IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING AND RECOVERING THE OILS, RESINS, AND COLOURING MATTERS OF MANUFACTURED OR WASTE FABRICS, OR FROM THE RAW MATERIALS OF COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND IN UTILIZING THE SAME
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Mackay, of Edinburgh, in the County
of Mid Lothian, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN EXTRACTING AND RECOVERING THE OILS, RESINS, AND COLOURING MATTERS
OF MANUFACTURED OR WASTE FABRICS, OR FROM THE RAW MATERIALS OF
COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND IN UTILIZING
THE SAME."
:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Mackay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th September 1873.
I, GEORGE MACKAY, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING AND RECOVERING THE OILS, RESINS, AND COLOURING
MATTERS OF MANUFACTURED OR WASTE FABRICS, OR FROM THE RAW MATERIALS
OF COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND IN UTILIZING .
THE SAME," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention which has for its object the extraction and recovery of

page_text: oils, resins, or colouring matters from manufactured or waste fabrics, or
from the fibres of cotton, linen, wool, silk, or other similar materials,
and the utilization of the same consists in boiling or steaming the
fabrics or fibres in a vessel with a solution of caustic alkali, until the
matters to be extracted are dissolved. The liquid is then drawn off
into another vessel or tank to allow sand, dirt, and foreign matters to
settle, after which the liquid is taken off into another vessel and there
neutralized with sulphuric or other acid, whereby the oils, resins, and
colouring matters are precipitated, allowing the alkaline liquid to be
drawn off.
The precipitate after being well washed is again dissolved in an
alkaline liquid, and with or without the addition of fresh oil may be
used in the manufacture of floorcloths and similar fabrics. Or the pre-
cipitate may be used as a paint or varnish by mixing it with hematite,
ochre, or salts of lead, according to the colour required, or with soluble
salts of lead alone for a varnish and dissolving the mixture in vegetable
naptha, spirits of wine, methylated spirit, or other solvent.
By filtering the liquid resulting from the boiling or steaming process
through wire gauze or other filtering material, and precipitating the oil
and resin in the manner herein-before mentioned, the precipitate being
thoroughly washed may be made into printers' ink by mixing it with a
saponified alkali and with any desired colouring matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Mackay in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MACKAY, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Mackay, Her

page_text: .
special license that I, the said George Mackay, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Mackay,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there.
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EXTRACTING AND RECOVERING THE OILS, RESINS, AND
COLOURING MATTERS OF MANUFACTURED OR WASTE FABRICS, OR FROM THE RAW
MATERIALS OF COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, SILK, OR OTHER SIMILAR SUBSTANCES, AND IN
UTILISING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Mackay, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George маскау, do nereby
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 following statement, that is to say:-
My said Invention which has for its object the extraction and recovery
of vegetable drying oils of resins and of colouring matters from manu-
factured and waste fabrics composed of hemp, flax, jute, esparto, cotton,
wool, silk, and other similar fibres, or of a combination of these fibres,
and from the raw waste or other fibres of hemp, flax, jute, esparto,
cotton, wool, silk, and other similar materials containing the same, and
the utilisation of the vegetable drying oils, and of the resins and
colouring matters when recovered, consists in boiling or steaming the
fabrics or fibres in a vessel or boiler, together with a solution of caustic
or carbonated alkali, until the matters to be extracted are dissolved or
separated from the fabrics or fibres. The liquid containing the oils,
resins, and colouring matters so extracted or separated is then drawn
off from the vessel or boiler into a vessel or tank wherein it remains
until any sand, dirt, or other foreign bodies or impuritics which may be
contained in the liquid settle to the bottom of the vessel or tank, after
which the liquid is drawn off into another vessel or tank in which the
.

