A NEW, OR IMPROVED, PROCESS OF, AND MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING COTTON, AND OTHER TEXTILE FIBRES, AND THE APPLICATION THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO BLEACHING, DYEING, AND THE LIKE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest de Pass, of the Office for British and Foreign
Patents, 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, for an
Invention of A NEW, OR IMPROVED, PROCESS OF, AND MEANS OR APPARATUS
FOR TREATING COTTON, AND OTHER TEXTILE FIBRES, AND THE APPLICATION
LETTERS PATENT to Ernest de Pass, of the Office for British and Foreign
Patents, 68, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, for an
Invention of A. NEW, OR IMPROVED, PROCESS OF, AND MEANS OR APPARATUS
FOR TREATING COTTON, AND OTHER TEXTILE FIBRES, AND THE APPLICATION
THEREOF TO BLEACHING, DYEING, AND THE LIKE Communicated to him
from abroad by Henri Anthoni, of 17 Boulevard Saint-Martin, Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest de Pass at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th August 1882.
ERNEST DE PASS, of the Office for British and Foreign Patents, 68 Fleet
Street in the City of London, Patent Agent, A NEW, OR IMPROVED, PROCESS
OF, AND MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING COTTON AND OTHER TEXTILE
FIBRES, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO BLEACHING, DYEING, AND THE LIKE
Communicated to me from abroad by Henri Anthoni,. of 17 Boulevard Saint-
Martin, Paris, France,
This Invention has for its object a new or improved process of and means or
apparatus for treating cotton and other textile fibres, the application of which
allows the bleaching, dyeing or chemically treating such fibres before they are
finally spun.
By means of this new process the bleaching, or dyeing can be effected in a
manner equal to, or even superior to that now obtained by bleaching or dyeing
yarns and spun goods in hanks or skeins.
The advantages resulting from the employment of this process are considerable,
and will be readily appreciable, on comparison with the heretofore employed
and known processes which present serious drawbacks, and which are amongst
others;
The difficulty of causing the liquids (or chemical and physical agents) to
penetrate the minute fibrous materials which are not readily impregnated, and
in a high degree, liable to settle, to become felted, and to form what are known as
filtering layers.

page_text: The consequent impossibility of producing an uniform action in all parts of the
mass to be treated, to eliminate the injurious matters and the impurities which
accompany the raw material. Now, to be adapted for receiving a good white
colour, or an equal and solid dye of other colour, the vegetable fibres must be
transformed into as pure a cellulose as possible, animal fibres must be freed from
grease and the resinous or gritty matters which they naturally or accidentally
contain. Only by energetic scouring or boiling is purification of the fibres
practicable and this scouring or boiling which operates very well on spun goods
could not heretofore be applied practically to open materials on account of the
settling which is produced as soon as it is wetted. This settling is sufficient to
render all circulation of the chemical agents, if not impossible, at least very
difficult and irregular, and where the circulation does take place the motion of
the liquids entangles and felts the fibres and twists the same to such an extent as
to render all further mechanical or chemical action very expensive while furnishing
products of inferior quality only
These defects become even more serious with fibres which have already been
partially straightened and made parallel by preliminary twisting or spinning.
The practical and serious difficulty hitherto experienced in dyeing untwisted
fibres of raw cottons was that they could not be wetted without becoming twisted
or entangled.
This new process has the advantage of avoiding these inconveniences, being
based
1. On a preliminary and perfect boiling or scouring of the fibres without
twisting or entangling the same, and without destroying their parallelism.
2. On various means and arrangements whereby all disturbance of the primary
parallelism of fibres is obviated and which nevertheless permit the physical and
chemical actions to be very equally produced on all parts of the material.
The process and means hereinafter specified can be applied to all kinds of
textile fibres whether in the raw state, or in any one of the forms of fleeces, or
slivers, in which they are delivered by the preparing machines.
But to avoid the usual production of waste (in carding or in preceding operations)
of already bleached or dyed material, it is preferable to select one of the forms of
sliver which is given to the material by the preparing machines subsequently to
the carding.
To operate the scouring or boiling of the slivers the receptacles ordinarily used
in spinning are employed; viz. coilers, pots, cans, &c, which considerably simplify
the work.
Thus for cotton slivers, coilers are employed (which serve generally for containing
the slivers of carding and drawing machines &c) care being taken to perforate the
bottom and walls thereof.
These coilers, filled as usual with the sliver, are also provided with a perforated
cover or lid, and placed in an hermetically closed boiler.
