IMPROVEMENTS IN Printing FabrICS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN Printing FabrICS.”—A communication from abroad
.66
1
Donnini of Long Franc
Sealed the 18th December 1874, and dated the 7th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th July 1874.
t
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
min Tivention relates to an improved process of printing fabrics

page_text: The following is the method of operation;-I first print the pattern
on paper by the ordinary chromo-lithographic process, using colors which
are insoluble in water, but soluble in other liquids. I then apply the
paper so printed with considerable pressure on the fabric which has
been previously impregnated with the liquid in which the colors are
soluble. In this manner the pattern becomes perfectly transferred to
the fabric, the lithographers' varnish used in grinding up the colors.
remaining on the paper. Impressions may be thus obtained possessing
great brilliancy, and the most complex designs may be reproduced
on fabrics with the greatest precision in any number of colors, and with
an accuracy of "register" unattainable except by the chromo-litho-
graphic process on paper; moreover, the colors become softened and
blended by being transferred.
This Invention differs from any heretofore proposed for the purpose,
inasmuch as the transfer of the color from the paper to the fabric is
not effected by the employment of lithographers' varnish or other
matters to cause the colors to adhere thereon, but on the contrary by
the dissolution of the colors a chemical union is effected between them
and the fabric, which is in fact dyed.
'
:
The Invention may be carried out in various ways according to the
kind of fabric and the complexity of the pattern to be reproduced,
and I will, here merely describe as an example the mode of printing
on silk which shall not require washing after being printed. For reds,
I grind up with lithographers' varnish of the usual consistency tannate.
of rosaniline. For blues I use tannate of triplenilrosaniline. For yellow,
binitro-naphthalide of lime or other colors, whether of aniline or of
vegetable or animal origin, which are insoluble or but slightly soluble
in water, but which will readily dissolve in a mixture of alcohol and
acetic acid. With these colors I print the pattern by the ordinary
chromo-lithographic process on a highly calendered and sized paper.
To transfer the pattern on to the silk fabric I employ a hydraulic
"or other press of sufficient power in which I arrange in regular order
the printed pattern, the silk fabric, and the paper used for damping
the latter, as follows, viz., 1st, a sheet of waterproof paper; 2ndly, a
sheet of unsized paper impregnated with a suitable mixture of alcohol
and acetic acid; 3rd, the paper pattern; 4th, the fabric to be printed;
5th, a second sheet of unsized paper saturated with the mixture of

