Improvements relating to the Removal of Suint from Wool, Recovering or Separating Certain Constituents from the Suint, and Obtaining Certain Valuable Products therefrom.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 30th Nov., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by JOHN HENRY WINGFIELD, Manufacturer, of
Montclair, in the County of Essex, State of New Jersey, United States of
America.]
Improvements relating to the Removal of Suint from Wool,
Recovering or Separating Certain Constituents from the
Suint, and Obtaining Certain Valuable Products therefrom.
I HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of The Office for Patents, 6 Bream's. Buildings,
Chancery Lane in the County of London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in an improved process for removing suint from wool or
like fibre by means of heavy petroleum oils, separating certain constituents from
the suint after the solution has been removed from the wool, and in obtaining
certain valuable products resulting from the improved process. The term "suint"
is used to define the mass found on the wool in its natural state, resulting from the
sweating of the sheep.
And in order that the invention may be clearly understood, I will now proceed
to describe it, using, for my purpose, the words communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, thus :-
In my process, I dissolve the crude suint in a warm beavy petroleum oil, having
certain properties hereinafter described. The exact quantity of solvent used is
unimportant, except that there should be enough of the warm solvent to dissolve
thoroughly the constituents of the suint, or wool fat, soluble therein, at the
temperature at which the solvent is applied.
In the process of recovery, ordinary commercial wool fat frequently acquires
foreign matter, and loses some of the valuable and characteristic constituents of
suint, whereby the products ultimately obtained are different from, and less valuable
than, the products obtained by my process when applied to the suint, as it exists on
the the wool "in the grease.'
"'
Therefore I prefer to obtain the crude suint directly from the wool by applying
thereto, as a solvent of the suint, a warm heavy petroleum oil having the properties
hereinafter described. A convenient method of treating the fibre, in carrying out
my process, is to place a quantity of wool in the grease in a suitable vessel with a
sufficient amount of the solvent to completely cover the wool, say, about one-half
to one gallon of solvent to each pound of wool. The temperature of the solvent
should be about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This beat will not injure the fibre.
After the wool is steeped until the suint is abstracted, and has been dissolved,
which will require from ten to twenty minutes, the solution is drawn off, and
subjected to the further steps of the process.
I have discovered that the solubility of the suint in the petroleum oils, varies
not only with the temperature, but with the composition of the solvent used, of
which the specific gravity is, with commercial oils, the most obvious iudex. Some
of these oils deposit from a warm solution in large measure certain of the con-
stituents of the suint on cooling, and retain in solution in large measure other
constituents of the suint, and the products obtained by dissolving suint in these
oils, and also the products obtained by effecting the suggested separation, are new
and valuable. The petroleum oils which possess this property have high boiling

page_text: points, and they can be heated sufficiently to accomplish the solution of the suint
in open vessels with safety. The temperature to which they must be cooled, in
order to effect the valuable separations which I have indicated, need not be lower
than the ordinary temperatures which are usually maintained in woollen mills,
which of course vary somewhat with the season, but may be stated approximately
as between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, a main point of advantage
in my process is that it can be carried on conveniently in open vessels in woollen
mills, without the necessity of heating the solvents to a dangerous point, nor of
cooling them artificially. In practice, I aim to cool the solution to about 74 degrees
Fahrenheit, or a little lower.
When the crude suint has been dissolved, and the solution is drawn off from the
wool, and, if desired, free from dirt by filtering, it is then allowed to stand and
cool, when it breaks up and separates, a large part of the suint subsiding, and
forming a dark unctuous flocculent, and slightly translucent, mass, of neutral
reaction on test paper. This settles at the bottom of the vessel, while the rest
remains in solution. No very exact statement can be given of what is deposited
and what remains in solution. And this process of subsidence results in a
substantial separation of what I call herein the cholesterine group of constituents
of suint, which are in the main deposited from the glycerides which remain. A
small, but nevertheless a material, percentage of the cholesterine group of
constituents also remains in the solution. With the cholesterine group are
deposited potash compounds and albuminoids. And there is also deposited a dark
brown liquid of bad odour, which contains much of the coloring and odoriferous
matter of the suint. There will also be more or less dirt in the deposit, unless the
dirt is removed by filtering the hot solution, as can easily be done.