In order to render the working of this important and essential operation
clearly intelligible, I proceed to describe means and apparatus to be used for
the purpose.
This apparatus consists, first, of a boiler which may be used for bleaching
dyeing, or drying the slivers contained within their receptacles, as well as for
scouring or boiling
Through the man-hole in the boiler shell, the coilers, pots, or cans containing
'the slivers, or other materials to be treated, are introduced. This boiler has a
perforated false bottom, under which is a perforated worm, through which steam
is introduced into the boiler, which is steam-jacketed. A second steam worm is
also employed, and serves for heating. A waste cock is provided for the escape,
from the boiler, of the liquids which have been introduced therein, through a pipe
or tube at the top, the usual boiler fittings such as safety valve, gauge, water level,
'mud cock, &c, are also provided.
When the coilers containing the slivers or materials to be treated, have been

page_text: placed in the boiler, the necessary liquid for scouring or boiling is introduced,
either by allowing it to flow in, or by pumping, or by the action of a vacuum
produced in the boiler, and the liquid thus impregnates the fibres without disturbing
their parallelism.
The action of the vacuum favours, to a certain extent, the imbibition of the
material, but it is not absolutely necessary, for this operation, and I desire it
to be understood that this process must not be, in any way, confounded with other
patented processes based solely on the action of a vacuum.
In fact the process can be employed altogether without the use of the vacuum,
by employing special liquids which rapidly penetrate the fibres, and which vary
according to the nature of the material to be treated.
Any excess of these liquids is then drawn off from the boiler through the waste
cock and steam is introduced through the perforated worm in order to raise the
fibres impregnated with the liquors to a sufficiently high temperature to complete
the reaction.
The steam therein is maintained at high pressure, and for a period varying
according to the nature of the material.
Then the waste waters being allowed to escape through the waste cock the fibres
may be washed, whilst in the boiler, by the admission through suitable taps, of
cold water, and the slivers be subjected to the operations hereinafter described.
The scouring or boiling is thus obtained under the most favorable conditions, and
the arrangement of the fibres is, in no way, disturbed, either at the moment of their
imbibition of the agents or liquors, or by the admission of steain for completing the
action of these agents. The sliver is therefore rendered particularly qualified to
undergo the bleaching and dyeing operations which can then be applied to it in
several ways.
After the scouring or boiling the sliver can be impregnated with chemicals and
the bleaching effected in the same boiler.
Or else I may directly produce on the fibres, the colours and effects generally
classed as "steamed articles."
For this purpose the operations or washings, previously described, are repeated
as often as necessary, and the nature of the agents varied as required
In some cases the materials may also be dried in the coilers.
For this purpose, steam is introduced into the jacket of the boiler, and into a
worm provided at the bottom, and the required effect is accelerated by a current of
air sent into the boiler by means of a blower, or an injector.
However, in cases where this method of operating cannot be employed, the coilers
are withdrawn from the boiler after the scouring or boiling, and the slivers are
subjected to the bleaching or dyeing operations by arranging them in the form of
hanks or skeins, or in the form of laps or fleeces, according to whether one or the
other arrangement favours a more ready or more economical manipulation; for
example, slivers arranged in hanks or skeins will better and more economically
lend themselves to the numerous operations required in Adrianople or Turkey-red
dyeing, whilst the form of laps or fleeces, will be better suited to the more simple
operations of other shades
I proceed to describe successively both these methods of operating.
The banks or skeins may consist of a single sliver, but it is preferred to double
them into two or more strands, and to slightly twist the material in order to
increase its solidity so as to prevent entanglement and to facilitate the rapid
handling of same.
For this purpose two or more coilers on being removed from the boiler are
arranged on a platform, to which a slight rotary movement is imparted.
The slivers from these coilers, drawn through a pair of drawing rollers, pass over
a guide roller, and are united on receiving the required twist.
At the same time these drawing rollers compress them and give them consistency
after having expressed the liquid which they have retained. Then, by causing

page_text: them to pass between several pairs of squeezing rollers, between which, jets of
clean water play, they are subjected to a perfect cleansing.
.
The sliver is then wound on a reel, from which it receives the form of a hank or
skein, and is then ready for the ordinary operations of bleaching, dyeing, or the
like, rendered practicable by the dipping and rinsing apparatus herein after
described.
The bank or skein is then hung out dried, and placed on bars and is, by rollers,
properly replaced in the coilers, and then the spinning is proceeded with.
To form a continuous fleece, an apparatus similar to that above described for
uniting and squeezing out the scoured slivers is employed, but instead of the reel
a beam for uniting the slivers into laps or fleeces and for rolling these up, may be
used.
