A NEW PROCESS FOR BRONZING OR GIVING A METALLIC APPEARANCE TO TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thackrah, of the Firm of Thackrah and
Company, of Dewsbury, in the County of York, Woollen Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "A NEW PROCESS FOR BRONZING OR
GIVING A METALLIC APPEARANCE TO TEXTILE FABRICS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thackrah at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th February 1875.
I, WILLIAM THACKRAH, of the Firm of Thackrah and Company, of
5 Dewsbury, in the County of York, Woollen Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "A NEW PROCESS FOR
BRONZING OR GIVING A METALLIC APPEARANCE TO TEXTILE FABRICS," to be as
follows:-

page_text: particularly applicable to those fabrics having a piled or fibrous surface,
and which have been previously dyed in the ordinary manner.
When subjecting such dyed fabrics to the bronzing process according
to my Invention, I first immerse the same in a solution of tannic acid,
after which they are placed in a bath of picric acid and then in a second
bath composed of nitrate of tin and muriate of copper; the proportions
of these chemicals depend entirely on the nature of the fabric to be
submitted to the processes, and are ascertained by practice. After
having undergone thorough immersion in these baths the fabrics are
boiled in a solution of analine of sufficient strength to give body or
tone to the color, which when dry presents a metallic or bronzed
appearance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Thackrah in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THACKRAH, of the Firm of Thackrah and Company, of Dewsbury, in the
County of York, Woollen Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Thackrah, Her special
licence that I, the said William Thackrah, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Thackrah, 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 "A NEW PROCESS
FOR BRONZING OR GIVING A METALLIC APPEARANCE TO TEXTILE FABRICS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Thackrah, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: their, or one 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thackrah, 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 relates to a new process for the purpose of giving a
bronzed or metallic appearance to all descriptions of textile fabrics, but
is more particularly applicable to those fabrics having a piled or fibrous
surface, and which have been previously dyed in the ordinary manner.
When subjecting such dyed fabrics to the bronzing process according
to my Invention I first immerse the same in a solution of tannic acid,
after which they are placed in a bath of picric acid and then in a second
bath composed of nitrate of tin and muriate of copper; the proportions
of these chemicals and the consequent strength of the baths must depend
entirely on the nature of the fabric to be submitted to the process, and
are respectively ascertained by practice and experience. After having
undergone thorough immersion in these baths the fabrics are to be
boiled in a solution of aniline of a sufficient strength to give body or
tone to the color, which when dry presents a metallic or bronzed
appearance.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details which I have given, because as
I have stated the proportions are variable in regard to the chemicals and
the strength of the baths, but the use of the chemicals and the methods
stated form the basis of my Invention, and therefore what I claim and
desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent
is, the new process for bronzing or giving a metallic appearance to
textile fabrics, more particularly those with a pile surface or cut terry
fabrics by immersing such fabrics in a solution of tannic acid, and after-
wards in a bath of picric acid, and finally in a bath of nitrate of tin and

page_text: muriate of copper, the fabrics being ultimately boiled in a solution of
aniline, substantially as and for the purposes herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thackrah, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witness,
CHARLES DAWSON,
Dewsbury.
WILLIAM THACKRAH. (L.S.)