CERTAIN. IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING WOOL AND: FACILITATING THE OPERATION OF DYEING, AND ALSO IN WASHING AND BLEACHING COTTON YARNS OR FABRICS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS, Her présent most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of December, in the fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege.
and authority, that I, the said William Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Newton, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and-at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within. England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "CERTAIN.
IMPROVEMENTS IN CLEANSING WOOL AND: FACILITATING THE OPERATION OF DYEING,
AND ALSO IN WASHING AND BLEACHING COTTON YARNS OR FABRICS," being &
communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters.
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Newton; by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describé and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled-in Her Majesty's.

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This is an Invention communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing
abroad, in whose behalf the Patent in this country is obtained, and to whom
all interest in the same now belongs. It consists of an apparatus, by means
of which the process of scouring, washing, and dyeing wool, cotton, and other
fibrous substances may be carried on, as it is stated, in a better and more
effectual manner and with a more satisfactory result than by the methods
usually employed. The apparatus consists of a close vessel suited for contain-
ing the substances to be washed, bleached, or dyed, contiguous to which is to
be placed a vessel containing the alkaline liquor and water for washing or
dyeing liquor.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of the
improved apparatus. a, a, is a cylindrical vessel made of iron or wood, or
other suitable material, constructed strong enough to bear a pressure of from
one two atmospheres, and coated on the inside with some material not liable
to oxidation or capable of giving out color or damaging the goods whilst
under operation. b is a false bottom placed in the lower part of the vessel,
and perforated with holes for the passage of the liquor. c is a cover, closing
the aperture or manhole in the top of the vessel, which is furnished with two
loops. Into these loops wedges d, d, are driven, which at their extremities
bear on the upper part of the vessel a, and thereby hold up and make fast the
lid or cover cin contact with the top of the vessel. A tube e is placed verti-
cally in the middle of the vessel resting upon the false bottom; it is open at
bottom and closed at top, and is pierced with holes all round for a considerable
distance down, in order to allow the liquid to escape in radial directions into
the goods packed in the vessel round it. A pipe f supplies the liquid to the
vessel a by a force pump g, which raises it from the reservoir h, and forces it
into the lower part of the vessel a. The liquor in the reservoir may be
heated to any given temperature in any convenient manner if required, or the
reservoir may be an open boiler. A cock is inserted into the upper part of

page_text: the vessel, in order that the liquid may be discharged after having passed
through the goods under operation. A flexible pipe is to be attached to the
cock for the purpose of returning the liquid into the reservoir after it has cir-
culated through the apparatus. In the bottom of the vessel a there is a pipe
Z provided with a cock for emptying the vessel after the operation is done.
The wool or other substance on which the cleaning operation is to be per-
formed must be tightly packed in the vessel a, as at m, m; and the pump g
being set to work, the liquor will be forced through. In some cases it is
more advantageous to employ a closed vessel, as at Fig. 2, which represents a
vertical section of the vessel a, having a perforated piston p attached to a
cross head working within it by means of a screw r, an external elevation
of which with its framework is shewn at Fig. 3. It may be also found in
some cases that the central pipe presents too easy a passage to the liquid,
which then does not act properly on the substances under operation. This
apparatus is therefore modified accordingly. In Fig. 3 will be seen the frames,
in the top rail of which a screw turns, carrying the cross head 7 and the
piston r. By the turning of the screw r the cross head and the piston are
forced down upon the substances to be operated upon, which compresses them.
Fig. 4 is a top view of the cross head. The other parts of the apparatus are
similar to those already described; viz,fis the supply pipe for introducing
the alkaline or other liquid into the vessel a; g is a double-action pump similar
to the one above described. The reservoir containing the liquid to be em-
ployed, and which has not been represented in the Drawing, is similar to that
shewn in Fig. 1. i is the exit pipe for the escape of the liquid after it has
passed through the perforated piston p, to which a leather tube may be
adapted, if necessary, in order to conduct the liquid into the reservoir, or
direct it into any other vessel. The screw r is of a sufficient length to give a
suitable pressure to the goods placed in the vessels employed, and may be
turned by any convenient means. In order to scour wool packed in the
vessel a, as described in reference to Figures 2 and 3, an alkaline solution, or
any other solution generally used for that purpose, is poured into the vat.
The pump 9 draws up this liquor and forces it into the lower part of the
vessel a through the supply pipe f. The liquor rises through the false bottom,
ascends into the vessel a, and passes through the substances contained therein,
and through the perforated piston, and ultimately escapes by the exit pipe or
cock i. The same liquid may be brought back by a pipe or tube into the vat,
from whence it is again drawn by means of the pump, and thus a continuous
circulation of the liquid is produced and constantly driven upwards through
the fibres of the material to be operated upon. The same process and the

page_text: same apparatus is employed for the bleaching of cotton yarns, fabrics, or other
fibrous materials, the solution employed being varied according to the sub-
stances operated upon. An artificial current is by these means directed
upwards, which constantly washes the fibres of the wool or other material, and
carries away the greasy and coloring matters it has extracted, which being
constantly driven upwards, cannot enter the material again, as hitherto has
been the case in the old mode of washing. The material thus operated
upon is rapidly and most completely washed. In the dyeing of wool which
has been previously scoured and washed, the same apparatus is used, only
instead of an alkaline solution a coloring bath of the required strength must
be employed. This bath is to be heated in any convenient manner, either by
steam or the naked fire. When the wool has been washed as described, it.is
to be placed in the apparatus Fig. 2, and the screw r turned so as to press
the piston tightly down upon the material, when, by means of the pump, the
coloring solution is made to pass again and again through the wool under
operation, until it has become completely saturated with the coloring matter.
The discharging pipe may then be opened, and the wool, completely dyed, may
be removed from the apparatus. Those colors which require that the wool
should be previously saturated with a chemical agent may be operated upon
by this agent being introduced into the apparatus in the same manner; and
when this operation is finished, the coloring solution may bo injected as before
stated, and continued passing through the material as long as may be necessary,
until the operation is completed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
A. H. LYNCH.
WILLIAM (L.S.) NEWTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Newton came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledgmen the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty first day o