The width of the lap and the number of slivers, either single or consisting of
several strands, may be varied.
These laps then pass broad wise through baths of chlorine, acids, or other matters,
in a manner similar to that adopted for cloths.
The fleeces having again, and for the last time, been washed, then pass to the
squeezer or water-mangle, which squeezes out the water as much as possible and
flattens the fleece so that it can be dried on steam drums.
Where drying on drums would be injurious, it may be effected otherwise, either
on the undivided fleece, or after it is separated into single or multiple slivers. In
the former case the fleece is placed on a carriage with rollers which draw the lap
into broad folds. The carriage is then placed in a drying stove and the dried lap
is again rolled up in readiness for spinning
In the second case the beam upon which the fleece is wound is placed in front
of a series of rollers arranged in pairs (and there may be fully rinsed) and each of
the parallel slivers of which the said fleece consists, may be wound on a separate
reel, made into a hank or skein, and then placed into the drying room, and
subsequently again put into cans for spinning.
For passing hanks or skeins through a bath, the same may be stretched on two
rollers whereof one is capable of being immersed in the bath, and by rotating the
rollers all the parts of the hank or skein pass through the bath. Two or more of
the fixed rollers (each with a corresponding moveable roller) may be mounted on
one shaft and a bath placed under each pair, or several pairs may work together
in one bath. Over each fixed roller is another roller which serves to squeeze out
the liquid from the fibres.
When the hank or skein has passed through the bath a sufficient number of
times, the immersed roller is raised and the rotation being continued, the excess
liquid is squeezed out. The top roller may then be raised and the bank or skein
removed
The same apparatus may serve for washing the hanks or skeins if, instead of
the dye bath, or the like, a constant supply of clean water be provided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Ernest de Pass in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th February 1883.
ERNEST DE PASS, of the Office for British and Foreign Patents, 68 Fleet
3 Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, A NEW OR IMPROVED PROCESS
OF AND MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TREATING COTTON AND OTHER TEXTILE
FIBRES AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO BLEACHING DYEING AND THE LIKE.
Communicated to me from abroad by Henri Anthoni of 17 Boulevard Saint
Martin, Paris, France.
This Invention has for its object a new or improved process of and means or
apparatus for treating cotton and other textile fibres, the application of which
allows of the bleaching dyeing or chemical treatment of such fibres before they
have been subjected to the final spinning process.
By means of this new process the bleaching or dyeing can be effected in a
3 manner equal to or even superior to that now obtained by bleaching or dyeing
yarns and spun goods in hanks or skeins.
The advantages resulting from the employment of this process are considerable
and will be readily appreciable in comparison with the processes hitherto known
and employed which present serious drawbacks and which amongst others, are:
The difficulty of causing the liquids (or chemical and physical agents) to
penetrate small fibrous materials which are not readily impregnated and which
are in a high degree liable to settle to become felted and to form filtering layers.
The consequent impossibility of producing a uniform action in all parts of the
mass to be treated to eliminate the injurious matters and the impurities which
accompany the raw material. Now in order to adapt the vegetable fibres for
receiving a good white colour or an equal and solid dye of other colour these should
be transformed into the state of cellulose as pure as practicable and the animal
fibres should be freed from grease and the resinous or gritty matters which they
naturally or accidentally contain. It is only by an energetic scouring or boiling
that purification of the fibres is effected and this scouring or boiling which operates
very well on spun goods could not heretofore be applied practically to open
materials on account of the settling which is produced as soon as they are wetted.
This settling is sufficient to render all circulation of the chemical agents if not
impossible at least very difficult and irregular and at the parts where the circulation
does take place the motion of the liquids entangles and felts the fibres and twists
the same to such an extent as to render all further mechanical or chemical action
very expensive while furnishing products of inferior quality only.
These defects become even more serious with fibres which have already been
partially straightened and made parallel by preliminary twisting or spinning. The
practical and serious difficulty hitherto experienced in dyeing untwisted fibres of
raw cottons was that they could not be wetted without becoming twisted or
entangled. This new process has the advantage of avoiding these inconveniences
it being based:
1. On a preliminary and perfect boiling or scouring of the fibres without
twisting or entangling the same and without destroying their direction.
2. On various means and arrangements whereby all disturbance of the primary
direction of the fibres is obviated and which nevertheless permit the physical and
chemical actions to be very equally produced on all parts of the material.
