IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Ridgway Bridson, of Bolton-le-Moors, in
the County of Lancaster, Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING COTTON FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd September 1854, and dated the 31st July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st July 1854.
I, THOMAS RIDGWAY BRIDSON, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lan-
caster, Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING COTTON FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES" to be as
follows:-
My improvements are particularly applicable to the preparation of cotton
where inferiority of colour is the chief defect, and the object of my Invention
is the improvement of tlie colour of the staple while in certain stages of
manufacture, so as to secure the most advantageous and economical results,
which I consider are combined in the following processes:-
The cotton to be operated upon is cleaned by the usual processes of opening,
scutching, or breaker carding engines, and is then (either in the loose state or in
the form of a lap, but I prefer the latter,) placed in a vessel and boiled for the
purpose of expelling the air (or the air may be expelled by mechanical means);

page_text: after which it is bleached by any of the ordinary processes, and after the
bleaching it is subjected when requisite to the action of a soap bath, in order to
render the fibres more fit for undergoing the subsequent operations of carding,
drawing, and roving. After the cotton has been thus bleached and prepared,
it is again passed through the blower, or taken to the carding engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RIDGWAY BRIDSON, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Bleacher,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Ridgway Bridson, Her special license that I, the said Thomas Ridgway
Bridson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Ridgway Bridson, 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 COTTON FOR MANUFACTURING PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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 Thomas' Ridgway Bridson, 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:
.
:
The nature of my Invention consists in improving the colour of cotton while
in certain stages of manufacturé by bleaching, and when requisite in sub-
mitting the cotton to the action of a soap bath; in order to render the fibres

page_text: more fit for undergoing the subsequent operations of preparing and spinning.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me. The cotton
to be operated upon, having been cleansed in the usual manner by any of the
machines known as openers, scutchers, or breaker carding engines, is formed.
into a lap. I then place eleven or any other convenient number of these laps
in a closed vessel, as shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing; care
should be taken that the laps do not compress each other when in the vessel.
The upper part of the vessel is furnished with a perforated plate a, and the
lower part has a false bottom b, which is also perforated. c is a pump, the object
of which is to raise the liquids employed in the various processes from the
lower to the upper part of the vessel, as will be explained hereafter. When
the laps are in the closed vessel, the first operation to be performed is to expel
the air from them; this may be accomplished by boiling, or admitting steam
through the pipe d, or by an air pump, or the air may be expelled previous to
the laps being put in the closed vessel by mechanical means; if the latter
mode is adopted, the fleece of cotton forming the lap is conducted between
squeezing rollers, such as e, f, and g, in Figure 2, revolving in the cistern h,
containing warm water, and again formed into a lap by the friction roller i.
To the warm water may be added a small quantity of soda or potash or other
alkali. The fleece is supported between two endless webs of calico or other
fabric during the above-described operation. I would, however, remark, that.
I prefer expelling the air by steaming or boiling. When the air has been
expelled, the laps in the closed vessel are submitted to the various processes
for bleaching or improving the colour of the cotton. The first process is to
saturate the laps with a chlorine solution, and in order that this solution may
fall in the form of a gentle shower on and percolate through the fibres of the
cotton, I make the perforations in the plate a very small and close together.
The saturation of the laps with the solution is effected by means of the pump c,
which is put into motion, thereby raising the solution from under the false bottom
b, and delivering it again above the plate a, through which it again drops on
to the laps, and the pumping is continued generally for two or three hours until
the operation is completed. The chlorine solution is then removed from the
laps by admitting clean water which is pumped as before. The laps are then
treated in the same manner with dilute muriatic or other acid; this process
generally requires half an hour to an hour. After this acid solution has been
given, the laps are washed by admitting water as before.
The processes of treating the laps of cotton with chlorine and acid solutions
are repeated as often as is requisite. When the laps are sufficiently bleached,

page_text: they are in a fit state to be dried; or they are then submitted to the action of a
soap bath, or of a weak solution of carbonate of ammonia, which is applied in
the same manner, the effect of which is to neutralize any traces of acid, and to
render the fibres of cotton more pliant, and consequently better fitted for under-
going the subsequent operations of carding, drawing, roving, and spinning.
The process of drying may be performed by an apparatus, such as that shewn
in Figure 3; in which j is the lap to be dried; k, k, are squeezing rollers, by
which the greatest part of the moisture is expelled; and is a drying cylinder,
around which the fleece is carried to evaporate the remainder. In this case
it may also be requisite to employ two endless webs of calico or other fabric,
between which the fleece passes, or the laps may be dried in any other con-
venient manner. In all the above-described processes and operations great
care must be taken to avoid disturbing the fibres of the cotton. I wish it to
be understood that the strengths of the solutions required in the above-
described processes, and the duration of each operation, depend on the quality
of the cotton to be operated upon, and the effect required to be produced;
the foregoing description will, however, be sufficient to enable any practical
bleacher to regulate or vary the processes, so as to produce the desired
result.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that I claim, preparing cotton when in a
partially manufactured state, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ridgway Bridson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness to the signature,
H. B. BARLOW,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
THOS RIDGWAY BRIDSON. (L.S.)