By the cholesterine group of constituents, I mean cholesterine, iso-cholesterine,
and the cholesteryl and iso-cholesteryl ethers, and other cholesterine and iso-
cholesterine compounds, if any others are present. These are the most valuable
constituents of the deposit. The term glycerides is used in its ordinary sense, to
define combinations of glycerine with fatty acids.
The liquid solution may now be removed from the mass deposited at the bottom
of the vessel by decantation or filtration.
The product, which consists of the heavy petroleum oil, with certain constituents
of the suint in solution, is neutral in its reaction on test paper, and is a valuable
lubricating oil, and it is highly useful as a leather oil. It can also be used for the
recovery of more suint, until thoroughly saturated. The presence of the con-
stituents of suint in the solvent adds greatly to its value as a lubricant, as a wool
oil, and as an oil to be applied to leather. The oil readily forms an emulsion with
water, and has a much lower cold test, by which is meant, that it solidifies at
a lower temperature than the solvent alone. The deposit is useful for the same
purposes, and for manufacturing into other forms of suint, and the mixture of
the solvent and deposit is also highly valuable as a lubricant, or for use on leather.
All of these products, when used on leather, are found to have remarkable
penetrating power. They keep the leather soft for a long time.
Neither this solution, nor this mixture of solution and deposit, is to be con-
founded with the analogous solution or mixture of English degras and petroleum
oils. Degras has only the crude appearance of wool fat, and is obtained from
scouring waters by the use of sulphuric acid. This method of preparation causes
the loss of many of the valuable constituents of the suint, including probably a
large portion of the cholesterine group of constituents, and greatly increases the
amount of free fatty acids over what is present in suint on the wool, if, indeed,
any are there present. This large amount of free fatty acids renders both the
solution and the mixture of degras and a petroleum oil more or less hurtful, both
as lubricants and for use on leather.
The foregoing discovery, namely, the feasibility of freeing wool from suint, and
obtaining a commercial wool fat mixed with or removed by subsidence from a
solvent, by merely cooling the solvent, in place of having recourse to evaporatio:

page_text: the solvent, renders possible the employment of heavy petroleum oils for removing
suint from wool or like fibre. And it makes practicable the production of very
desirable and superior products in a simple and inexpensive manner, effecting a
great saving of plant, by dispensing with the costly apparatus required for distillation
incident to the employment of a low boiling petroleum.
The solvents which possess the herein described property as to the solubility of
suint, which I shall call a property of selective deposition, are not useful in equal
degree in carrying out this process. Thus, the aromatic hydrocarbons found in oils
of coal tar origin, impart a distinctive and disagreeable odour, and are permanent
solvents of wool fat. The American petroleum is preferable to the Russian
petroleum, because it is comparatively free from the aromatic group of hydrocarbons.
And, as is above stated, among the petroleum oils, the uncracked oils are preferable
to the paraffin, or cracked oils, because they do not stain the wool.
These uncracked oils are known in the trade as neutral oils, an expression which,
however, does not refer to the action on test paper. The solvent property herein
described is found generally in the heavy petroleum oils, by which I mean oils as
heavy as the burning or kerosene oils, or heavier, say, below 51 degrees Beaumé,
778 grammes per litre. The burning or kerosene oils, however, varying from about
47 to 51 degrees Beaumé, 795 to 778 grammes per litre, possess this property in a
more limited degree than the heavier oils, and the still lighter oils, the naphthas and
beuzine, do not possess this property to any degree sufficient for practical use in the
manner herein set forth. It may also be stated, that oils as heavy as 29 degrees
Beaumé, 883 grammes per litre, or heavier, are not desirable to use, except with a
view to the product irrespective of the condition in which the wool fibre is left
after cleaning. And if oils as light as 47 degrees, or lighter, are used, the value of
the product is not so great as when heavier oils are used, nor do they wash out of
the wool as readily as oils between 30 degrees and 38 degrees Beaumé, 878 and
837 grammes per litre. All specific gravities herein specified are assumed to be
determined at a temperature of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
It should also be stated, that the process described gives somewhat different
results, when solutions of different compositions are employed, and when suint of
different qualities is treated, and when the solutions are cooled to different.tempera-
tures. Thus, if, instead of stopping at the temperatures suggested, the solution be
still further cooled more of the glycerides come down, and if the cooling be carried
about to the freezing point of water, almost all of the cholesterine group of
constituents and of the glycerides are deposited. However, it is not of great
importance to state accurately the composition of the deposit, since the product
resulting from the process herein described is perhaps quite as valuable in the form
of the mixed solution and deposit as in any other form.