Thus is solved the problem which has for a long time occupied the Spinning
industry viz: "The production on a spinning frame of materials bleached or
dyed in all shades and particularly in shades known as ingrain or fast, colours,"

page_text: The process and means hereinafter specified can be applied to all kinds of textile
fibres whether in the raw state or in any one of the forms of fleeces laps or slivers
in which they are delivered by the preparing machines.
But to avoid the usual waste (in carding or in the preceding operations) of
already bleached or dyed materials it is preferable to select one of the forms of
slivers which is given to the material by the preparatory machines subsequently to
the carding
To operate the scouring or boiling of the slivers the receptacles ordinarily used
in spinning such as coilers pots cans &c are employed and thereby considerably
simplify the work.
Thus for cotton slivers coilers are employed (which serve generally for con-
taining the slivers of carding and drawing machines &c.) care being taken to
perforate the bottom and walls thereof.
These coilers filled as usual with the sliver are also provided with a perforated
cover or lid and are placed in a hermetically closed boiler.
In order to render the working of this important and essential operation clearly
intelligible I proceed with reference to the accompanying Drawings to describe
means and apparatus to be used for this purpose. Fig 1 shews in partial sectional
elevation and by way of example only a boiler in which the boiling or scouring
may take place as well as the bleaching dyeing or drying of the slivers contained
their receptacles.
Through the Man hole b in the boiler shell a the coilers pots or cans c c c containing
the slivers or other materials to be treated are introduced. This boiler has a
perforated false bottom d under which is a perforated worm i through which steam
is introduced into the boiler which is furnished with a jacket ff and into which
jacket steam is also admitted through the cock g another worm is also employed
for heating and also receives the steam from the cock m kis a waste cock for the
escape from the boiler of the liquids which have been introduced therein through
the pipe . The usual boiler fittings such as safety valve gauge water level mud
cock are also provided.
When the Coilers c containing the slivers or materials to be treated have been
placed in the boiler the necessary liquid or Agent for scouring or boiling is
introduced either by allowing it to flow in or by pumping or by the action of a
vacuum produced in the boiler through the pipe p and the liquid thus impregnates
the fibres without disturbing their direction or orientation.
The action of the vacuum favours to a certain extent the imbibition of the material
but it is not absolutely necessary for this operation and it must be understood that
this process must not in any way be confounded with other patented processes
based solely on the action of a vacuum.
In fact the process can be employed altogether without the use of the vacuum as
for this action special liquids are employed which rapidly penetrate the fibres and
which vary according to the nature of the material to be treated.
Any excess of these liquids is then drawn off from the boiler through the waste
cock and steam or gas is introduced through the perforated worm i in order to
raise the fibres impregnated with the liquors to a sufficiently high temperature to
complete the reaction
The steam therein is maintained at high pressure and for a period varying
according to the nature of the material.
Then the waste waters being drawn off through the cock k the fibres may be
washed whilst in the boiler by the admission of cold water through suitable valves
and the slivers be subjected to the operations hereinafter described.
The scouring or boiling is thus obtained under the most favourable conditions and
the arrangement of the fibres is in no way disturbed either at the moment of their
imbibition of the Agents or Liquors or by the admission of Steam for completing
the Action of these Agents. The sliver is therefore rendered particularly qualified
to undergo the bleaching and dyeing operations which can then be applied to it in
several ways.

page_text: After the scouring or boiling the sliver can be impregnated in the same boiler
with chemical decompositions and the bleaching effected.
Or else the colours and effects generally classed as "steamed articles." may be
directly produced on the fibres.
For this purpose the operations or washings previously described are repeated as
often as necessary and the nature of the Agents varied as required.
In some cases the material may also be dried in the Coilers. For this purpose
steam is introduced into the jacket of the boiler and into a worm provided at the
bottom and the required effect is accelerated by a current of air sent into the boiler
by means of a blower or an injector
However in cases where this method of operating cannot be employed the coilers
are withdrawn from the boiler after the scouring or boiling and the slivers are
subjected to the bleaching or dyeing operations by arranging them in the forms of
banks or skeins or in the form of laps or fleeces according to whether one or the
other arrangement favours a more ready or more economical manipulation for
example slivers arranged in hanks or skeins will better and more economically lend
themselves to the numerous operations required in Turkey-red dyeing whilst the
form of laps or fleeces will be better suited to the more simple operations of other
shades.
I proceed to describe successively both these methods of operating.
The banks or skeins may consist of a single sliver but it is preferred to double
them into two or more strands and to slightly twist the material in order to increase
its solidity so as to prevent entanglement and to facilitate the rapid handling of
same.
