or place the same for a few minutes in weak acid water. The material is
then taken out and slightly drained, so as to leave it still impregnated with
the acid. I then dip or lay it in soapsuds made from soap in which fat and
oil form the chief ingredients. After rinsing it in cold water it is hung up to
dry, and thereupon the material is fit for use.
In this process the improvements I claim as my Invention are as follow:-
1°, after laying the flax, hemp, or other vegetable fibre in cold or boiling
water mixed with soda ash, I do not, as is the usual custom, immerse the
material in cold water and thoroughly cleanse it, but I simply rinse it slightly,
and then place it in a weak solution of sulphuric acid, and after draining it.
slightly, leaving the material impregnated with the acid, place it in the
bleaching liquor. 2°, on taking the material out of the acid water after
bleaching, I place it impregnated with the acid in warm soapsuds made from
soap, as above described, previously to washing it and drying for use.
effects of this treatment are, 1°, to form a lustre on the material by the action
of the acid on the soda ash previous to bleaching; 2°, by placing the material
impregnated with acid in soapsuds an effervescence is caused, during which
the fibres are separated, and are kept so by the adherence to them of the fatty
matter contained in the soapsuds.
The
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, of Lower Mitcham, in the County of Surrey, Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
special licence that I, the said Thomas Gray, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Gray, my 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

page_text: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND BLEACH-
ING FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES, BY WHICH A BRILLIANT LUSTRE
IS IMPARTED TO THOSE SUBSTANCES AND THE FIBRES ARE SEPARATED," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Gray, 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 Thomas Gray, 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 follow-
ing statement:
By the ordinary method of bleaching flax, hemp, and other vegetable fibres
the separation of the fibres is either not effected at all, or effected very
imperfectly, and the fibres remain dull and matted together, and are not
available in that state for spinning purposes. Now my Invention consists in
a method or process of treatment whereby the fibres are so prepared and
bleached that they acquire a brilliant lustre, besides becoming separated, and
thus fitted for spinning and other purposes. My process is as follows:-The
flax, hemp, or other vegetable fibre is laid or boiled in soda ash liquor, or
other alkali for three or four hours, the material is then rinsed and dipped in
sulphuric acid water, and after being slightly drained is placed in bleaching
liquor for about an hour, then rinsed and drained, and afterwards dipped or
placed in weak acid water for a few minutes; it is then taken out and slightly
drained, so as to leave it still impregnated with the acid; it is then dipped or
laid in soapsuds made from soap in which fat and oil form the chief ingredients.
After being rinsed in cold water it is hung up to be dry, and is then fit
for use.
Such being the nature of my said Invention, I will now proceed to describe,
by reference to particular instances, in what manner the same is to be
performed.
I take New Zealand or other flax, hemp, or other vegetable fibre, and lay
or boil it in soda ash liquor composed of twenty-one pounds soda ash to one
hundred and fifty gallons of warm water, or if common soda forty-two pounds to
one hundred and fifty gallons of warm water, or twenty-eight pounds of American
peat ash to the water, and leave it therein from two to four hours; I then take
out the material and slightly rinse it in cold water, and then dip or lay it in a

page_text: weak solution composed of sulphuric acid and water, in the proportion of
about one ounce to two gallons of cold water to every hundredweight of the
material, to prepare it for the subsequent process of bleaching, and after
draining it slightly proceed to bleach the material. I prepare a bleaching
liquor composed of ordinary blacking powder dissolved in cold water in the
proportion of one pound of chloride of lime to one gallon of cold water. I
take about one-third by weight of the above solution, and mix same with two
gallons of hot water of about one hundred and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and
in the solution thus prepared I place the material, and let it remain therein
for about one hour, or upwards, as the fibre may require. I then rinse the
material and drain it, and if it is to be used for carding, boil it for two or
three hours in soda ash liquor of about half the strength of the last-mentioned
solution. If the fibre is to be subjected to heckling the process of boiling is
not required. The material is then washed and dipped or placed in weak
sulphuric acid water composed of about a quarter of an ounce of the acid to
one gallon of cold water, and left therein for about ten minutes, after which it
is taken out and slightly drained, so as to leave it still impregnated with the
acid. I then prepare a solution composed of half an ounce of yellow soap to
one gallon of boiling water, and mix with the soapsuds about one-quarter of
an ounce of soda ash with one gallon of hot water of about one hundred and
eighty degrees Fahrenheit; the material is placed in this solution for about
fifteen or twenty minutes, it is then rinsed in cold water and hung up to dry,
and fit for use. By means of this treatment the material becomes lustrous,
and the fibre are separated. The New Zealand flax or hemp or other fibrous
material so prepared may be employed as a substitute for cotton by cutting
the same into lengths of from one to two inches, as may be required, and
placing it in an ordinary rag engine, such as is used by paper makers, and
agitate the material in bleaching liquor composed as before described, and
when the mass is uniformly bleached remove it and place it in a vessel,
and let it remain therein for about twelve hours to soften and bleach to snowy
whiteness; it is then washed in cold water and dipped in weak acid solution,
as last above described. China grass or other vegetable fibre of peculiar
hardness should, before proceeding to bleach the same, be boiled a second
time in the soda ash liquor for two or three hours, also a second boiling of
hemp will render it more fitted for the carding process.
Ilaving now described the nature of my said Invention for "Improvements
in Preparing and Bleaching of Flax, Hemp, and other Vegetable Fibres," and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I do not
claim the exclusive use of any of the several substances or processes berein-

page_text: before described and referred to, except when the same are employed in and
for my said Invention, which I hereby declare to consist in treating vegetable
fibres so as to separate and give lustre thereto by the process and in the
manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS GRAY. (L.S.)