After the suint has been thoroughly dissolved, as described, the major part of
the solution is drawn off, or otherwise separated from the wool. I may then pass
the wool between pressure roils. I then clean the wool. The wool may be
freed from the residue of the solution which remains upon it in several ways.
The method preferred will be determined by considerations of convenience and
economy.
One way is to subject the wool to the action of a light petroleum oil, ranging
from 65 to 80 degrees Beaumé, 724 to 670 grammes per litre. For this purpose,
the wool may be treated in the basket of an ordinary hydro-extractor. After the
wool has been steeped therein for a sufficient time to completely dissolve the
solution of heavy oil and suint on the wool, the basket is revolved rapidly, and as
much as may be of the liquid is thrown off by centrifugal action. The residue
can be removed by turning a jet of warm water, or alkali dissolved in water, on the
wool, while the basket is kept revolving. The wool will then usually be subjected
to the ordinary process of scouring in a scouring bowl, by means of water, or
alkaline or soapy solution, in the manner now practised when light hydrocarbon
oils are to be removed from wool. Throughout the entire treatment, the
temperature should be kept high enough to keep the suint in solution. I keep the

page_text: temperature during the cleaning of the wool, after the heavy petroleum has been
drawn off, preferably between 75 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thus, the wool is entirely cleaned of the suint by a process which is kindly, and
leaves the fibre in thoroughly workable condition. This renders possible the
employment of heavy and high-boiling petroleum oils as above described.
But it is possible to avoid entirely the use of light petroleum, thereby saving
the inconvenience and waste that accompanies the use of the low-boiling oils.
I have discovered that the solution of the constituents of suint in the heavy
petroleum has detergent and soluble or miscible properties, which are better than
those of the oil alone. In fact, the solutions that are produced in the foregoing
process make an excellent emulsion with warm or cold water, and especially if an
alkali be added to the water.
If the wool is being treated in the basket of a hydro-extractor, I may, after
applying the oil to the wool in the grease, and throwing off the bulk of the
solution, wash or rinse off the residue with warm or cold water, or, if there is much
dirt present, with the suggested alkaline solution. This process may be assisted
by the use of the hydro-extractor, but I do not, in practice, use it at this stage.
This rinsing, if properly conducted, renders the wool clean enough for manu-
facturing purposes generally ;-for the heavy petroleum oils, and particularly the
solution of constituents of suint in these oils, are excellent wool oils. By wool
oil is meant a lubricant applied to wool to be carded or spun, or otherwise manu-
factured. If, however, it is necessary that the wool be white at this stage, it
should be subjected to the process of scouring in a scouring bowl, with the aid of
pressure rolls, and using, as the scouring agent, water, or water containing an
alkali in solution, or a solution of a neutral soap in water. The temperature is
preferably not raised above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit in any of the steps of
washing or scouring which I have indicated. In this way, the wool can be cleaned.
But a still better way is now to be described.
The wool is placed in any suitable vessel, as the tank of an ordinary wool-
Scouring bowl provided with pressure rolls. The wool is then saturated with or
steeped in the heavy petroleum oil, at a temperature of about 120 degrees
Fahrenheit. The temperature can be varied considerably. The quantity of oil
used should be from one-half to one gallon for each pound of wool. This is
not essential, the only point being to subject all parts of the wool to the action
of the solvent. After effecting a thorough solution of the suint, which requires
from five to twenty minutes, the wool is passed from the solution through pressure
rolls, or a portion of the solution is removed in some other suitable way. It may
sometimes be desirable to repeat this operation. The residue which remains on
the wool should be, and, if the work has been thorough, is, free from the
unsaponifiable constituents of the suint, and from much of the dirt and other
foreign matter.