page_text: colouring matters are extracted from the liquid as herein-after described,
which being effected the liquid is conveyed to another tank or vessel
wherein it is neutralized with sulphuric or other similarly suitable acid,
whereby the oils and resins are precipitated or eliminated from. the
alkaline liquid which is thereafter drawn off from the tank or vessel.
The proportion of sulphuric or other acid employed to precipitate or
eliminate the oils and resins is dependent upon the strength of the
solution of caustic or carbonated alkali, and oils and resins obtained in the.
process of boiling herein-before referred to. The precipitate remaining
in the tank or vessel is, after the alkaline liquid has been drawn off,
thoroughly washed with water, after which it may be again dissolved in
an alkaline liquid in equal proportions. The material so obtained
with or without the addition of from 10 to 20 parts of fresh drying
oil may be used in the manufacture of floorcloths and other similar
fabrics; or the precipitate without being dissolved in alkaline liquid
may be used as a paint by mixing it with hematite, ochre, or salts of
lead, according to the colour required in the proportion of from 40 to
50 parts of the precipitate with from 60 to 50 parts of hematite, ochre,
or salts of lead. This mixture is dissolved in vegetable naptha, spirits
of wine, methylated spirits, or other solvent in the proportion of from 70
to 80 parts of the mixture with from 30 to 20 parts of the solvent.
The precipitate obtained as herein-before described may also without
being dissolved in an alkaline liquid be used as a varnish by mixing it with
soluble salts of lead, in the proportion of 90 to 95 parts of the precipitate
with 10 to 5 parts of soluble salts of lead, and dissolving the mixture in
vegetable naptha, spirits of wine, methylated spirits, or other solvent in
the proportion herein-before described; or the precipitate dissolved in
vegetable naptha, spirits of wine, or methylated spirits, may be used as
a varnish without the addition of soluble salts of lead.
The precipitate without being dissolved in an alkaline liquid may
further be used as an enamel by melting it and applying it with a
brush, or other suitable means to the surface of articles composed of
iron, wood, stone, or other material on which a smooth or enameled
surface is desired to be produced.
By filtering the solution of caustic or carbonated alkali and vegetable
drying oils and resins, resulting from the boiling or steaming process
herein-before described through a wire gauze or other filter, and pre-

page_text: cipitating the oils and resins from the filtered liquid by means of sul-
phuric or other acid, in the manner herein-before set forth, the resulting
precipitate may, after being thoroughly washed with water, be made into
printers' ink by mixing it with about 5 per cent. of a saponified alkali
and with any colouring matter in the proportion necessary to produce
the colour or tint desired.
The colouring matters extracted from the fabrics or fibres in the
process of boiling or steaming are, when the colouring matter is inso-
luble in the caustic or carbonated alkali separated from the liquid
solution of caustic or carbonated alkali and vegetable drying oils and
resins, before the vegetable drying oils and resins are precipitated by
being allowed to settle to the bottom of the tank or vessel containing
the liquid, or the insoluble colouring matters may be separated by fil-
tration. When however the colouring matters are soluble in the
alkaline liquid they are precipitated before the oils and resins are
separated by the addition of from 2 to 7 per cent. of soluble salts of
iron. The colouring matters so recovered may be mixed with the
vegetable drying oils and resins extracted and recovered as herein-before
described and employed in the manufacture of floorcloths and other
coloured fabrics, in making paints and varnish, and in the manufacture
of printers' inks.
It is to be understood that although I have herein-before given certain
proportions by which good results have been obtained in mixing and
dissolving the vegetable drying oils and resins extracted and recovered,
as herein-before described, with and in other materials, and in extracting
and recovering the colouring matters, that I do not confine myself to
these proportions, as satisfactory results may also be obtained by the
employment of other proportions for these purposes.
Having now described and particuliarly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in
conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, extracting and recovering vegetable drying oils and
resins, and colouring matters, vegetable or otherwise, from manufac-
tured and waste fabrics, composed of hemp, flax, jute, esparto, cotton,
wool, silk, and other similar fibres, or a combination of these fibres, or

page_text: from the raw fibres of hemp, flax, jute, esparto, cotton, wool, silk, and
other similar substances, and utilising the same in the manufacture of
floorcloths and other similar fabrics, in making paints, varnish, and
enamel, and in the manufacture of printers' inks, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Mackay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.