page_text: alcohol and acetic acid, a fresh sheet of impervious paper being then
interposed and the scries repeated, and so on. The whole is submitted
to pressure for about ten minutes.
After being printed the fabric may be at once introduced into the
5 market, or it may be steamed for some minutes in order to improve the
colors and free it entirely from the odour of acetic acid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 7th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our,
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth.
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, 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 PRINTING FABRICS," a communication to me from abroad
by Antoine Bozzini, of Lyons, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc.
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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:-
This Invention relates to an improved process of printing fabrics
whereby I am enabled to obtain the rich effect of a chromo-lithographic
impression similar to that now produced on paper.
The ordinary processes of printing fabrics may be divided into two
classes, viz., printing from engraved surfaces, and printing from blocks
or relief surfaces.
k
0
In printing from engraved surfaces two different means are employed,
viz., 1st, cylinder machines printing in several colors at one operation
by means of one or more copper rolls engraved in intaglio, which print
the colors successively upon the fabric as it passes around a drum.
This method of printing however can only be used with advantage
where large quantities of the same pattern are required, owing to the
expense of engraving the rolls and constructing the machinery; 2ndly,
what are termed plate printing machines which are used almost
exclusively for printing silk handkerchiefs. In this case one color
only is printed at a time from an engraved copper plate, and as in
printing several colors successively with this machine it is very difficult
to ensure an accurate "register" of the colors, it is seldom employed,
and produces but inferior results.
In printing from relief surfaces wood or metal blocks engraved in
relief are employed, which are either applied by the printer on the
fabric extended on tables or mechanically by means of the well-known
Perrotine block printing machine. Instead of the above rollers engraved
in relief and mounted in a similar manner to those above alluded to
are sometimes used, or both systems are combined where a large number
of impressions on foulards are required, the pattern in this case being
first printed in single color by a plate printing machine, after which
the fabric is extended on tables and the remaining colors grounded
in by hand by means of blocks engraved in relief for completing the
pattern.
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page_text: The above is a summary of the processes now employed for printing
fabrics, and the results attained are necessarily dependent on the more
or less perfect means at the disposal of the printer.
By plate printing by hand satisfactory results are obtainable, they
are however not to be compared with even ordinary chromo-lithographs,
and still less with the real works of art.now. produced by chromo-
lithography.
The object of the present Invention is to supply this want by
producing the effect of a chromo-lithographic impression on paper,
on textile fabrics, and more especially on silks. This important result
is attained with the aid of the simple and practical means herein-after
described whereby the richest, most artistic, and complex designs in
chromo-lithography may be reproduced on textile fabrics without losing
any of their delicacy or freshness of color.
I have thought it useful to describe in the first place the ordinary
methods of printing fabrics in order to more clearly show the novelty
and advantages of the improved process.
$
The following is the method of operation :-For very rich patterns.
it has been found impracticable to print them direct. from the stone
on to the fabric owing to the great difficulty of ensuring accurate.
register," even when the fabric is pasted on a backing of paper.
I therefore only propose to print directly in colors on ordinary goods.
The design is first printed on paper like an ordinary chromo-lithograph,
and is then transferred in a single operation from the paper to the
fabric. To obtain this result it is necessary to have a set of colors
capable of being applied under exactly the same conditions as the
fatty inks employed by lithographers, and whose coloring principles
shall be imparted to the fabric not by a simple transfer, as practised
in printing on porcelain and glass, but by a chemical action, the fabric
being in fact dyed with the color so as to bear washing and rubbing.
like other printed fabrics. For reds I use tannate of rosaniline, and
for other colors I use tannates of other bases derived from aniline,
methylaniline, diphenylamine, and others whose salts are known in
commerce under the names of alkaline bluc, Paris violet, night blue,
bleu lumière" soluble in alcohol, chrysaniline, Bismarck, &c.
or
6.
I prepare tannate of rosaniline for example in the following manner :—
In 100 litres of water free from calcareous matters I dissolve, with
!

page_text: the aid of heat, 100 grammes of acctate of rosaniline, and after the
liquor is filtered and cooled I add a cold solution of 180 grammes
of tannin in 10 litres of water, stirring it meanwhile. The tannato
of rosaniline is precipitated, the clear almost colorless liquid being
decanted, while the turbid portion of the liquid which holds the lake
in solution is put to drain in a felt cloth strainer from which the
solid paste is removed and dried at a low temperature in a stove
on porcelain plates. The dry tannate of rosaṇiline thus obtained is
then ground up with ordinary lithographers' varnish in exactly the
same manner as when the ordinary dry colors used in chromo-litho-
graphy are employed, the proportion being varied according to the
depth of color desired. The consistency of the varnish used is also
varied as in ordinary to suit the kind of work, it being simply necessary
to bear in mind that the colors on being printed are not of the same
depth as when transferred to the fabric.
Other colors are prepared in a similar manner to the tannate of
rosaniline, and in the case of Bismarck, saffranine, and some others,
a little sea salt should be added to render the lake insoluble and facilitate
its deposit.
The several colors are printed in succession on the paper, a sufficient
interval being allowed for drying between each impression. The im
pressions are made on ordinary sized and calendered paper in order to.
avoid spreading.
!
After printing the chromo-lithograph on paper it is transferred to
the fabric in the following manner :-The fabric is first impregnated
with a liquid composed of 300 grammes of alcohol at 92 degrees
centigrade (197 degrees Fahrenheit), 700 grammes of ordinary acetic
acid, and 2 grammes of tartaric acid. The fabric should be slightly
damped with this liquid, and then laid on a sheet of unsized paper
which is also impregnated with the same transfer liquid. The printed
transfer paper is then laid on the fabric, and upon this several sheets
of damped paper, after which the whole is subjected to considerable
pressure in a hydraulic press, or other manner. On contact with the
transfer liquid the tannate of rosaniline and the tannates of the other
bases become dissolved and combine with and impart their color to
the fibres of the fabric. The paper from which the greater part of
the color has been thus discharged is then removed. On drying, the