This unsaponifiable matter is the greatest obstacle to scouring the wool in the
grease. It having been removed, the residue left on the wool is, as I have dis-
covered, an excellent detergent, and an efficient aid to scouring. Therefore,
instead of washing off this residue of petroleum solvent and soluble constituents
of suint, by rinsing the wool with the aid of a hydro-extractor, or otherwise, as
suggested above, I omit this step of rinsing, which, without completely cleaning
the wool, removes what I find to be an invaluable scouring agent. Instead of thus
rinsing the wool, I scour it with the aid of this residue in a scouring bowl or tank.
Or may scour several times, instead of removing a portion of the solution in
some other way, and then scouring by aid of the residue. I thereby get the full
benefit of the scouring properties of the residue, and obtain the fibre in a much
better condition than by rinsing the wool to wash off this residue, and then
scouring, as suggested above. The scouring bowl or tank should contain either
plain water, or a slightly alkaline or soapy solution, to be used as the scouring
agent. If a soapy solution is used, I prefer to use a solution of a neutral soap in
This operation will usually be repeated, a weak saponaceous solution, or
water.

page_text: plain water, being used, if found desirable, as the last agent applied. The wool is
then dried by pressure rolls. It is now sufficiently clean for carding and spinning.
There may be on the fibre a trace of the solvent used. This acts as a lubricant.for
the wool, and is favorable to the fibre in carding or spinning.
In order to reduce the amount of the solvent used, I may add to it water, or
water with soap, or water with an alkali, preferably water with a neutral soap.
This may be in any desired proportions, provided there is sufficient petroleum oil
to dissolve the suint. After the wool has been scoured with this mixture, and
passed between pressure rolls, the scouring may be finished by any of the usual
methods, preferably with a neutral soap solution, as above described. To recover
the suint and solvent, the mixture or solution in the first bowl may be allowed to
stand and cool. The solvent and the suint will separate from the water, and can
be decanted. The suint will be in the form of a hydrate. I call this product
hydrated wool fat.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me from abroad, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The process of removing suint from wool, which consists in subjecting the wool.
to the action of a warm heavy petroleum oil, which forms a solution of the suint,.
in which, if it is cooled, there is effected a separation of the constituents by the
deposit of certain of the constituents, and the retention of others in solution,
substantially as described.
2. The process which consists in subjecting suint to the action of a warm heavy
petroleum oil, which forms a solution of the suint, and depositing certain con-
stituents of the suint from the solution by cooling it, substantially as described.
3. The process of recovering hydrated wool fat, which consists in dissolving the
suint of wool in a warm mixture of heavy petroleum and water, separating the
wool and liquid, and cooling the liquid, substantially as described.
4. As a new composition of matter, the liquid product consisting of a heavy
petroleum oil in which are dissolved such constituents of suint as are held in
solution therein at ordinary atmospheric temperatures, substantially as described.
5. As a new composition of matter, the unctuous, flocculent deposit, having a
neutral reaction, substantially such as is obtained by subjecting suint to the action
of a warm heavy petroleum oil, which forms a solution of the suint, in which, if
it is cool, there is effected a separation of the constituents of the suint, by the
deposit of certain constituents, and the retention of others in solution, and cooling
the solution, substantially as described.
6. As a new composition of matter, the mixture of suint and heavy petroleum
oil, substantially as described.
7. The process of cleaning wool, which consists in subjecting the wool to the
action of a heavy petroleum oil, separating the bulk of the solution from the wool,
and washing off the residue, substantially as described.
8. The process of cleaning wool, which consists in subjecting the wool to the
action of a heavy petroleum oil, and scouring it with the aid of the resulting
solution, substantially as described.
9. The process of cleaning wool, which consists in subjecting it to the action of a
heavy petroleum oil, removing a portion of the solution, and, with the aid of the
residue, scouring the wool, substantially as described.
10. The process of cleaning wool which consists in subjecting the wool to the
action of a mixture of heavy petroleum oil and water, and scouring it with the aid
of the mixture, substantially as described.
11. The process of cleaning wool which consists in subjecting it to the action of
a heavy petroleum oil, removing the bulk of the solution, washing off the residue,
and then scouring the wool, substantially as described.
12. The process of cleaning wool which consists in subjecting it to the action of

page_text: a heavy petroleum oil solvent, separating the bulk of the solution from the wool,
removing the residue with a light petroleum, and removing the light petroleum,
'substantially as described.
1005
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.