IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Garth Marshall, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Flax Spinner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 3rd July 1857, and dated the 22nd January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Garth Marshall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd January 1857.
I, JAMES GARTH MARSHALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Flax Spinner,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES,"
to be as follows:-
In using Jennings' patent process, or in any other similar plan, for preparing
flax and other vegetable fibrous substances, I propose to purify the oil or other
fatty matter used in the soap as far as possible from the more fixed and less
soluble elements, such as stearine or margarine, leaving the oleine. This may
be effected by modes known to chemists, but not heretofore applied to this
.process.
I also propose to make use (in conjunction with the soap) of volatile oils and

page_text: similar solvents, such as naphtha, turpentine, ether, and the like, for the
of leaving the fibre more perfectly cleansed.
purpose
The volatile oil or similar solvents may be used for the above purpose
without using any other oleaginous of fatty substance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Garth Marshall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GARTH MARSHALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Flax Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, 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 me, the
said James Garth Marshall, Her special license that I, the said James
Garth Marshail, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Garth Marshall, 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 the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
*IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING FLAX, HEMP, CHINA GRASS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE
FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Garth Marshall, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Garth Marshall, 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
following statement (that is to say):
My Invention of "Improvements in Preparing Flax, Hemp, China Grass,
and other Vegetable Fibrous Substances," relates, in the first place, to the

page_text: preparation of a peculiar kind of soap to be employed in the treatment of flax
or other vegetable fibre; and, secondly, to the admixture with the soap
in solution (with or without an excess of alkali) of mineral or other naphtha,
turpentine, or other volatile or essential oils or spirits, for the purpose of
dissolving the gummy or resinous matters adhering to the fibres.
In the preparation of the soap above mentioned, I employ the oleic acids of
oils and fats obtained by means of distillation, or by any other process com-
petent to effect the object, which is, to separate the oleic acid from the stearic,
margaric, or other solid fatty acids present in the particular oil or fat which I
employ. The oleic acid when obtained is saponified in the usual manner, and
I employ the soap thus produced either with or without excess of alkali;
glycerine may be used instead of or in addition to a corresponding quantity of
oleic acid. I apply the soap made from these materials to the vegetable fibre,
according to the principle laid down in the Specification enrolled or filed
pursuant to Letters Patent granted to Francis Montgomery Jennings, dated
Fifteenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; but
I do not confine myself to the particular plan of operation described by him.
In employing the naphtha, turpentine, or other volatile or essential oils
or spirit, my object is to facilitate the removal of the gummy or resinous
matters adhering to the vegetable fibre. I use them in conjunction with the
alkaline or soapy solution above mentioned, but I do not previously saponify
the naphtha or other volatile or essential oils, but simply mix and agitate them
in their crude state with the alkaline or soapy solution immediately previous
to the immersion of the fibre therein. The proportion of naphtha or other
volatile or essential oil to the soap is not material, and may be considerably
modified, according to the nature of the material to be operated upon; or the
naphtha or other solvent may be used without any soapy solution by saturating
the fibres, by steeping them in the crude naphtha and expressing the superfluous
liquid by passing the fibres between pressing rollers, or by other modes, and
then subjecting the fibre to alternate alkaline and acid solutions.
I do not claim as new treating flax, hemp, and other fibrous substances with
a solution of common soap or with alkalies; but that which I consider to be
new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention to be secured to me by Letters
Patent, as aforesaid, is, the treatment or preparing of flax, hemp, china grass,
and other vegetable fibrous substances with a solution of soap made from
glycerine, oleine, or oleic acid, from which the stearic, margaric, and other
solid fatty acids have been removed by any convenient process.
I also claim the use, in combination therewith, or in the manner above set

page_text: forth, of mineral or other naphtha, turpentine, or other volatile or essential oil
or spirit for dissolving (and cleaning the fibres from) gum or resinous matters.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Garth Marshall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named James Garth Marshall, in the
presence of
J. G. MARSHALL. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named James
presence of
Garth Marshall, in the
WHENRY GAUNT, Sol, Leeds.
J. G. MARSHALL. (L.S.)