page_text: tannates which were dissolved become again insoluble in the fibres;
which explains how they become fixed on cotton.
•
It will be understood that the tannates of the bases of the new
artificial colors are not the only salts which may be applied for the
purpose, as any salts or colored compounds which are sufficiently
insoluble in water to be suitable for lithographic purposes by grinding
up with fatty varnishes, and capable of being redissolved in a liquid
employed for the purpose other than water with which the fabric is
impregnated may be used. Hitherto only tannates have been employed,
although experiments are now being made with other insoluble or but
slightly soluble combinations with a view to obtain as bright tints as
possible.
:
The employment of a transfer on paper, besides the advantages it
offers of producing rich designs which it would be impossible to print
on the fabric direct, also permits of pulling at one time the maximum
number of subjects which it is possible to include within the limits
of the stones employed. For example, on each transfer. sheet 40
different subjects for the corners of silk handkerchiefs may be printed
with which to print. 10 handkerchiefs. The subjects may also. be
multiplied on the same handkerchief and in the same piece, which
it is not possible to do economically by the usual processes.
For the most perfect results that have yet been obtained a lightly
sized paper of medium thickness has been used which readily absorbs
the fatty principles of the colors employed, and admits of a series
of sharp or clean impressions being rapidly obtained in different colors,
while it does not prevent the transfer. by dissolving the colors with
a base of rosaniline, or its derivatives or homologues insoluble in
water. By this means rich designs in 10, or 15, or even 20 or more
different colors may be transferred to fabrics, the whole of the fatty
and resinous principles contained in the lithographic varnishes being
retained by the paper. The transfers thus obtained are faultless as
regards the richness of color, variety of effect, or delicacy of detail.
The above method is preferred for rich impressions on silk or mosul,
(a silk and cotton mixture), as the colors are obtained in the greatest
purity, while the fabric also retains its lustre, and is not required, to
be passed through a saponaceous or alkaline bath for the purpose of
removing the fatty matters adhering to the surface, as in the different

page_text: modes of operating herein-after described, which might be employed
in certain cases, or adopted to imitate the results obtained by the before-
mentioned-process.
It is extremely difficult to print delicate designs-direct from the
stone on to the fabric, as it is necessary in order to ensure an exact
"register" of the several colors either to paste the fabric on paper, or
to carefully stretch it in a frame.
.$
By printing direct on silk, cotton, or woollen fabrics with one or
more of the colors previously referred to as being used in printing
the paper transfer, and steaming the same from 10 to 15 minutes, the
coloring matters (tannates of rosaniline, triphenyl rosaniline, &c.) may
be caused to combine with the fibres of the fabric. These colors,
although presenting a dull appearance when printed, are brightened
by steaming, and in order to increase their brilliancy they may after
steaming be passed through a tepid bath containing about one per
cent. of soap to dissolve the lithographic varnish, leaving the coloring
matter combined with the fabric. When the goods are to be passed
through this soap bath I add to the varnish, if it is simply composed
of pure boiled linseed oil, from 10 to 15 per cent. of colophony as
colorless as possible. This is not however necessary when ordinary
lithographers' varnish is used, as it ordinarily contains this substance.
The colophony facilitates the dissolution of the varnish by the soap.
By means of this process large impressions in a single color have been
obtained from designs executed on stone with a crayon and pen.
By stretching the fabric in a frame, or by pasting it on paper, or
by transferring in a lithographic press, patterns in several colors may
be printed. This is an important point, inasmuch as printing direct
on fabrics in aniline colors insoluble in water, but capable of being
fixed by steaming, is the process which, of all others, would apparently
be the most readily executed in imitation of the rich designs produced
by the process of this Invention. I therefore consider the direct appli-
cation of these colors on fabrics as being naturally derived from the
experiments and researches which led to these improvements, inasmuch
as not only do these improvements constitute the first practical method
of transferring rich patterns from paper on to fabrics, but it is equally
novel to print direct from the stone on to the fabric in colors which
will combine chemically with the fibres of the fabric..

