A NEW METHOD OF BLEACHING FIBRES AND FABRICS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City
of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF
BLEACHING FIBRES AND FABRICS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN."-A communication
from abroad by Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay and Charles Raphael
Marechal. both of Metz, France.
Sealed the 26th February 1867, and dated the 3rd September 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd September 1866.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF
BLEACHING FIBRES AND FABRICS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN," to be as follows:-
Fibres and fabrics of vegetable origin dipped in a bath containing a salt of
manganese, then in a liquor containing an alkaline or alkalino-terrous base
become covered with a pellicle of sesqui-oxide of manganese, but the sesqui-

page_text: oxides thus formed are brought to the maximum of oxidation when at the
moment of their formation they are in the presence of alkaline or alkalino-
terrous peroxides or of hypochorites or of any other gaseous or liquid bodies
capable of yielding to them some of their nascent oxygen. Thus it will be
seen that in order to cover fibres or a fabric of vegetable origin with a layer of
peroxide of manganese, one ought after having dipped these fibres or this
fabric in a salt of manganese to decompose this salt either by an alkaline or
alkalino-terrous peroxide or by an alkaline or alkalino-terrous base with a
hypochlorite or any other body capable of furnishing to the nascent oxides of
manganese oxygen also in the nascent state. The transformation of the
sesqui-oxide of manganese into binoxide upon fibres and fabrics may. also be
effected in liquors containing in solution chlorine, hypochlorous acid, or even
bypochloric acid. The transformation of the sesqui-oxide of manganese
into binoxide may likewise be effected in a lye of caustic soda or potass,
and at the temperature of ebullition in contact with oxygen or air. Fibres
and fabrics covered by one of the methods above described or otherwise with
a layer of peroxide of manganese rapidly bring this oxide to the state of
intermediate oxide by taking possession of some of its oxygen which bleaches
them.
Now the present Invention consists in the application of this principle or
fact, discovered now for the first time, to the bleaching of fibres and fabrics
of vegetable origin. I proceed as follows:-First, the fibres or fabrics to be
bleached are covered with a layer or coating of peroxide of manganese by any
of the methods above described; secondly, the fibres and fabrics thus covered
are placed in a damp state upou the ground in bleaching houses or places, or :
upon hurdles or frames, until the reduction of the peroxide of manganese is
partially or completely effected; thirdly, when this reduction is judged
sufficient the fibres or fabrics are dipped in water containing in solution either
sulphurous acid or hydrofluoric acid, which more than all other diluted acids
rapidly dissolve the oxides of manganese; fourthly, the fibres and fabrics thus
cleansed are submitted to the action of alkaline lyes; and, lastly, the fibres
and fabrics on leaving the lye are washed and covered again with a layer of
peroxide of manganese, then submitted to the operations before described
until the decoloration is complete.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd March 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDOCUMBE BROOMAN, of the firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of.
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters,
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 METHOD OF BLEACHING FIBRES
AND FABRICS OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN," (communicated to me from abroad by
Cyprien Marie Tessié du Motay, and Charles Raphael Maréchal, both of
Metz, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Clinton
Edgcumbe Brooman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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 thereof, that is to say:—
Fibres and fabrics of vegetable origin dipped in a bath containing a salt of
manganese, then in a liquor containing an alkaline or alkalino-terrous base
become covered with a pellicle of sesqui-oxide of manganese, but the sesqui-
oxides thus formed are brought to the maximum of oxidation when at the
moment of their formation they are in the presence of alkaline or alkalino-
terrous peroxides or of bypochlorites or of any other gaseous or liquid bodies
capable of yielding to them some of their nascent oxygen. The same fibres

page_text: and fabrics dipped in soluble manganates or permanganates are likewise
covered with peroxides of manganese without the necessity, in order to bring
them to the maximum of oxidation, of employing alkaline peroxides, hypo-
chlorites, or other gaseous or liquid bodies capable of yielding to them nascent
oxygen. Thus it will be seen that in order to cover fibres or a fabric of
vegetable origin with a layer of peroxide of manganese, one ought after having
dipped these fibres or this fabric in a salt of manganese to decompose this salt
either by an alkaline or alkalino-terrous peroxide, or by an alkaline or alkalino-
terrous base with a hypochlorite or any other body capable of furnishing to
the nascent oxides of manganese oxygen also in the nascent state, and that
the same end may be attained by the immersion of the vegetable fibres in
baths of soluble manganates or permanganates. The transformation of the
sesqui-oxide of manganese into binoxide upon fibres and fabrics may also be
effected in liquors containing in solution chlorine, hypochlorous acid, or even
hypochloric acid. The transformation of the sesqui-oxide of manganese into
binoxide may likewise be effected in a lye of caustic soda or potass, and at
the temperature of ebullition in contact with oxygen or air. Fibres and
fabrics covered by one of the methods above described or otherwise with a
layer of peroxide of manganese rapidly bring this oxide to the state of inter-
mediate oxide by taking possession of some of its oxygen which bleaches
them.
Now the present Invention consists in the application of this principle or
fact, discovered now for the first time, to the bleaching of fibres and fabrics of
vegetable origin. I proceed as follows:-First, the fibres or fabrics to be
bleached are covered with a layer or coating of peroxide of manganese by any
of the methods above described; secondly, the fibres and fabrics thus covered
are placed in a damp state upon the ground in bleaching houses or places, or
upon hurdles or frames, until the reduction of the peroxide of manganese is
partially or completely effected; thirdly, when this reduction is judged suf-
ficient the fibres or fabrics are dipped in water containing in solution either
sulphurous acid, or hydrofluoric acid, or sulpho-azotic acid, or any other acid
capable of rapidly dissolving the oxides of manganese, or in liquors containing
in solution alkalies or alkaline lyes, which at ebullition dissolve the oxides of
manganese; the acids mentioned more than all other diluted acids rapidly
dissolve the oxides of manganese; fourthly, the fibres and fabrics thus cleansed
are submitted to the action of alkaline lyes; and, lastly, the fibres and fabrics
on leaving the lye are washed and covered again with a layer of peroxide
of manganese, then submitted to the operations before described until the
decoloration is complete.

page_text: And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, bleaching
fibres and fabrics of vegetable origin, substantially in manner herein-beforo
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of March, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.