For this purpose as shewn in Fig 2 of the drawings in elevation two or more
coilers C on being removed from the boiler are arranged on a platform A to which
a slight rotary movement is imparted.
The slivers from these coilers drawn through a pair of drawing rollers D pass
over a guide roller B and are united on receiving the required twist.
At the same time these drawing rollers compress them and give them
consistency after having expressed the liquid which they have retained. Then
by causing them to pass between several pairs of squeezing rollers E and E'
between which clean water is ejected from tubes F they are subjected to a perfect
cleansing.
The sliver is then wound on a reel G from which it receives the form of a hank
or skein and is then ready for the ordinary operations of bleaching dyeing or
the like rendered practicable by the dipping and rinsing apparatus hereinafter
described.
The hank or skein is then wrung out dried and placed on bars when the slivers
wound up by the drawing rollers into the coilers are again operated upon in further
continuation of the spinning process.
To form a continuous fleece an apparatus similar to that above described for
uniting and squeezing out the scoured slivers is employed but instead of the reel a
beam or an ordinary apparatus for uniting the slivers into laps or fleeces and for
rolling these up may be used.
The width of the lap and the number of slivers either single or multiple composing
the same may be varied.
These laps then pass broadwise through baths of chlorine acids or other matters
in a manner similar to that adopted for fabrics.
The fleeces having again and for the last time been washed then pass to the
squeezer or water-mangle which expresses the water as much as possible, and flattens
the fleece so that it can be dried on steam drums.
Where drying on drums would be injurious it may be effected either by retaining
the form of the fleece or by bringing it back into banks or skeins single or multiple
which compose it. In the former case the fleece is placed on a carriage provided
with a number of drawing rollers in such a manner as to cause the lap to hang in
broad folds between each pair of rollers. The carriage is then placed in a drying

page_text: stove and after the dryeing the laps are again brought back into rolls by ordinary
machines in readiness for spinning.
In the second case the beam H upon which the fleece is wound is carried on the
apparatus fig 3 (which may be so arranged as to give the final rinsing) and each
of the parallel slivers of which the said fleece consists forms on a reel a hank or
skein which is then taken into the drying room and from there again put into the
cans to continue the subsequent operations of spinning.
Figs 4 and 5 shew in elevation and in plan a machine for passing the hanks
or skeins through a bath while keeping the proper orientation or direction of the
fibres
For this purpose the hank or skein is pressed between the rollers A and B in
such a manner as to cause the liquor to penetrate through all parts then after a
number of revolutions which can be varied by means of an indicator the guide
roller C is raised and kept above the liquor the working of the apparatus being
continued the excess liquid squeezed out by the rollers A and B falls back into the
bath D. The presser roller A is then raised and the hank or skein removed.
The same Apparatus may serve for washing the banks or skeins if instead of the
dye bath or the like a constant supply of clean water be provided.
Having now described the nature of the invention and in what manner the same
may be performed I declare that I claim as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent
.
1. The herein described process of impregnating fibres or filaments either in their
raw state or in the form of slivers laps or fleeces of scouring or boiling them and in
subjecting them to a chemical action without intermingling them the said process
consisting in impregnating the fibres or filaments in boilers or other receptacles
then in running off in whole or in part the impregnating liquors before intro-
ducing Steam or Gas for effecting or completing the chemical action by raising the
temperature to the necessary degree without causing any ebullition or movement of
the fibres or filaments to be treated.
2. The novel application or use of steam acting upon the impregnated fibres and
scouring or boiling them without disarranging them whatever be the arrangement
employed for carrying out this novel application or use.
3. The combination of the means herein described for carrying into effect the
said process by placing within boilers the caus coilers of carding or drawing
machines or other receptacles containing the products of preparing machines the
said cans coilers or receptacles being perforated or slotted then in subjecting the
slivers or fleeces placed in said receptacles to the successive operations of imbibition
and of scouring or boiling which constitute the herein described process and in
certain cases to the operations of bleaching dyeing washing and drying.
4. The employment within boilers of the perforated or slotted cans or coilers
herein described for the purpose of wetting and impregnating and for scouring or
boiling the fibres filaments or textile materials without having to remove the
cans or coilers and without the fibres filaments or materials vibrating starting or
becoming disturbed.
5. The arrangements of apparatus herein described and shewn in the drawings
for operating upon fibres filaments and other materials treated by the herein
described processes of scouring bleaching or dyeing.
In witness whereof I the said Ernest de Pass have hereunto set my hand and
seal this Eighth day of February One thousand eight hundred and eighty
three