page_text: While still on this subject I will indicate yet another method which
might be employed in imitation of these improvements, viz., by trans-
ferring processes, although in an indirect and more costly manner.
For example, the paper used in transferring or printing impressions
on china may be impregnated with the colors I employ, the printed
side of the paper being then coated with a stiff varnish, consisting
either of colophony, resin, or resinous gum; in benzine or sulphuret
of carbon in which the colors are insoluble. Before this varnish is
dry, or after it has been rendered slightly sticky by the addition of
oil, the paper is applied by means of pressure upon the fabric, and
damped on the reverse side, whereupon the whole of the imprint,
varnish, and colors. will be caused to adhere to the fabric. The colors
are in this case printed direct on the fabric, and by afterwards steaming
and soaping the same the colors are fixed and the varnish removed.
This method of operation is however tedious, besides being more
expensive and difficult of application, and it also gives less satisfactory.
results than by direct transfer, but might be used to evade the present
Patent if not specified.
Examples of this kind might be multiplied, but I will only cite
one more. I do not print the tannates of rosaniline or other colors
on oiled cloth, or impervious paper capable of being washed for
repeated use because ordinary paper lightly sized is more economical.
and preferable in all respects. It is perfectly evident the use use
of these materials could not be claimed as constituting a new, process,
and it will be clear that such would be a mere evasion of the
Patent.
I have before mentioned that the tannates of colorable bases are
the products which I usually employ, but that I may use all sorts
of rosaniline, triphenyl rosaniline, mauveine, mauvaniline, &c., which
are insoluble in water, or nearly so, but soluble in alcohol, acetic acid,
methylic alcohol, or any other liquid suitable for impregnating the
fabric. For example, the following coloring matters will answer the
above conditions, and are likewise obtainable in the market already
prepared, viz., the blue color known as "bleu lumière or night blue
soluble in alcohol, Hoffmann violet soluble in alcohol, red coralline,"
yellow coralline, and pure geranosine. I may also, for damping the fabric,
use weak solutions of tartaric and citric acids, afterwards steaming and
washing in water only. These liquids answer particularly well for the
"

page_text: tannates of colorable bases whose salts of commerce are soluble in
water, such as soluble "bleu lumière," soluble violet, "vert lumière,”
saffranine, &c.
One very important point to be observed in printing rich patterns,
especially on silk fabrics, is that colors should be produced of great
brilliancy and brightness of tone, and I liave found that by immersing
the chromo-lithographic paper prints used in transferring in benzine,
sulphuret of carbon, ligroine, or other hydrocarbon in a cold condition,
and having a low boiling point, a certain portion of the fatty and
resinous principles of the lithographic varnish becomes dissolved,
whereby the colors transferred will be much purer. I therefore desire
to include this preliminary treatment of the prints with light hydro-
carbons or other liquids suitable for dissolving the fatty and resinous
matters without attacking the printing colors employed, such as
sulphuret of carbon, spirits of turpentine, lavender, and citron, sul-
phuric ether, &c. This treatment, which for the purpose of removing
the grease from the prints, may be applied whether the impression
be made with ordinary lithographic varnishes or with a specially
prepared varnish which dissolves entirely after desiccation, or rather
after being absorbed by the paper in the liquids above mentioned,
whereby the colors only remain on the paper almost entirely freed
from the varnish which serves for printing the same. I employ for
example the following proportions in the preparation of a varnish of.
this i

page_text: 2ndly. The use, as specified, of colors insoluble in water, or nearly so,
which when ground up with lithographic varnishes may be printed on
paper or other fabrics by the ordinary processes.
3rdly. Printing these colors on paper and then transferring them
on to the fabric with the aid of a liquid in which they are soluble, as
specified.
4thly. Printing these same colors direct on to the fabric and afterwards
fixing the same by steaming, as specified.
5thly. Removing the grease from the paper proof with the aid of
sulphuret of carbon, benzine, or volatile hydrocarbons, as specified.
6thly. Removing the grease from impressions made direct on the
fabric by means of sulphuret of carbon, benzine, or volatilo hydro-
carbons, or by soap and water, or a solution of carbonate of soda, as
specified, after the coloring matter has been fixed on the fabric (whether
mordanted or not) by the aid of steam.
7thly. Printing the colors herein referred to on sized paper and trans-
ferring the colors and varnish on to the fabric in a similar manner to
those which are soluble in water used in other transferring processes,
afterwards fixing and removing the grease from these transferred designs
by the means above indicated in the 6th clause.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, havo
-
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five.
Witness,
HY. SWALES,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)